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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3873 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3873

    To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a 
             national urban watershed restoration program.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 22, 1994

  Ms. Norton (for herself, Mr. Blackwell, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Evans, Mr. 
 Filner, Mr. Frost, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, 
Mr. Manton, Mr. Moran, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Olver, Mr. Owens, 
Mr. Rangel, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Shays, Mr. 
Stokes, Mrs. Unsoeld, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Watt, and Mr. Wynn) 
   introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the 
 Committees on Public Works and Transportation and Merchant Marine and 
                               Fisheries

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a 
             national urban watershed restoration program.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Urban Watershed Restoration Act of 
1994''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Urban communities are disproportionately impacted by 
        water quality degradation and aquatic habitat loss.
            (2) Local residents in urban communities can and should be 
        supported and empowered to revitalize and restore the urban 
        streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands in their neighborhoods.
            (3) Water quality and watershed programs in urban areas 
        must create new and diverse jobs for youths and other 
        unemployed workers in order to ensure the long-term 
        participation of urban communities within these programs.
            (4) A range of biological techniques, including 
        revegetation and other methods, have been demonstrated to be 
        effective in restoring urban waters, but have been 
        underutilized and underfunded in municipal stormwater and 
        watershed management programs.
            (5) Loss of species diversity and the invasion of exotic 
        species negatively impact estuarine habitat and can be 
        addressed through projects that enhance the diversity of 
        indigenous plant and animal communities.
            (6) Lack of public access to waterways and riparian 
        parkland fosters human isolation from and disinterest in urban 
        watersheds. Access to waterways can and should be created in 
        urban neighborhoods when and where appropriate.
            (7) The Nation benefits by supporting citizen monitoring 
        and local initiatives to protect and prevent further 
        degradation of urban waterways.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To enable local citizen and government organizations in 
        urban areas to undertake, with Federal, State, and private 
        assistance, urban watershed restoration programs which are 
        consistent with existing watershed and estuarine restoration 
        plans and existing Federal regulatory programs.
            (2) To restore both small and large urban waterbodies to 
        become oases of beauty, recreation, sustenance, and renewal for 
        their communities.
            (3) To achieve the goals of the Federal Water Pollution 
        Control Act in the most degraded and neglected urban areas; 
        specifically, to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, 
        and biological integrity of urban waters and watersheds, 
        including restoration and maintenance of water quality, a 
        balanced indigenous population of shellfish, fish, and 
        wildlife, aquatic and riparian vegetation, and recreational 
        activities in and on the water, and to protect designated uses, 
        including fishing, swimming, and drinking water supply.
            (4) To support the formation of, and provide the funds for, 
        small local and minority-owned businesses and nonprofit citizen 
        organizations focused on providing urban watershed restoration 
        jobs, services, and products for persons and communities in 
        degraded urban watershed areas.
            (5) To promote development of careers in urban watershed 
        restoration and related fields, as well as environmental 
        education, for youths.
            (6) To create urban watershed restoration project 
        opportunities for State and local conservation or service 
        corps.
            (7) To encourage the coordination of urban watershed 
        restoration projects and municipal stormwater and combined 
        sewer overflow permit programs.
            (8) To increase public access to urban waterways and to 
        increase the amount of urban estuarine and riparian parkland 
        available for passive recreation.
            (9) To promote the use of physical restoration of urban 
        waterways as a means to low-cost stormwater management.
            (10) Creation of new wetland and riparian environments as 
        part of a multiobjective stormwater management system in which 
        the created wetlands, stream channels, and riparian zones 
        provide stormwater storage, detention, retention, nutrient 
        filtering, wildlife habitat, and increase biological diversity.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

