I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1730

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to marine

sanitation devices.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 3, 2001

Mr. SAXTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating

to marine sanitation devices.

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 ‘‘Recreational Waters

5 Protection Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Performance standards for marine sanita9 tion devices were first authorized by the Federal

10 Water Pollution Control Act.
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1 (2) Marine sanitation device standards have not

2 been updated since regulations were first imple3 mented pursuant to that Act.

4 (3) Advances in marine sanitation device tech5 nology have now made it practical for wastes to be

6 treated on board a vessel to the extent that coliform

7 count can be reduced below that required for shell8 fish harvest, and provide treatment that is superior

9 to that required by shoreside treatment facilities.

10 (4) Setting new marine sanitation device per11 formance standards will recognize existing techno12 logical advances and spur further innovation to a

13 level of on-board waste treatment far superior to

14 that envisioned by the Federal Water Pollution Con15 trol Act.

16 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is (1) to pro17 mote the use of the best available technology in type I

18 marine sanitation devices, and (2) to revise the minimum

19 standards for marine sanitation devices so that such

20 standards meet the fecal coliform standards of each of the

21 50 States or the Federal fecal coliform standard for the

22 harvesting of shellfish for human consumption.
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1 SEC. 3. REVISED STANDARDS FOR MARINE SANITATION DE2 VICES.

3 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

4 of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro5 tection Agency shall complete a review of the capabilities

6 of existing marine sanitation technology and publish re7 vised standards for new marine sanitation devices pursu8 ant to section 312(c)(1)(A) of the Federal Water Pollution

9 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1322(c)(1)(A)). The revised stand10 ards shall require a baseline effluent water quality for

11 fecal coliform of not more than 10 fecal coliform per 100

12 milliliters and shall require a reduction in biological oxy13 gen demand of at least 35 percent.

14 SEC. 4. STATE PROHIBITION.

15 Section 312(f)(3) of the Federal Water Pollution

16 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1322(f)(3)) is amended—

17 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘After’’; and

18 (2) by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(B) A prohibition under subparagraph (A) shall not

20 apply to a vessel that operates a type I marine sanitation

21 device that meets the standards for marine sanitation de22 vices revised pursuant to section 2 of the Recreational Wa23 ters Protection Act and published under subsection

24 (c)(1)(A) after the date of enactment of this subpara25 graph.’’.

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