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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1283

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Safe Drinking

Water Act to provide protection for sole source aquifers.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 10, 1993

Mr. GALLO introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on Energy and Commerce and Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and

the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide protection for

sole source aquifers.

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 ‘‘Sole Source Aquifer

5 Protection Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTION FOR SOLE OR PRINCIPAL SOURCE

7 AQUIFERS.

8 Section 1424 of title XIV of the Public Health Serv9 ice Act, commonly known as the Safe Drinking Water Act
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1 (42 U.S.C. 300h–3), is amended by adding at the end the

2 following:

3 ‘‘(f)(1) After the date of the enactment of the Sole

4 Source Aquifer Protection Act of 1993, no person may

5 construct a landfill or land treatment facility within a crit6 ical aquifer protection area (as defined in section 1427)

7 unless the State, municipal, or local government (or inter8 state regional planning entity) that has authority or juris9 diction over such area has adopted a comprehensive man10 agement plan for the critical aquifer protection area which

11 plan meets the following requirements:

12 ‘‘(A) The objective of the comprehensive man13 agement plan shall be to maintain the quality of the

14 ground water in the critical protection area in a

15 manner expected to protect human health, the envi16 ronment, and ground water resources. In order to

17 achieve such objective, the plan may be designed to

18 maintain, to the maximum extent possible, the natu19 ral vegetative and hydrogeological conditions. Each

20 of the following elements shall be included in the

21 plan:

22 ‘‘(i) A map showing the detailed boundary

23 of the critical protection area.
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1 ‘‘(ii) An identification of existing and po2 tential point and nonpoint sources of ground

3 water degradation.

4 ‘‘(iii) An assessment of the relationship be5 tween activities on the land surface and ground

6 water quality.

7 ‘‘(iv) Specific actions and management

8 practices to be implemented in the critical pro9 tection area to prevent adverse impacts on

10 ground water quality.

11 ‘‘(v) Identification of authority adequate to

12 implement the plan.

13 ‘‘(vi) Requirements designed to maintain

14 existing underground drinking water quality or

15 improve underground drinking water quality if

16 prevailing conditions fail to meet drinking water

17 standards, pursuant to this title and State law.

18 ‘‘(vii) A comprehensive statement of land

19 use management including emergency contin20 gency planning as it pertains to the mainte21 nance of the quality of underground sources of

22 drinking water or to the improvement of such

23 sources if necessary to meet drinking water

24 standards pursuant to this title and State law.
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1 ‘‘(viii) Actions in the special protection

2 area which would avoid adverse impacts on

3 water quality, recharge capabilities, or both.

4 ‘‘(ix) A program for State and local imple5 mentation of the plan described in this sub6 section in a manner that will ensure the contin7 ued, uniform, consistent protection of the criti8 cal protection area in accord with the purposes

9 of this section.

10 ‘‘(B) During the development of the comprehen11 sive management plan, the planning entity shall con12 sult with, and consider the comments of, appropriate

13 officials of any municipality and State or Federal

14 agency which has jurisdiction over lands and waters

15 within the special protection area, other concerned

16 organizations and technical and citizen advisory

17 committees. The planning entity shall conduct public

18 hearings at places within the special protection area

19 for the purpose of providing the opportunity to com20 ment on any aspect of the plan.

21 ‘‘(2) Nothing in this subsection shall affect the appli22 cation of section 118(c) of the Superfund Amendments

23 and Reauthorization Act of 1986.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT.

2 Section 101(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Con3 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1251(a)) is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

5 (6);

6 (2) by striking the period at the end of para7 graph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (3) by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(7) it is the national policy that a comprehen10 sive management plan to protect surface, ground,

11 and navigable water be promulgated before any

12 State, municipal, or local government or interstate

13 planning entity authorizes a landfill or land treat14 ment facility over a critical aquifer protection area

15 (as defined by section 1427 of the Public Health

16 Service Act).’’.

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