II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 170

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for State water pollution control revolving funds, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 15, 2003

Mr. VOINOVICH 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 appropriations for State water pollution control 

revolving funds, 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 ‘‘Clean Water Infra5 structure Financing Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR CAPITALIZATION 

7 GRANTS. 

8 Section 601(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Con9 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1381(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘(1) 
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1 for construction’’ and all that follows through the period 

2 at the end and inserting ‘‘to accomplish the purposes of 

3 this Act.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANTS AGREEMENTS. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF TREAT6 MENT WORKS.—Section 602(b)(6) of the Federal Water 

7 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1382(b)(6)) is amend8 ed—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘before fiscal year 1995’’; and 

10 (2) by striking ‘‘201(b)’’ and all that follows 

11 through ‘‘218,’’ and inserting ‘‘211,’’. 

12 (b) GUIDANCE FOR SMALL SYSTEMS.—Section 602 

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

14 1382) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE FOR SMALL SYSTEMS.—

16 ‘‘(1) SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES.—Not later than 

17 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub18 section, the Administrator shall assist the States in 

19 establishing simplified procedures for small systems 

20 to obtain assistance under this title. 

21 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION OF MANUAL.—Not later 

22 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub23 section, after providing notice and opportunity for 

24 public comment, the Administrator shall publish—
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1 ‘‘(A) a manual to assist small systems in 

2 obtaining assistance under this title; and 

3 ‘‘(B) in the Federal Register, notice of the 

4 availability of the manual. 

5 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION OF SMALL SYSTEM.—In this 

6 title, the term ‘small system’ means a system for 

7 which a municipality or intermunicipal, interstate, or 

8 State agency seeks assistance under this title and 

9 that serves a population of 20,000 or fewer inhab10 itants.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. WATER POLLUTION CONTROL REVOLVING FUNDS. 

12 (a) ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR ASSISTANCE.—Sec13 tion 603 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 

14 U.S.C. 1383) is amended by striking subsection (c) and 

15 inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR ASSISTANCE.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The water pollution control 

18 revolving fund of a State shall be used only for pro19 viding financial assistance for activities that have, as 

20 a principal benefit, the improvement or protection of 

21 the water quality of navigable waters to a munici22 pality, intermunicipal, interstate, or State agency, or 

23 other person, including activities such as—

24 ‘‘(A) construction of a publicly owned 

25 treatment works; 
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1 ‘‘(B) implementation of lake protection 

2 programs and projects under section 314; 

3 ‘‘(C) implementation of a nonpoint source 

4 management program under section 319; 

5 ‘‘(D) implementation of an estuary con6 servation and management plan under section 

7 320; 

8 ‘‘(E) restoration or protection of publicly 

9 or privately owned riparian areas, including ac10 quisition of property rights; 

11 ‘‘(F) implementation of measures to im12 prove the efficiency of public water use; 

13 ‘‘(G) development and implementation of 

14 plans by a public recipient to prevent water pol15 lution; and 

16 ‘‘(H) acquisition of land necessary to meet 

17 any mitigation requirements related to con18 struction of a publicly owned treatment works. 

19 ‘‘(2) FUND AMOUNTS.—

20 ‘‘(A) REPAYMENTS.—The water pollution 

21 control revolving fund of a State shall be estab22 lished, maintained, and credited with repay23 ments. 

24 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—The balance in the 

25 fund shall be available in perpetuity for pro-
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1 viding financial assistance described in para2 graph (1).

3 ‘‘(C) FEES.—Fees charged by a State to 

4 recipients of the assistance may be deposited in 

5 the fund and may be used only to pay the cost 

6 of administering this title.’’. 

7 (b) EXTENDED REPAYMENT PERIOD FOR FINAN8 CIALLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITIES.—Section 603(d)(1) 

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

10 1383(d)(1)) is amended—

11 (1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting after ‘‘20 

12 years’’ the following: ‘‘or, in the case of a financially 

13 distressed community, the lesser of 40 years or the 

14 expected life of the project to be financed with the 

15 proceeds of the loan’’; and 

16 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘not later 

17 than 20 years after project completion’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘on the expiration of the term of the loan’’. 

