I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2809 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit sewage 

dumping into the Great Lakes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2015 

Mr. DOLD (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, and Mr. QUIGLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit sewage dumping into the Great Lakes, and for 

other purposes. 

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 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 402 of the Federal Water 

4 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by 

5 adding at the end 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 that re12 sults 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 or a tributary of the 

19 Great Lakes. 

20 ‘‘(ii) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘dis21 charge’ includes a bypass and a combined 

22 sewer overflow. 

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

24 Lakes’ has the meaning given the term in sec25 tion 118(a)(3). 


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

2 term ‘partially treated sewage’ means any sew3 age, sewage and storm water, or sewage and 

4 wastewater, from domestic or industrial sources 

5 that— 

6 ‘‘(i) is not treated to national sec7 ondary treatment standards for waste8 water; or 

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

10 level required by the applicable national 

11 pollutant discharge elimination system per12 mit. 

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

14 ‘treatment facility’ includes all wastewater 

15 treatment units used by a publicly owned treat16 ment works to meet secondary treatment stand17 ards or higher, as required to attain water qual18 ity standards, under any operating conditions. 

19 ‘‘(F) TREATMENT WORKS.—The term 

20 ‘treatment works’ has the meaning given the 

21 term in section 212. 

22 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—A publicly owned treat23 ment works is prohibited from performing a bypass 

24 unless— 


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1 ‘‘(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to pre2 vent loss of life, personal injury, or severe prop3 erty damage; 

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

5 the bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treat6 ment facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or 

7 maintenance during normal periods of equip8 ment downtime; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) the treatment works provides notice 

10 of the bypass in accordance with this sub11 section; or 

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

13 limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 

14 essential maintenance to ensure efficient oper15 ation of the treatment facility. 

16 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The requirement of para17 graph (2)(A)(ii) is not satisfied if— 

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

19 have been installed in the exercise of reasonable 

20 engineering judgment to prevent the bypass; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) the bypass occurred during normal 

23 periods of equipment downtime or preventive 

24 maintenance. 

25 ‘‘(4) IMMEDIATE NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

2 shall work with States having publicly owned 

3 treatment works subject to the requirements of 

4 this subsection to create immediate notice re5 quirements in the event of discharge that pro6 vide for the method, contents, and requirements 

7 for public availability of the notice. 

8 ‘‘(B) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At a minimum, 

10 the contents of the notice shall include— 

11 ‘‘(I) the exact dates and times of 

12 the discharge; 

13 ‘‘(II) the volume of the discharge; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(III) a description of any public 

16 access areas impacted. 

17 ‘‘(ii) CONSISTENCY.—Minimum re18 quirements shall be consistent for all 

19 States. 

20 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The 

21 Administrator and States described in subpara22 graph (A) shall include— 

23 ‘‘(i) follow-up notice requirements 

24 that provide a more full description of each 


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1 event, the cause, and plans to prevent reoc2 currence; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) annual publication requirements 

4 that list each treatment works from which 

5 the Administrator or the State receive a 

6 follow-up notice. 

7 ‘‘(D) TIMING.—The notice and publication 

8 requirements described in this paragraph shall 

9 be implemented not later than 2 years after the 

10 date of enactment of this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(5) SEWAGE BLENDING.—Bypasses prohibited 

12 by this section include bypasses resulting in dis13 charges from a publicly owned treatment works that 

14 consist of effluent routed around treatment units 

15 and thereafter blended together with effluent from 

16 treatment units prior to discharge. 

17 ‘‘(6) IMPLEMENTATION.—As soon as prac18 ticable, the Administrator shall establish procedures 

19 to ensure that permits issued under this section (or 

20 under a State permit program approved under this 

21 section) to a publicly owned treatment works include 

22 requirements to implement this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(7) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM CIVIL PENALTY

24 FOR VIOLATIONS OCCURRING AFTER JANUARY 1, 

25 2035.—Notwithstanding section 309, in the case of a 


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1 violation of this subsection occurring on or after 

2 January 1, 2035, or any violation of a permit limita3 tion or condition implementing this subsection occur4 ring after that date, the maximum civil penalty that 

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

6 per day for each day the violation occurs. 

7 ‘‘(8) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall 

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

9 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of 

10 this subsection.’’. 

11 (b) GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.— 

12 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Title V of the Federal 

13 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1361 et 

14 seq.) is amended— 

15 (A) by redesignating section 519 (33 

16 U.S.C. 1251 note) as section 520; and 

17 (B) by inserting after section 518 (33 

18 U.S.C. 1377) the following: 

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

20 FUND. 

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

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

23 Lakes Cleanup Fund established by subsection (b). 

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

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


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1 have the meanings given the terms in section 

2 118(a)(3). 

3 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is estab4 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 

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

6 to in this section as the ‘Fund’). 

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

8 2035, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund 

9 amounts equivalent to the penalties collected for violations 

10 of section 402(s). 

11 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION OF FUND.—The Adminis12 trator shall administer the Fund. 

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

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

15 to the Great Lakes States for use in carrying out 

16 programs and activities for improving wastewater 

17 discharges into the Great Lakes, including habitat 

18 protection and wetland restoration; and 

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

20 Lakes States based on the proportion that— 

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

22 Lakes State for penalties collected for violations 

23 of section 402(s); bears to 

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

25 attributable to all Great Lakes States. 


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

2 to be funded using amounts made available under this sec3 tion, a Great Lakes State shall give priority consideration 

4 to programs and activities that address violations of sec5 tion 402(s) resulting in the collection of penalties.’’. 

6 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO STATE RE7 VOLVING FUND PROGRAM.—Section 607 of the Fed8 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) 

9 is amended— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘There is’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is’’; and 

12 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP

14 FUND.—For purposes of this title, amounts made avail15 able from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under section 

16 519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appro17 priated to carry out this title and as funds made available 

18 under this title, except that the funds shall be made avail19 able to the Great Lakes States in accordance with section 

20 519.’’. 

Æ 


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