II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 208 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Great 

Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency 

to develop, implement, monitor, and report on a series of indicators 

of water quality and related environmental factors in the Great Lakes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2005 

Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. DEWINE, Ms. STABENOW, and Mr. VOINOVICH) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct 

the Great Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop, implement, 

monitor, and report on a series of indicators of water 

quality and related environmental factors in the Great 

Lakes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Great Lakes Water 

5 Quality Indicators and Monitoring Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) there are no comprehensive, regularly-col4 lected data that reveal whether the water quality or 

5 related environmental factors of the Great Lakes 

6 have improved as a result of efforts to remediate 

7 and protect the Great Lakes; 

8 (2) that lack of data was confirmed in May 

9 2003 in a report by the Government Accountability 

10 Office that concluded existing data were inadequate 

11 to assess the overall progress of restoration efforts 

12 in the Great Lakes; and 

13 (3) without those data, it is impossible to deter14 mine whether— 

15 (A) progress is being made toward achiev16 ing the goals contained in the Great Lakes 

17 Water Quality Agreement between the United 

18 States and Canada; or 

19 (B) Federal and State water quality stand20 ards and remediation programs are effective. 

21 SEC. 3. GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY INDICATORS AND 

22 MONITORING. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 118(c)(1) of the Federal 

24 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1268(c)(1)) is 

25 amended by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the 

26 following: 
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1 ‘‘(B)(i) not later than 2 years after the 

2 date of enactment of this clause, in cooperation 

3 with Canada and appropriate Federal agencies 

4 (including the United States Geological Survey, 

5 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin6 istration, and the United States Fish and Wild7 life Service), develop and implement a set of 

8 science-based indicators of water quality and re9 lated environmental factors in the Great Lakes, 

10 including, at a minimum, measures of toxic pol11 lutants that have accumulated in the Great 

12 Lakes for a substantial period of time, as deter13 mined by the Program Office; 

14 ‘‘(ii) not later than 4 years after the date 

15 of enactment of this clause— 

16 ‘‘(I) establish a Federal network for 

17 the regular monitoring of, and collection of 

18 data throughout, the Great Lakes basin 

19 with respect to the indicators described in 

20 clause (i); and 

21 ‘‘(II) collect an initial set of bench22 mark data from the network; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) not later than 2 years after the date 

24 of collection of the data described in clause 

25 (ii)(II), and biennially thereafter, in addition to 
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1 the report required under paragraph (10), sub2 mit to Congress, and make available to the pub3 lic, a report that— 

4 ‘‘(I) describes the water quality and 

5 related environmental factors of the Great 

6 Lakes (including any changes in those fac7 tors), as determined through the regular 

8 monitoring of indicators under clause 

9 (ii)(I) for the period covered by the report; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(II) identifies any emerging problems 

12 in the water quality or related environ13 mental factors of the Great Lakes.’’. 

14 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

15 118 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 

16 U.S.C. 1268) is amended by striking subsection (h) and 

17 inserting the following: 

18 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

20 appropriated to carry out this section (other than 

21 subsection (c)(1)(B)) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal 

22 years 2006 through 2010. 

23 ‘‘(2) GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY INDICA24 TORS AND MONITORING.—There are authorized to 

25 be appropriated to carry out subsection (c)(1)(B)— 
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1 ‘‘(A) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

2 ‘‘(B) $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

3 ‘‘(C) $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and 

4 ‘‘(D) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2009.’’.

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