19 (c) LOAN GUARANTEES.—Section 603(d) of the Fed20 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)) is 

21 amended by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(5) to provide loan guarantees for—

24 ‘‘(A) similar revolving funds established by 

25 municipalities or intermunicipal agencies; and 
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1 ‘‘(B) developing and implementing innova2 tive technologies;’’.

3 (d) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Section 603(d)(7) 

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

5 1383(d)(7)) is amended by inserting before the period at 

6 the end the following: ‘‘or the greater of $400,000 per year 

or an amount equal to 1 7 ⁄2 percent per year of the current 

8 valuation of the fund, plus the amount of any fees col9 lected by the State under subsection (c)(2)(C)’’. 

10 (e) TECHNICAL AND PLANNING ASSISTANCE FOR

11 SMALL SYSTEMS.—Section 603(d) of the Federal Water 

12 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)) is amended—

13 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

14 end; 

15 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 

16 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

18 ‘‘(8) to provide to small systems technical and 

19 planning assistance and assistance in financial man20 agement, user fee analysis, budgeting, capital im21 provement planning, facility operation and mainte22 nance, repair schedules, and other activities to im23 prove wastewater treatment plant operations, except 

24 that the amounts used under this paragraph for a 

25 fiscal year shall not exceed 2 percent of all grants 
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1 provided to the fund for the fiscal year under this 

2 title.’’. 

3 (f) CONSISTENCY WITH PLANNING REQUIRE4 MENTS.—Section 603(f) of the Federal Water Pollution 

5 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(f)) is amended by striking 

6 ‘‘is consistent’’ and inserting ‘‘is not inconsistent’’. 

7 (g) CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE.—Section 603 of the 

8 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383) is 

9 amended by striking subsection (g) and inserting the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(g) CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE.—

12 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY LIST REQUIREMENT.—The State 

13 may provide financial assistance from the water pol14 lution control revolving fund of the State for a 

15 project for construction of a publicly owned treat16 ment works only if the project is on the priority list 

17 of the State under section 216, without regard to 

18 the rank of the project on the list. 

19 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN TREATMENT

20 WORKS.—A treatment works shall be treated as a 

21 publicly owned treatment works for purposes of sub22 section (c) if the treatment works, without regard to 

23 ownership, would be considered a publicly owned 

24 treatment works and is principally treating munic25 ipal waste water or domestic sewage.’’. 
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1 (h) PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIZATION.—Section 603 of the 

2 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383) is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(i) PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIZATION.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

6 in a case in which a State makes a loan under sub7 section (d)(1) to a financially distressed community, 

8 the State may provide additional subsidization to the 

9 loan recipient (including forgiveness of principal). 

10 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—For each fiscal year, the 

11 total amount of loan subsidies made by a State 

12 under this subsection shall not exceed 30 percent of 

13 the amount of the capitalization grant received by 

14 the State for that fiscal year. 

15 ‘‘(j) INFORMATION TO ASSIST STATES.—The Admin16 istrator may publish information to assist States in estab17 lishing the affordability criteria referred to in subsection 

18 (l). 

19 ‘‘(k) PRIORITY.—In making a loan under this section, 

20 a State may give priority to a financially distressed com21 munity. 

22 ‘‘(l) DEFINITION OF FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED

23 COMMUNITY.—In this section, the term ‘financially dis24 tressed community’ means any community that meets af25 fordability criteria that are— 
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1 ‘‘(1) established by the State in which the com2 munity is located; and 

3 ‘‘(2) developed after public review and com4 ment.’’. 

5 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 Section 607 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

7 Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended by striking ‘‘the fol8 lowing sums:’’ and all that follows through the period at 

9 the end of paragraph (5) and inserting ‘‘$3,000,000,000 

10 for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2007.’’.

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