II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1542

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants to improve wastewater treatment for certain unincorporated communities, and

for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 14 (legislative day, OCTOBER 13), 1993

Mr. BINGAMAN 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 authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants to improve wastewater

treatment for certain unincorporated communities, 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 ‘‘Unincorporated Com5 munity Wastewater Treatment Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) as of the date of enactment of this Act,

2 there is a severe lack of wastewater treatment facili3 ties in small, semi-rural, unincorporated commu4 nities in the United States;

5 (2) the lack of facilities is leading to the pollu6 tion of rivers and ground water in the area; and

7 (3) the pollution presents a potential threat to

8 the public health of the communities referred to in

9 paragraph (1).

10 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES.

11 Title V of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

12 (33 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended—

13 (1) by redesignating section 519 as section 520;

14 and

15 (2) by inserting after section 518 following new

16 section:

17 ‘‘SEC. 519. GRANTS TO UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES.

18 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

19 ‘‘(1) CONSTRUCTION.—The term ‘construction’

20 has the same meaning provided in section 212(1).

21 ‘‘(2) NON-METROPOLITAN AREA.—The term

22 ‘non-metropolitan area’ means an area no part of

23 which is within an area designated as a metropolitan

24 statistical area by the Office of Management and

25 Budget.
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1 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT WORKS.—The term ‘treat2 ment works’ has the same meaning provided in sec3 tion 212(2).

4 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION FOR GRANT AWARDS.—Not5 withstanding any other provision of law, the Administrator

6 is authorized to award a grant for wastewater treatment

7 to an unincorporated community (without regard to

8 whether the community is located in a metropolitan statis9 tical area) for a wastewater treatment project that serves

10 a population—

11 ‘‘(1) of 20,000 or fewer residents; and

12 ‘‘(2) with a median household income that is

13 less than or equal to 110 percent of the median

14 household income for non-metropolitan areas of the

15 State in which the community is located.

16 ‘‘(c) USE OF GRANT.—A grant awarded under this

17 section may be used for 1 or more of the following activi18 ties:

19 ‘‘(1) The acquisition or construction (including

20 planning, design, repair, extension, improvement, al21 teration, or reconstruction) of a treatment works or

22 any portion or any associated structure of a treat23 ment works (including any associated collection line

24 or interceptor sewer, notwithstanding any limitation
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1 otherwise imposed with respect to the provision of

2 assistance for the line or sewer).

3 ‘‘(2) The acquisition of land, or any easement

4 or other right-of-way, with respect to which the re5 cipient of the grant is not the owner at the time of

6 the acquisition, that is necessary to carry out the

7 construction or operation of the treatment works re8 ferred to in paragraph (1).

9 ‘‘(3) The final disposal of residues resulting

10 from the treatment of water or waste.

11 ‘‘(4) The disposal of wastewater by surface or

12 underground methods (or both).

13 ‘‘(5) The disposal of wastewater through recy14 cling or reclamation (or both).

15 ‘‘(d) COST-SHARING.—

16 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of a

17 grant described in subsection (a) shall not exceed 75

18 percent of the total cost of the project that is the

19 subject of the grant.

20 ‘‘(2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—Payment of the

21 non-Federal share of a grant described in subsection

22 (a) may be satisfied by any combination of public or

23 private funds or in-kind services. The non-Federal

24 share may include public funds authorized or ex25 pended for the project that is the subject of the
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1 grant during the period beginning on the date that

2 is 3 years before the date of enactment of the Unin3 corporated Community Wastewater Treatment Act

4 of 1993.

5 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

6 are authorized to be appropriated to the Environmental

7 Protection Agency, to carry out this section, such sums

8 as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 1994 through

9 2000.’’.

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