I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1705 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to assist municipalities 

and regional sewer authorities that would experience a significant hardship raising the revenue necessary to finance projects and activities 

for the construction of wastewater treatment works, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2015 

Mr. LATTA (for himself and Mr. WALZ) 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 assist 

municipalities and regional sewer authorities that would 

experience a significant hardship raising the revenue necessary to finance projects and activities for the construction of wastewater treatment works, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Clean Water Affordability Act of 2015’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—CLEAN WATER AFFORDABILITY 

Sec. 101. Integrated planning process. 

Sec. 102. Updating of guidance. 

Sec. 103. Capitalization grant agreements. 

TITLE II—WET WEATHER MANAGEMENT 

Sec. 201. Technology-based controls for peak wet weather management. 

Sec. 202. Wet weather water quality-based standards. 

Sec. 203. Peak wet weather waste water management techniques. 

3 TITLE I—CLEAN WATER 

4 AFFORDABILITY 

5 SEC. 101. INTEGRATED PLANNING PROCESS. 

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

7 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(a)) is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(6) INTEGRATED PERMITS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF PUBLICLY OWNED

11 PERMITTEE.—In this paragraph, the term ‘pub12 licly owned permittee’ means either— 

13 ‘‘(i) a treatment works (as defined in 

14 section 212) that is publicly owned; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) a municipal separate storm sewer 

16 system referred to in this section. 

17 ‘‘(B) PLANNING APPROACH.—The Admin18 istrator shall establish a comprehensive and in19 tegrated planning approach to the obligations 


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1 under this section of a publicly owned per2 mittee— 

3 ‘‘(i) under which permit obligations 

4 may be implemented according to a sched5 ule that— 

6 ‘‘(I) accounts for the financial ca7 pability of the publicly owned per8 mittee; 

9 ‘‘(II) prioritizes permit obliga10 tions according to the most cost-effec11 tive and environmentally beneficial 

12 outcomes; 

13 ‘‘(III) accounts for the pre14 existing maintenance, operational, and 

15 regulatory obligations of the publicly 

16 owned permittee under this section; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(IV) enables the publicly owned 

19 permittee to implement innovative ap20 proaches to meet those obligations; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(ii) that accounts for changed cir23 cumstances in the obligations of the pub24 licly owned permittee, such as— 


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1 ‘‘(I) new innovative treatment 

2 approaches; 

3 ‘‘(II) new regulatory require4 ments; and 

5 ‘‘(III) changes in financial capa6 bility.’’. 

7 (b) DURATION OF PERMITS.—Section 402(b)(1)(B) 

8 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

9 1342(b)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting before the semi10 colon at the end the following: ‘‘, except that a permit with 

11 a term of more than 5 years but not more than 25 years 

12 may be approved if the permittee has an approved inte13 grated plan established under subsection (a)(6)’’. 

14 SEC. 102. UPDATING OF GUIDANCE. 

15 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi16 nitions apply: 

17 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis18 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ19 mental Protection Agency. 

20 (2) AFFORDABILITY.—The term ‘‘affordability’’ 

21 means, with respect to payment of a utility bill, a 

22 measure of whether an individual customer or house23 hold can pay the bill without undue hardship or un24 reasonable sacrifice in the essential lifestyle or 


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1 spending patterns of the individual or household, as 

2 determined by the Administrator. 

3 (3) FINANCIAL CAPABILITY.—The term ‘‘finan4 cial capability’’ means the financial capability of a 

5 community to make investments necessary to make 

6 water quality-related improvements, taking into con7 sideration the criteria described in subsection 

8 (b)(2)(A). 

9 (4) GUIDANCE.—The term ‘‘guidance’’ means 

10 the guidance published by the Administrator entitled 

11 ‘‘Combined Sewer Overflows—Guidance for Finan12 cial Capability Assessment and Schedule Develop13 ment’’ and dated February 1997, as applicable to 

14 combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer over15 flows. 

16 (b) UPDATING.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

19 shall update the guidance to ensure that the evalua20 tions by the Administrator of financial capability as21 sessment and schedule development meet the criteria 

22 described in paragraph (2). 

