II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1586 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit sewage 

dumping into the Great Lakes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 16, 2015 

Mr. KIRK 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 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE 

7 GREAT LAKES. 

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

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

10 adding at the end the following: 


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

2 GREAT LAKES.— 

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

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

5 an intentional diversion of waste streams to by6 pass any portion of a treatment facility that re7 sults in a discharge into the Great Lakes. 

8 ‘‘(B) DISCHARGE.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘dis10 charge’ means a direct or indirect dis11 charge of untreated sewage or partially 

12 treated sewage from a treatment works 

13 into the Great Lakes or a tributary of the 

14 Great Lakes. 

15 ‘‘(ii) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘dis16 charge’ includes a bypass and a combined 

17 sewer overflow. 

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

19 Lakes’ has the meaning given the term in sec20 tion 118(a)(3). 

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

22 term ‘partially treated sewage’ means any sew23 age, sewage and storm water, or sewage and 

24 wastewater, from domestic or industrial sources 

25 that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) is not treated to national sec2 ondary treatment standards for waste3 water; or 

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

5 level required by the applicable national 

6 pollutant discharge elimination system per7 mit. 

8 ‘‘(E) TREATMENT FACILITY.—The term 

9 ‘treatment facility’ includes all wastewater 

10 treatment units used by a publicly owned treat11 ment works to meet secondary treatment stand12 ards or higher, as required to attain water qual13 ity standards, under any operating conditions. 

14 ‘‘(F) TREATMENT WORKS.—The term 

15 ‘treatment works’ has the meaning given the 

16 term in section 212. 

17 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—A publicly owned treat18 ment works is prohibited from performing a bypass 

19 unless— 

20 ‘‘(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to pre21 vent loss of life, personal injury, or severe prop22 erty damage; 

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

24 the bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treat25 ment facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or 


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1 maintenance during normal periods of equip2 ment downtime; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) the treatment works provides notice 

4 of the bypass in accordance with this sub5 section; or 

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

7 limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 

8 essential maintenance to ensure efficient oper9 ation of the treatment facility. 

10 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The requirement of para11 graph (2)(A)(ii) is not satisfied if— 

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

13 have been installed in the exercise of reasonable 

14 engineering judgment to prevent the bypass; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(B) the bypass occurred during normal 

17 periods of equipment downtime or preventive 

18 maintenance. 

19 ‘‘(4) IMMEDIATE NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

21 shall work with States having publicly owned 

22 treatment works subject to the requirements of 

23 this subsection to create immediate notice re24 quirements in the event of discharge that proVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 19, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1586.IS S1586

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1 vide for the method, contents, and requirements 

2 for public availability of the notice. 

3 ‘‘(B) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At a minimum, 

5 the contents of the notice shall include— 

6 ‘‘(I) the exact dates and times of 

7 the discharge; 

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

9 and 

10 ‘‘(III) a description of any public 

11 access areas impacted. 

12 ‘‘(ii) CONSISTENCY.—Minimum re13 quirements shall be consistent for all 

14 States. 

15 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The 

16 Administrator and States described in subpara17 graph (A) shall include— 

18 ‘‘(i) follow-up notice requirements 

19 that provide a more full description of each 

20 event, the cause, and plans to prevent reoc21 currence; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) annual publication requirements 

23 that list each treatment works from which 

24 the Administrator or the State receive a 

25 follow-up notice. 


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

2 requirements described in this paragraph shall 

3 be implemented not later than 2 years after the 

4 date of enactment of this subsection. 

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

6 by this section include bypasses resulting in dis7 charges from a publicly owned treatment works that 

8 consist of effluent routed around treatment units 

9 and thereafter blended together with effluent from 

10 treatment units prior to discharge. 

11 ‘‘(6) IMPLEMENTATION.—As soon as prac12 ticable, the Administrator shall establish procedures 

13 to ensure that permits issued under this section (or 

14 under a State permit program approved under this 

15 section) to a publicly owned treatment works include 

16 requirements to implement this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(7) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM CIVIL PENALTY

18 FOR VIOLATIONS OCCURRING AFTER JANUARY 1, 

19 2035.—Notwithstanding section 309, in the case of a 

20 violation of this subsection occurring on or after 

21 January 1, 2035, or any violation of a permit limita22 tion or condition implementing this subsection occur23 ring after that date, the maximum civil penalty that 

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

25 per day for each day the violation occurs. 


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

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

3 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of 

4 this subsection.’’. 

5 (b) GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.— 

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

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

8 seq.) is amended— 

9 (A) by redesignating section 519 (33 

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

11 (B) by inserting after section 518 (33 

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

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

14 FUND. 

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

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

17 Lakes Cleanup Fund established by subsection (b). 

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

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

20 have the meanings given the terms in section 

21 118(a)(3). 

22 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is estab23 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 

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

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


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

2 2035, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund 

3 amounts equivalent to the penalties collected for violations 

4 of section 402(s). 

5 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION OF FUND.—The Adminis6 trator shall administer the Fund. 

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

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

9 to the Great Lakes States for use in carrying out 

10 programs and activities for improving wastewater 

11 discharges into the Great Lakes, including habitat 

12 protection and wetland restoration; and 

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

14 Lakes States based on the proportion that— 

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

16 Lakes State for penalties collected for violations 

17 of section 402(s); bears to 

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

19 attributable to all Great Lakes States. 

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

21 to be funded using amounts made available under this sec22 tion, a Great Lakes State shall give priority consideration 

23 to programs and activities that address violations of sec24 tion 402(s) resulting in the collection of penalties.’’. 


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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO STATE RE2 VOLVING FUND PROGRAM.—Section 607 of the Fed3 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) 

4 is amended— 

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

6 ‘‘(a) In General.—There is’’; and 

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

8 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP

9 FUND.—For purposes of this title, amounts made avail10 able from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under section 

11 519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appro12 priated to carry out this title and as funds made available 

13 under this title, except that the funds shall be made avail14 able to the Great Lakes States in accordance with section 

15 519.’’. 

Æ 


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