I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3265 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reduce pollution resulting from impervious surfaces within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 20, 2009 

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia (for himself and Ms. NORTON) 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 reduce 

pollution resulting from impervious surfaces within the 

Chesapeake Bay watershed, 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 ‘‘Chesapeake Bay Res5 toration Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Between the years 1990 and 2000, the pop9 ulation of the Chesapeake Bay watershed increased 


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1 8 percent while impervious surface cover increased 

2 41 percent. 

3 (2) Suburban and urban stormwater runoff is 

4 the only major source of pollution in the Chesapeake 

5 Bay watershed that is increasing, as pollution from 

6 point sources and agriculture is decreasing. 

7 (3) States, local governments, developers, and 

8 nonprofit organizations have developed numerous de9 velopment techniques since the late 1990s, which use 

10 infiltration, plants, and stormwater harvesting tech11 niques to retain stormwater and associated sedi12 mentation and nutrient pollutants. 

13 (4) A study by the Environmental Protection 

14 Agency of low impact development projects in the 

15 United States found that low impact development 

16 stormwater management techniques are almost al17 ways less expensive than traditional stormwater 

18 management techniques. 

19 (5) Local governments throughout the Chesa20 peake Bay watershed are proactively implementing 

21 retention techniques and strict new requirements to 

22 reduce stormwater runoff. 

23 (6) The National Academy of Sciences rec24 ommends strong new regulations with respect to 

25 stormwater runoff and the provision of funding for 


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1 local stormwater regulation efforts and finds that re2 tention measures that infiltrate, evapotranspire and 

3 harvest stormwater are more effective than tradi4 tional stormwater management infrastructure at 

5 protecting and restoring stable hydrology. 

6 (7) Data from multiple jurisdictions with re7 spect to the health of fish and other organisms living 

8 in Chesapeake Bay tributaries suggest a strong neg9 ative correlation between impervious surface cover 

10 and stream health. 

11 (8) According to the Environmental Protection 

12 Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office, an aver13 age of 100 acres of forest are lost from the Chesa14 peake Bay watershed every day and forest cover 

15 within the watershed has declined from 95 percent 

16 to 58 percent. 

17 (9) Forests capture up to 85 percent of air18 borne nitrogen pollution and infiltrate or 

19 evapotranspirate between 90 percent and 95 percent 

20 of annual rainfall, preventing pollution associated 

21 with stormwater runoff. 

22 SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF POLLUTION RESULTING FROM IM23 PERVIOUS SURFACES. 

24 Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

25 Act (33 U.S.C. 1267) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub2 section (k); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(j) REDUCTION OF POLLUTION RESULTING FROM

6 IMPERVIOUS SURFACES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) PERMITS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Janu9 ary 1, 2009, each unit of local government 

10 within the Chesapeake Bay watershed that dis11 charges stormwater through a storm sewer sys12 tem, regardless of storm sewer system owner13 ship and, without regard to the size of the pop14 ulation shall obtain and comply with a permit 

15 under section 402(p). 

16 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—A permit under 

17 section 402(p) for a unit of local government 

18 within the Chesapeake Bay watershed shall in19 clude requirements to ensure that a project to 

20 develop land within the jurisdiction of such unit 

21 of local government, which affects land that is 

22 more than one acre in size and that is less than 

23 5 percent covered by impervious surfaces prior 

24 to the project, is carried out in a manner that 

25 not less than the volume of the 95th percentile 


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1 precipitation event shall infiltrate, 

2 evapotranspirate from, or be harvested and 

3 used on such site after the project is completed. 

4 ‘‘(C) DEFINITION OF 95TH PERCENTILE

5 PRECIPITATION EVENT.—The 95th percentile 

6 precipitation event is the event whose precipita7 tion total is greater than or equal to 95 percent 

8 of all 24-hour storm events on an annual basis. 

9 ‘‘(2) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator is 

11 authorized to make grants to a unit of local 

12 government with a permit described under 

13 paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(B) USES.—A grant under subparagraph 

15 (A) may be used by a unit of local government 

16 for the following: 

17 ‘‘(i) Costs associated with complying 

18 with such permit. 

19 ‘‘(ii) Costs associated with imple20 menting a project that is designed, con21 structed, and maintained to meet the rel22 evant performance standard of part (1)(B). 

23 ‘‘(C) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—A grant 

24 for costs associated with implementing a low 


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1 impact development project may not be in an 

2 amount that exceeds 75 percent of such costs. 

3 ‘‘(3) ON-SITE RETENTION GUIDANCE.—Not 

4 later than June 1, 2010, the Administrator shall 

5 issue guidance with respect to the implementation of 

6 practices that retain stormwater on-site through in7 filtration, evapotranspiration, or harvesting, to assist 

8 entities affected by the permit described under para9 graph (1) to meet the requirements of such permit. 

10 ‘‘(4) FOREST COVER.—Not later than January 

11 1, 2012, the Administrator shall coordinate with the 

12 heads of other Federal departments and agencies to 

13 develop plans to maximize forest cover on land 

14 owned by the Federal Government in the Chesa15 peake Bay watershed through the preservation of ex16 isting forest cover and the development of reforest17 ation plans with respect to land that has been dis18 turbed or developed in the past. 

19 ‘‘(5) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT DE20 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘unit of local 

21 government’ means any county, city, or other gen22 eral purpose political subdivision, including regional 

23 authorities of a State with jurisdiction over land use. 

24 ‘‘(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In 

25 addition to amounts authorized to be appropriated 


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1 or otherwise made available to carry out this section, 

2 there is authorized to be appropriated to the Admin3 istrator $1,500,000,000 to carry out this subsection, 

4 to remain available until expended.’’. 

Æ 


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