23 (2) CRITERIA.—The criteria described in this 

24 paragraph are that, under the updated guidance— 


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1 (A) in assessing the financial capability of 

2 a community— 

3 (i) greater emphasis should be placed 

4 on local economic conditions; 

5 (ii) for regional systems, consideration 

6 should be given to the economic conditions 

7 of political jurisdictions and significant de8 mographic groups within each region; 

9 (iii) prescriptive formulas for use in 

10 calculating financial capability and thresh11 olds for expenditure should not be consid12 ered to be the only indicator of the finan13 cial capability of a community; 

14 (iv) site-specific local conditions 

15 should be taken into consideration in ana16 lyzing financial capability; 

17 (v) a single measure of financial capa18 bility or affordability (such as median 

19 household income) should be viewed in the 

20 context of other economic measures, rather 

21 than as a threshold to be achieved; and 

22 (vi)(I) consideration should be given 

23 to the economic outlook of a community, 

24 including the potential impact of program 


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1 requirements over time, in the development 

2 of implementation schedules; and 

3 (II) the assessment should take into 

4 consideration other essential community 

5 investments relating to water quality im6 provements; 

7 (B) with respect to the timing of imple8 mentation of water quality-related improve9 ments— 

10 (i) environmental improvement imple11 mentation schedules should be structured 

12 to mitigate the potential adverse impact on 

13 distressed populations resulting from the 

14 costs of the improvements; 

15 (ii) implementation schedules should 

16 reflect local community financial conditions 

17 and economic impacts; 

18 (iii) implementation schedules should 

19 allow permittees up to 30 years to imple20 ment water quality-related improvements 

21 in appropriate cases in which the cost of 

22 implementing the improvements places a 

23 high financial burden on the permittee; 

24 and 


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1 (iv) existing implementation schedules 

2 should be modified in appropriate cases 

3 taking into consideration the criteria set 

4 forth in this subparagraph; 

5 (C) with respect to implementation— 

6 (i) a determination of local financial 

7 capability may be achieved through an 

8 evaluation of an array of factors the rel9 ative importance of which may vary across 

10 regions and localities; and 

11 (ii) an appropriate methodology 

12 should give consideration to such various 

13 factors as are appropriate to recognize the 

14 prevailing and projected economic concerns 

15 in a community; and 

16 (D) the residential indicator should be re17 vised to include— 

18 (i) a consideration of costs imposed 

19 upon ratepayers for essential utilities; 

20 (ii) increased consideration and quan21 tification of local community-imposed costs 

22 in regional systems; 

23 (iii) a mechanism to assess impacts on 

24 communities with disparate economic conVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Apr 03, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1705.IH H1705

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1 ditions throughout the entire service area 

2 of a utility; 

3 (iv) a consideration of the industrial 

4 and population trends of a community; 

5 (v) recognition that— 

6 (I) the median household income 

7 of a service area reflects a numerical 

8 median rather than the distribution of 

9 incomes within the service area; and 

10 (II) more representative methods 

11 of determining affordability, such as 

12 shelter costs, essential utility pay13 ments, State affordability criteria, and 

14 State and local tax efforts, should be 

15 considered; 

16 (vi) a consideration of low-income 

17 ratepayer percentages; and 

18 (vii) impacts relating to program de19 livery, such as water quality infrastructure 

20 market saturation and program manage21 ment. 

22 (3) IMPLEMENTATION.—The updated guidance 

23 should indicate that, in a case in which a previously 

24 approved long-term control plan or associated en25 forceable agreement does not prohibit modification 


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1 of the plan or terms of the agreement (including fi2 nancial capability considerations), and all parties are 

3 in agreement that a change is needed or that the 

4 plan or agreement does not prohibit reopening to ad5 dress changes in the economic or financial status of 

6 the community since the effective date of the plan or 

7 agreement, reconsideration and modification of fi8 nancial capability determinations and implementa9 tion schedules based on the criteria described in 

10 paragraph (2) is appropriate. 

11 (4) APPLICABILITY.—The Administrator shall 

12 apply the updated guidance, including the criteria 

13 described in paragraph (2), to each determination 

14 and analysis of affordability, financial capability, or 

15 widespread and substantial economic impact related 

16 to implementation of a program under the Federal 

17 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et 

18 seq.). 

19 (c) PUBLICATION AND SUBMISSION.—Upon comple20 tion of the updating of guidance under subsection (b), the 

21 Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register and 

22 submit to the Committee on Environment and Public 

23 Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transpor24 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 

25 the updated guidance. 


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1 SEC. 103. CAPITALIZATION GRANT AGREEMENTS. 