    Section 319 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1329) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(o) National Urban Watershed Restoration Program.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall 
        establish a National Urban Watershed Restoration Program to be 
        carried out in accordance with the requirements of this 
        subsection.
            ``(2) Administration.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Program shall be 
                administered by each State which the Administrator 
                determines has a demonstrated successful urban river 
                restoration program. If a State does not have a 
                demonstrated successful urban river restoration 
                program, the Administrator shall administer the Program 
                through the Regional Administration of the 
                Environmental Protection Agency.
                    ``(B) Combined funding.--The Administrator shall 
                assist States participating in the Program in combining 
                funding from the Program and other related programs to 
                reduce inefficiencies.
            ``(3) Funding.--The Administrator shall allocate at least 
        25 percent of funds made available to carry out this section 
        for the purpose of carrying out the Program.
            ``(4) Project grants and technical assistance.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Administrator shall use 
                funds allocated to carry out the Program for making 
                grants and providing technical assistance for projects 
                which meet the requirements of this subsection and 
                which are selected by the Administrator or the State, 
                as the case may be.
                    ``(B) Federal share.--The Federal share of the cost 
                of carrying out a project with Federal assistance under 
                this subsection in any fiscal year shall not exceed 60 
                percent of the cost incurred in carrying out such 
                project and shall be made on condition that the non-
                Federal share is provided from non-Federal sources. The 
                non-Federal share may include in-kind services.
                    ``(C) Maximum amount to be used for individual 
                projects.--Not more than $500,000 of the funds 
                allocated to carry out the Program may be expended to 
                carry out any individual project.
                    ``(D) Simplified contracting procedures.--The 
                Administrator shall develop simplified contracting 
                procedures for grants under the Program and may waive 
                Federal contracting requirements as appropriate for 
                grants under $100,000.
            ``(5) Project selection.--
                    ``(A) Conditions.--The Administrator or State, as 
                the case may be, shall select a project to be carried 
                out under the Program only if the project meets the 
                following requirements:
                            ``(i) Proposal.--The project is jointly 
                        nominated by a State, local, regional, or 
                        tribal governmental entity and by a private 
                        citizen's organization active in the urban 
                        watershed area of the project, and the project 
                        sponsors submit to the Administrator or State a 
                        proposal for carrying out the project.
                            ``(ii) Consistency with existing plans and 
                        permits.--In order to ensure consistency with 
                        regional restoration priorities, the project 
                        sponsors--
                                    ``(I) certify that all available 
                                and relevant water quality and 
                                watershed plans, reports, studies, and 
                                strategies (including those under 
                                sections 118, 119, 120, 208, 303, 314, 
                                319, and 320 of this Act) that the 
                                Administrator deems appropriate and, 
                                where appropriate, municipal stormwater 
                                discharge and combined sewer overflow 
                                permits under section 402 have been 
                                considered by the project sponsor; and
                                    ``(II) provide assurances that the 
                                project will be carried out in a manner 
                                which is consistent with such plans, 
                                reports, studies, strategies, and 
                                permits, as well as the goals and 
                                objectives of the Program and this Act.
                    ``(B) Priority projects.--Under the Program, the 
                Administrator shall encourage through technical 
                assistance and other means, and give priority to, those 
                projects that--
                            ``(i) assist communities in meeting 
                        municipal stormwater discharge and combined 
                        sewer overflow permit program requirements 
                        under section 402 of this Act;
                            ``(ii) assist in the implementation of 
                        approved national estuary plans under section 
                        320 of this Act; and
                            ``(iii) assist municipalities in the 
                        development and implementation of stream 
                        protection measures and monitoring.
                    ``(C) Factors to be considered.--In considering 
                whether or not to select a project to be carried out 
                under the Program, the Administrator or State shall 
                consider, at a minimum, the following factors and give 
                priority to those projects that meet more than one of 
                these factors:
                            ``(i) The project will be carried out in a 
                        low-income urban area.
                            ``(ii) The project will correct a water 
                        pollution, stormwater drainage, aquatic and 
                        riparian habitat loss, erosion reduction and 
                        control, or landscape degradation problem which 
                        contributes to the economic, social, and 
                        environmental and water quality degradation of 
                        the area.
                            ``(iii) The project will support 
                        ecologically-oriented businesses or occupations 
                        in the area served by the project.
                            ``(iv) The project will employ and train 
                        State and local conservation or service corps 
                        in watershed restoration and monitoring and 
                        assessment work.
                            ``(v) The project will employ youth.
                            ``(vi) The project will support diverse 
                        community coalitions in low-income urban areas 
