I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 753 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to ensure that publicly 

owned treatment works monitor for and report sewer overflows, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 28, 2009 

Mr. BISHOP of New York (for himself and Mr. LOBIONDO) 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 ensure 

that publicly owned treatment works monitor for and 

report sewer overflows, 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 ‘‘Sewage Overflow Com5 munity Right-to-Know Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

8 Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended by adding at the end 

9 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(26) TREATMENT WORKS.—The term ‘treat2 ment works’ has the meaning given that term in sec3 tion 212.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. MONITORING, REPORTING, AND PUBLIC NOTIFICA5 TION OF SEWER OVERFLOWS. 

6 Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

7 Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘(r) SEWER OVERFLOW MONITORING, REPORTING, 

10 AND NOTIFICATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—After the last 

12 day of the 180-day period beginning on the date on 

13 which regulations are issued under paragraph (4), a 

14 permit issued, renewed, or modified under this sec15 tion by the Administrator or the State, as the case 

16 may be, for a publicly owned treatment works shall 

17 require, at a minimum, beginning on the date of the 

18 issuance, modification, or renewal, that the owner or 

19 operator of the treatment works— 

20 ‘‘(A) institute and utilize a feasible meth21 odology, technology, or management program 

22 for monitoring sewer overflows to alert the 

23 owner or operator to the occurrence of a sewer 

24 overflow in a timely manner; 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of a sewer overflow that 

2 has the potential to affect human health, notify 

3 the public of the overflow as soon as practicable 

4 but not later than 24 hours after the time the 

5 owner or operator knows of the overflow; 

6 ‘‘(C) in the case of a sewer overflow that 

7 may imminently and substantially endanger 

8 human health, notify public health authorities 

9 and other affected entities, such as public water 

10 systems, of the overflow immediately after the 

11 owner or operator knows of the overflow; 

12 ‘‘(D) report each sewer overflow on its dis13 charge monitoring report to the Administrator 

14 or the State, as the case may be, by describ15 ing— 

16 ‘‘(i) the magnitude, duration, and sus17 pected cause of the overflow; 

18 ‘‘(ii) the steps taken or planned to re19 duce, eliminate, or prevent recurrence of 

20 the overflow; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) the steps taken or planned to 

22 mitigate the impact of the overflow; and 

23 ‘‘(E) annually report to the Administrator 

24 or the State, as the case may be, the total numVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:43 Jan 31, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H753.IH H753

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1 ber of sewer overflows in a calendar year, in2 cluding— 

3 ‘‘(i) the details of how much waste4 water was released per incident; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the duration of each sewer over6 flow; 

7 ‘‘(iii) the location of the overflow and 

8 any potentially affected receiving waters; 

9 ‘‘(iv) the responses taken to clean up 

10 the overflow; and 

11 ‘‘(v) the actions taken to mitigate im12 pacts and avoid further sewer overflows at 

13 the site. 

14 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—The 

16 notification requirements of paragraphs (1)(B) 

17 and (1)(C) shall not apply to a sewer overflow 

18 that is a wastewater backup into a single-family 

19 residence. 

20 ‘‘(B) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The 

21 reporting requirements of paragraphs (1)(D) 

22 and (1)(E) shall not apply to a sewer overflow 

23 that is a release of wastewater that occurs in 

24 the course of maintenance of the treatment 

25 works, is managed consistently with the treatVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:43 Jan 31, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H753.IH H753

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1 ment works’ best management practices, and is 

2 intended to prevent sewer overflows. 

3 ‘‘(3) REPORT TO EPA.—Each State shall pro4 vide to the Administrator annually a summary of 

5 sewer overflows that occurred in the State. 

6 ‘‘(4) RULEMAKING BY EPA.—Not later than one 

7 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, 

8 the Administrator, after providing notice and an op9 portunity for public comment, shall issue regulations 

10 to implement this subsection, including regulations 

11 to— 

12 ‘‘(A) establish a set of criteria to guide the 

13 owner or operator of a publicly owned treat14 ment works in— 

15 ‘‘(i) assessing whether a sewer over16 flow has the potential to affect human 

17 health or may imminently and substan18 tially endanger human health; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) developing communication meas20 ures that are sufficient to give notice 

21 under paragraphs (1)(B) and (1)(C); and 

22 ‘‘(B) define the terms ‘feasible’ and ‘time23 ly’ as such terms apply to paragraph (1)(A), in24 cluding site specific conditions. 


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1 ‘‘(5) APPROVAL OF STATE NOTIFICATION PRO2 GRAMS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) REQUESTS FOR APPROVAL.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—After the date of 

5 issuance of regulations under paragraph 

6 (4), a State may submit to the Adminis7 trator evidence that the State has in place 

8 a legally enforceable notification program 

9 that is substantially equivalent to or ex10 ceeds the requirements of paragraphs 

11 (1)(B) and (1)(C). 

