II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 571 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a deadline 

for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into the Great 

Lakes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2013 

Mr. KIRK (for himself and Mr. DURBIN) 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 establish a deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the 

Great Lakes and to fund programs and activities for 

improving wastewater discharges into 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 Protection Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE 

2 GREAT LAKES. 

3 Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

4 Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘(s) PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE

7 GREAT LAKES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

9 ‘‘(A) BYPASS.—The term ‘bypass’ means 

10 an intentional diversion of waste streams to by11 pass any portion of a treatment facility which 

12 results in a discharge into the Great Lakes. 

13 ‘‘(B) DISCHARGE.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘dis15 charge’ means a direct or indirect dis16 charge of untreated sewage or partially 

17 treated sewage from a treatment works 

18 into the Great Lakes. 

19 ‘‘(ii) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘dis20 charge’ includes a bypass and a combined 

21 sewer overflow. 

22 ‘‘(C) GREAT LAKES.—The term ‘Great 

23 Lakes’ has the meaning given the term in sec24 tion 118(a)(3). 

25 ‘‘(D) PARTIALLY TREATED SEWAGE.—The 

26 term ‘partially treated sewage’ means any sewmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 age, sewage and storm water, or sewage and 

2 wastewater, from domestic or industrial sources 

3 that— 

4 ‘‘(i) is not treated to national sec5 ondary treatment standards for waste6 water; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) is treated to a level less than the 

8 level required by the applicable national 

9 pollutant discharge elimination system per10 mit. 

11 ‘‘(E) TREATMENT FACILITY.—The term 

12 ‘treatment facility’ includes all wastewater 

13 treatment units used by a publicly owned treat14 ment works to meet secondary treatment stand15 ards or higher, as required to attain water qual16 ity standards, under any operating conditions. 

17 ‘‘(F) TREATMENT WORKS.—The term 

18 ‘treatment works’ has the meaning given the 

19 term in section 212. 

20 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—A publicly owned treat21 ment works is prohibited from performing a bypass 

22 unless— 

23 ‘‘(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to pre24 vent loss of life, personal injury, or severe prop25 erty damage; 

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1 ‘‘(ii) there is not a feasible alternative to 

2 the bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treat3 ment facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or 

4 maintenance during normal periods of equip5 ment downtime; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) the treatment works provides notice 

7 of the bypass in accordance with this sub8 section; or 

9 ‘‘(B) the bypass does not cause effluent 

10 limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 

11 essential maintenance to ensure efficient oper12 ation of the treatment facility. 

13 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The requirement of para14 graph (2)(A)(ii) is not satisfied if— 

15 ‘‘(A) adequate back-up equipment should 

16 have been installed in the exercise of reasonable 

17 engineering judgment to prevent the bypass; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(B) the bypass occurred during normal 

20 periods of equipment downtime or preventive 

21 maintenance. 

22 ‘‘(4) IMMEDIATE NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A publicly owned 

24 treatment works shall provide to the entities de25 scribed in subparagraph (B)— 

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1 ‘‘(i) for any anticipated discharge, 

2 prior notice of that discharge; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) for any unanticipated discharge, 

4 as soon as practicable, but not later 

5 than— 

6 ‘‘(I) for a treatment works with 

7 an automated detection system, 2 

8 hours after the discharge begins; and 

9 ‘‘(II) for a treatment works with10 out an automated detection system, 

11 12 hours after the discharge begins. 

12 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.—The entities referred to in 

13 subparagraph (A) are— 

14 ‘‘(i) the Administrator or, in the case 

15 of a State that has a permit program ap16 proved under this section, the State; 

17 ‘‘(ii) each local health department or, 

18 if a local health department does not exist, 

19 the State health department; 

20 ‘‘(iii) the municipality in which the 

21 discharge occurred and each municipality 

22 with jurisdiction over waters that may be 

23 affected by the discharge; 

24 ‘‘(iv) a daily newspaper of general cir25 culation in each county in which a municimstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 pality described in clause (iii) is located; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(v) the general public through a 

4 prominent announcement on a publicly ac5 cessible Internet site of the treatment 

6 works. 

7 ‘‘(C) CONTENTS.—The notice under sub8 paragraph (A) shall include a description of— 

9 ‘‘(i) the volume and state of treatment 

10 of the discharge; 

11 ‘‘(ii) the date and time of the dis12 charge; 

13 ‘‘(iii) the expected duration of the dis14 charge; 

15 ‘‘(iv) the steps being taken to contain 

16 the discharge, except for a discharge that 

17 is a wet weather combined sewer overflow 

18 discharge; 

19 ‘‘(v) the location of the discharge, 

20 with the maximum level of specificity prac21 ticable; and 

22 ‘‘(vi) the cause for the discharge. 