                        and support outreach programs to involve these 
                        communities in urban watershed monitoring and 
                        restoration.
                            ``(vii) The project will restore urban 
                        waterways providing benefits to urban fisheries 
                        of recreational, subsistence, commercial, or 
                        scientific significance, giving priority to 
                        ecological restoration methods.
                            ``(viii) The project will employ and train 
                        urban fishers and other urban aquatic resource 
                        users and harvesters who have experienced loss 
                        or reduction of their livelihoods due to 
                        habitat degradation or related harvesting 
                        regulations.
                            ``(ix) The project will integrate local or 
                        regional schools, colleges, universities, and 
                        nonprofit organizations into the restoration, 
                        monitoring, and education activities of urban 
                        water quality programs.
                            ``(x) The project will assist a municipal 
                        project sponsor in complying with municipal 
                        stormwater and combined sewer overflow permit 
                        program requirements under section 402.
            ``(6) Eligible project costs.--Project costs eligible for 
        funding under the Program shall be limited to the following 
        activities and purposes:
                    ``(A) Ecological restoration of existing degraded 
                wetlands, streams, lakes, and rivers.
                    ``(B) Removal of debris.
                    ``(C) Creation of a greater diversity of aquatic 
                habitats in urban environments.
                    ``(D) Construction of new wetlands and vegetated 
                riparian areas.
                    ``(E) Reduction of runoff caused by urbanization, 
                including impervious surface and abandoned lot 
                reclamation and revegetation projects.
                    ``(F) Streambank restoration and stabilization 
                utilizing biological slope stabilization.
                    ``(G) Creation of floodplain riparian zones, 
                sediment removal from storm flows, and nutrient uptake 
                by riparian plant communities.
                    ``(H) Projects designed to remove barriers to fish 
                passage and projects designed to remove culverts or 
                storm drains to reestablish stream channel environments 
                or to manage stormwater flow.
                    ``(I) Organization of neighborhood or regional 
                nonprofit watershed citizen groups and councils to 
                develop a consensus watershed restoration strategy 
                where one does not currently exist and to carry out 
                restoration activities under such a plan.
                    ``(J) Watershed landscape projects and geographical 
                surveys and mapping to carry out the purposes of this 
                Act, including the identification of potential riparian 
                restoration sites.
                    ``(K) Employment of youths in any or all of the 
                activities described in subparagraphs (A) and (J). Such 
                employment shall be through membership in State or 
                local conservation or service corps or, where such 
                corps do not exist, through membership in State, 
                regional, or local community service organizations or 
                other equivalent agencies.
            ``(7) Coordination with other agencies.--The Administrator 
        shall assist project sponsors in coordinating with Federal and 
        State agencies, academic institutions, community organizations, 
        and public interest groups.
            ``(8) Cooperative agreements.--Each Regional Administrator 
        may enter into 1 or more cooperative agreements with 
        appropriate officials of the Soil Conservation Service of the 
        Department of Agriculture and the Fish and Wildlife Service and 
        the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior for 
        the purpose of having the cooperating agency provide technical 
        assistance to one or more projects being carried out under the 
        Program.
            ``(9) Nondegradation policy.--Nothing in this subsection 
        shall be construed to encourage additional development, 
        alteration, loss, or degradation of wetlands or other waters 
        within urban watersheds or stream corridors or any other waters 
        of the United States.
            ``(10) Reports.--
                    ``(A) Regional administrators.--Not later than 
                January 1, 1995, and each January 1 thereafter, each 
                Regional Administrator shall submit to the 
                Administrator a report for the preceding fiscal year on 
                the implementation of the Program in its region, 
                together with recommendations of methods of improving 
                such implementation.
                    ``(B) Administrator.--Not later than March 1, 1997, 
                the Administrator shall transmit to Congress a report 
                for fiscal years 1994, 1995, and 1996 on the 
                implementation of the Program under this subsection, 
                together with recommendations concerning continuation 
                of the Program after fiscal year 1998 and 
                recommendations concerning methods of improving such 
                implementation.
            ``(11) Definitions.--For the purposes of this subsection, 
        the following definitions apply:
                    ``(A) Ecological restoration.--The term `ecological 
                restoration' means the process of intentionally 
                altering a site to establish a defined, indigenous, 
                historic ecosystem with the goal of emulating the 
                structure, function, diversity, and dynamics of the 
                ecosystem.
                    ``(B) Program.--The term `Program' means the 
                National Urban Watershed Restoration Program 
                established under paragraph (1) by the Administrator.
                    ``(C) Regional administrator.--The term `Regional 
                Administrator' means a Regional Administrator of the 
                Environmental Protection Agency.
                    ``(D) Urban watershed.--The term `urban watershed' 
                means any watershed located wholly or substantially 
                within the boundaries of an urbanized area designated 
                by the Bureau of the Census or any watershed located 
                wholly or substantially within the boundaries of lands 
                owned or controlled by an Indian tribe.
                    ``(E) Watershed.--The term `watershed' means all 
                lands that drain directly into a single waterbody, the 
                land that drains into sewer conveyances that discharge 
                to the waterbody, and the waterbody itself.''.

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