12 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM REVIEW AND AUTHOR13 IZATION.—If the evidence submitted by a 

14 State under clause (i) shows the notifica15 tion program of the State to be substan16 tially equivalent to or exceeds the require17 ments of paragraphs (1)(B) and (1)(C), 

18 the Administrator shall authorize the State 

19 to carry out such program instead of the 

20 requirements of paragraphs (1)(B) and 

21 (1)(C). 

22 ‘‘(iii) FACTORS FOR DETERMINING

23 SUBSTANTIAL EQUIVALENCY.—In carrying 

24 out a review of a State notification pro25 gram under clause (ii), the Administrator 


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1 shall take into account the scope of sewer 

2 overflows for which notification is required, 

3 the length of time during which notifica4 tion must be made, the scope of persons 

5 who must be notified of sewer overflows, 

6 the scope of enforcement activities ensur7 ing that notifications of sewer overflows 

8 are made, and such other factors as the 

9 Administrator considers appropriate. 

10 ‘‘(B) REVIEW PERIOD.—If a State submits 

11 evidence with respect to a notification program 

12 under subparagraph (A)(i) on or before the last 

13 day of the 30-day period beginning on the date 

14 of issuance of regulations under paragraph (4), 

15 the requirements of paragraphs (1)(B) and 

16 (1)(C) shall not begin to apply to a publicly 

17 owned treatment works located in the State 

18 until the date on which the Administrator com19 pletes a review of the notification program 

20 under subparagraph (A)(ii). 

21 ‘‘(C) WITHDRAWAL OF AUTHORIZATION.— 

22 If the Administrator, after conducting a public 

23 hearing, determines that a State is not admin24 istering and enforcing a State notification pro25 gram authorized under subparagraph (A)(ii) in 


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1 accordance with the requirements of this para2 graph, the Administrator shall so notify the 

3 State and, if appropriate corrective action is not 

4 taken within a reasonable time, not to exceed 

5 90 days, the Administrator shall withdraw au6 thorization of such program and enforce the re7 quirements of paragraphs (1)(B) and (1)(C) 

8 with respect to the State. 

9 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULES CONCERNING APPLICA10 TION OF NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—After the 

11 last day of the 30-day period beginning on the date 

12 of issuance of regulations under paragraph (4), the 

13 requirements of paragraphs (1)(B) and (1)(C) 

14 shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) apply to the owner or operator of a 

16 publicly owned treatment works and be subject 

17 to enforcement under section 309, and 

18 ‘‘(B) supersede any notification require19 ments contained in a permit issued under this 

20 section for the treatment works to the extent 

21 that the notification requirements are less strin22 gent than the notification requirements of para23 graphs (1)(B) and (1)(C), 


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1 until such date as a permit is issued, renewed, or 

2 modified under this section for the treatment works 

3 in accordance with paragraph (1). 

4 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol5 lowing definitions apply: 

6 ‘‘(A) SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOW.—The 

7 term ‘sanitary sewer overflow’ means an over8 flow, spill, release, or diversion of wastewater 

9 from a sanitary sewer system. Such term does 

10 not include municipal combined sewer overflows 

11 or other discharges from the combined portion 

12 of a municipal combined storm and sanitary 

13 sewer system and does not include wastewater 

14 backups into buildings caused by a blockage or 

15 other malfunction of a building lateral that is 

16 privately owned. Such term includes overflows 

17 or releases of wastewater that reach waters of 

18 the United States, overflows or releases of 

19 wastewater in the United States that do not 

20 reach waters of the United States, and waste21 water backups into buildings that are caused by 

22 blockages or flow conditions in a sanitary sewer 

23 other than a building lateral. 


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1 ‘‘(B) SEWER OVERFLOW.—The term 

2 ‘sewer overflow’ means a sanitary sewer over3 flow or a municipal combined sewer overflow. 

4 ‘‘(C) SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENCE.—The 

5 term ‘single-family residence’ means an indi6 vidual dwelling unit, including an apartment, 

7 condominium, house, or dormitory. Such term 

8 does not include the common areas of a multi9 dwelling structure.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. 

11 (a) PURPOSE OF STATE REVOLVING FUND.—Section 

12 601(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 

13 U.S.C. 1381(a)) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ the first place it appears; 

15 and 

16 (2) by inserting after ‘‘section 320’’ the fol17 lowing: ‘‘, and (4) for the implementation of require18 ments to monitor for sewer overflows under section 

19 402’’. 

20 (b) WATER POLLUTION CONTROL REVOLVING LOAN

21 FUNDS.—Section 603(c) of the Federal Water Pollution 

22 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is amended— 

23 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ the first place it appears; 

24 and 


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1 (2) by inserting after ‘‘section 320 of this Act’’ 

2 the following: ‘‘, and (4) for the implementation of 

3 requirements to monitor for sewer overflows under 

4 section 402’’. 

Æ 


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