2 Section 602(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Con3 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1382(b)) is amended— 

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

5 (9); 

6 (2) by striking the period at the end of para7 graph (10) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

9 ‘‘(11) the State will use at least 15 percent of 

10 the amount of each capitalization grant received by 

11 the State under this title after September 30, 2016, 

12 to provide assistance to municipalities of fewer than 

13 10,000 individuals that meet the affordability cri14 teria established by the State under section 

15 603(i)(2) for activities included on the State’s pri16 ority list established under section 603(g), to the ex17 tent that there are sufficient applications for such 

18 assistance.’’. 

19 TITLE II—WET WEATHER 

20 MANAGEMENT 

21 SEC. 201. TECHNOLOGY-BASED CONTROLS FOR PEAK WET 

22 WEATHER MANAGEMENT. 

23 (a) APPLICABILITY OF EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS.— 

24 Section 301(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Water Pollution Con25 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1311(b)(1)(B)) is amended by striking 

26 the semicolon and inserting ‘‘, which effluent limitations 


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1 shall apply at the final point of discharge from the treat2 ment facility and not to flows within the treatment facil3 ity;’’. 

4 (b) MODIFICATION OF EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS

5 DURING PEAK WET WEATHER.—Section 301 of such Act 

6 (33 U.S.C. 1311) is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(q) MODIFICATION OF EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS

9 DURING PEAK WET WEATHER.—The Administrator, with 

10 concurrence of the State, may issue permits pursuant to 

11 section 402 that modify the requirements of subsection 

12 (b)(1)(B) with respect to the discharge of any pollutant 

13 from a collection system servicing a publicly owned treat14 ment works during periods of peak wet weather, if the ap15 plicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Adminis16 trator that the applicant has a peak wet weather manage17 ment plan approved by the Administrator or State that— 

18 ‘‘(1) defines the peak wet weather event during 

19 which the plan will apply; and 

20 ‘‘(2) describes the management practices to be 

21 used by the applicant during peak wet weather 

22 events pursuant to guidelines established by the Ad23 ministrator under section 304(d)(2).’’. 


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1 SEC. 202. WET WEATHER WATER QUALITY-BASED STAND2 ARDS. 

3 Section 303(c)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution 

4 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(c)(2)) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(C)(i) States may adopt peak wet weather-re7 lated water quality standards for receiving waters 

8 during periods of peak wet weather events (as deter9 mined pursuant to section 304(d)(2)). 

10 ‘‘(ii) The Administrator, after consultation with 

11 States and not later than 12 months after the date 

12 of enactment of this subparagraph, and from time to 

13 time thereafter, shall develop and publish guidance 

14 to States on developing and implementing peak wet 

15 weather-related water quality standards to accommo16 date peak wet weather discharges.’’. 

17 SEC. 203. PEAK WET WEATHER WASTE WATER MANAGE18 MENT TECHNIQUES. 

19 Section 304(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Con20 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1314(d)) is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 

22 (4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), respectively; and 

23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol24 lowing: 

25 ‘‘(2) PEAK WET WEATHER FLOW PRACTICES

26 AND TECHNIQUES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES.— 

2 The Administrator, after consultation with ap3 propriate Federal and State agencies and other 

4 interested parties, shall publish not later than 

5 12 months after the date of enactment of the 

6 Clean Water Affordability Act of 2015, and 

7 from time to time thereafter, information and 

8 guidelines for peak wet weather waste water 

9 management practices available for use during 

10 periods of peak wet weather events by a collec11 tion system servicing a publicly owned treat12 ment works to— 

13 ‘‘(i) prevent damage to the treatment 

14 facility; 

15 ‘‘(ii) maximize the delivery of flow to 

16 the treatment facility; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) provide for appropriate cost-ef18 fective controls during peak wet weather 

19 events. 

20 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF GUIDELINES.—The 

21 guidelines shall include options for the types of 

22 technologies and management approaches avail23 able to manage peak wet weather-related waste24 water flows, including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) technologies and management ap2 proaches relating to facility and collection 

3 system storage methods (including in-sys4 tem treatment methods throughout the col5 lection system); 

6 ‘‘(ii) facility and collection systems op7 erations and maintenance systems; 

8 ‘‘(iii) monitoring and reporting sys9 tems; and 

10 ‘‘(iv) alternative treatment methods 

11 and technologies that can achieve applica12 ble water quality.’’. 

Æ 


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