23 ‘‘(5) FOLLOW-UP NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.— 

24 Each publicly owned treatment works that provides 

25 notice under paragraph (4)(B) shall provide to the 

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1 Administrator (or to the State in the case of a State 

2 that has a permit program approved under this sec3 tion), not later than 5 days after the date on which 

4 the publicly owned treatment works provides initial 

5 notice, a follow-up notice containing— 

6 ‘‘(A) a more full description of the cause of 

7 the discharge; 

8 ‘‘(B) the reason for the discharge; 

9 ‘‘(C) the period of discharge, including the 

10 exact dates and times; 

11 ‘‘(D) if the discharge has not been cor12 rected, the anticipated time the discharge is ex13 pected to continue; 

14 ‘‘(E) the volume of the discharge resulting 

15 from the bypass; 

16 ‘‘(F) a description of any public access 

17 areas that has or may be impacted by the by18 pass; and 

19 ‘‘(G) steps taken or planned to reduce, 

20 eliminate, and prevent reoccurrence of the dis21 charge. 

22 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF NOTICES.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 48 

24 hours after providing or receiving a follow-up 

25 notice under paragraph (5), as applicable, a 

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1 publicly owned treatment works and the Admin2 istrator (or the State, in the case of a State 

3 that has a permit program approved under this 

4 section) shall each post the follow-up notice on 

5 a publicly accessible, searchable database on the 

6 Internet. 

7 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL PUBLICATION.—The Admin8 istrator (or the State, in the case of a State 

9 that has a permit program approved under this 

10 section) shall annually publish and make avail11 able to the public a list of each of the treatment 

12 works from which the Administrator or the 

13 State, as applicable, received a follow-up notice 

14 under paragraph (5). 

15 ‘‘(7) SEWAGE BLENDING.—Bypasses prohibited 

16 by this section include bypasses resulting in dis17 charges from a publicly owned treatment works that 

18 consist of effluent routed around treatment units 

19 and thereafter blended together with effluent from 

20 treatment units prior to discharge. 

21 ‘‘(8) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 180 

22 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, 

23 the Administrator shall establish procedures to en24 sure that permits issued under this section (or under 

25 a State permit program approved under this section) 

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1 to a publicly owned treatment works include require2 ments to implement this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(9) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM CIVIL PENALTY

4 FOR VIOLATIONS OCCURRING AFTER JANUARY 1, 

5 2033.—Notwithstanding section 309, in the case of a 

6 violation of this subsection occurring on or after 

7 January 1, 2033, or any violation of a permit limita8 tion or condition implementing this subsection occur9 ring after that date, the maximum civil penalty that 

10 shall be assessed for the violation shall be $100,000 

11 per day for each day the violation occurs. 

12 ‘‘(10) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall 

13 apply to a bypass occurring after the last day of the 

14 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of 

15 this subsection.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Federal Water Pol18 lution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended— 

19 (1) by redesignating section 519 (33 U.S.C. 

20 1251 note) as section 520; and 

21 (2) by inserting after section 518 (33 U.S.C. 

22 1377) the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 519. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP 

24 FUND. 

25 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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1 ‘‘(1) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Great 

2 Lakes Cleanup Fund established by subsection (b). 

3 ‘‘(2) GREAT LAKES; GREAT LAKES STATES.— 

4 The terms ‘Great Lakes’ and ‘Great Lakes States’ 

5 have the meanings given the terms in section 

6 118(a)(3). 

7 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is estab8 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 

9 to be known as the ‘Great Lakes Cleanup Fund’ (referred 

10 to in this section as the ‘Fund’). 

11 ‘‘(c) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—Effective January 1, 

12 2033, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund 

13 amounts equivalent to the penalties collected for violations 

14 of section 402(s). 

15 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION OF FUND.—The Adminis16 trator shall administer the Fund. 

17 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.—The Administrator shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) make the amounts in the Fund available 

19 to the Great Lakes States for use in carrying out 

20 programs and activities for improving wastewater 

21 discharges into the Great Lakes, including habitat 

22 protection and wetland restoration; and 

23 ‘‘(2) allocate those amounts among the Great 

24 Lakes States based on the proportion that— 

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1 ‘‘(A) the amount attributable to a Great 

2 Lakes State for penalties collected for violations 

3 of section 402(s); bears to 

4 ‘‘(B) the total amount of those penalties 

5 attributable to all Great Lakes States. 

6 ‘‘(f) PRIORITY.—In selecting programs and activities 

7 to be funded using amounts made available under this sec8 tion, a Great Lakes State shall give priority consideration 

9 to programs and activities that address violations of sec10 tion 402(s) resulting in the collection of penalties.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO STATE REVOLV12 ING FUND PROGRAM.—Section 607 of the Federal Water 

13 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘There is’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN

15 GENERAL.—There is’’; and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP

18 FUND.—For purposes of this title, amounts made avail19 able from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under section 

20 519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appro21 priated to carry out this title and as funds made available 

22 under this title, except that the funds shall be made avail23 able to the Great Lakes States in accordance with section 

24 519.’’. 

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