Document ID: EPA-R09-OW-2010-0438-0019
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2010-09-03T04:00Z

Clean Water Act Section 312

SEC. 312 [33 U.S.C. 1322] Marine Sanitation Devices 

   (a) For the purpose of this section, the term-- 

   (1) "new vessel" includes every description of water-craft or other
artificial contrivance used, or 

capable of being used, as a means of transportation on the navigable
waters, the construction of 

which is initiated after promulgation of standards and regulation under
this section; 

   (2) "existing vessel" includes every description of watercraft or
other artificial contrivance used, 

or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on the navigable
waters, the construction of 

which is initiated before promulgation of standards and regulations
under this section; 

   (3) "public vessel" means a vessel owned or bare-boat-chartered and
operated by the United 

States, by a State or political subdivision thereof, or by a foreign
nation, except when such vessel is 

engaged in commerce; 

   (4) "United States" includes the States, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto 

Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, and the
Trust Territory of the 

Pacific Islands; 

   (5) "marine sanitation device" includes any equipment for
installation on board a vessel which is 

designed to receive, retain, treat, or discharge sewage, and any process
to treat such sewage; 

   (6) "sewage" means human body wastes and the wastes from toilets and
other receptacles 

intended to receive or retain body wastes except that, with respect to
commercial vessels on the 

Great Lakes such term shall include graywater; 

   (7) "manufacture" means any person engaged in the manufacturing,
assembling, or importation of 

marine sanitation devices or of vessels subject to standards and
regulations promulgated under this 

section; 

   (8) "person" means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, or
association, but does not 

include an individual on board a public vessel; 

   (9) "discharge" includes, but is not limited to, any spilling,
leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, 

emptying or dumping; 

   (10) "commercial vessels" means those vessels used in the business of
transporting property for 

compensation or hire, or in transporting property in the business of the
owner, lessee, or operator of 

the vessel; 

   (11) "graywater" means galley, bath, and shower water. 

   (b)(1) As soon as possible, after the enactment of this section and
subject to the provisions of 

section 101(j) of this Act, the Administrator, after consultation with
the Secretary of the department 

in which the Coast Guard is operating, after giving appropriate
consideration to the economic costs 

involved, and within the limits of available technology, shall
promulgate Federal standards of 

performance for marine sanitation devices (hereafter in this section
referred to as "standards") 

which shall be designed to prevent the discharge of untreated or
inadequately treated sewage into or 

upon the navigable waters from new vessels and existing vessels, except
vessels not equipped with 

installed toilet facilities. Such standards and standards established
under subsection (c)(1)(B) of this 

section shall be consistent with maritime safety and the marine and
navigation laws and regulations 

and shall be coordinated with the regulations issued under this
subsection by the Secretary of the 

department in which the Coast Guard is operating. The Secretary of the
department in which the 

Coast Guard is operating shall promulgate regulations, which are
consistent with standards 

promulgated under this subsection and subsection (c) of this section and
with maritime safety and 

the marine and navigation laws and regulations governing the design,
construction, installation, and 

operation of any marine sanitation device on board such vessels. 

   (2) Any existing vessel equipped with a marine sanitation device on
the date of promulgation of 

initial standards and regulations under this section, which device is in
compliance with such initial 

standards and regulations, shall be deemed in compliance with this
section until such time as the 

device is replaced or is found not to be in compliance with such initial
standards and regulations. 

   (c)(1) (A) Initial standards and regulations under this section shall
become effective for new 

vessels two years after promulgation; and for existing vessels five
years after promulgation. 

Revisions of standards and regulations shall be effective upon
promulgation, unless another 

effective date is specified, except that no revision shall take effect
before the effective date of the 

standard or regulation being revised. 

   (B) The Administrator shall, with respect to commercial vessels on
the Great Lakes, establish 

standards which require at a minimum the equivalent of secondary
treatment as defined under 

section 304(d) of this Act. Such standards and regulations shall take
effect for existing vessels after 

such time as the Administrator determines to be reasonable for the
upgrading of marine sanitation 

devices to attain such standard. 

   (2) The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is
operating with regard to his 

regulatory authority established by this section, after consultation
with the Administrator, may 

distinguish among classes, types, and sizes of vessels as well as
between new and existing vessels, 

and may waive applicability of standards and regulations as necessary or
appropriate for such 

classes, types, and sizes of vessels (including existing vessels
equipped with marine sanitation 

devices on the date of promulgation of the initial standards required by
this section), and, upon 

application, for individual vessels. 

   (d) The provisions of this section and the standards and regulations
promulgated hereunder apply 

to vessels owned and operated by the United States unless the Secretary
of Defense finds that 

compliance would not be in the interest of national security. With
respect to vessels owned and 

operated by the Department of Defense, regulations under the last
sentence of subsection (b)(1) of 

this section and certifications under subsection (g)(2) of this section
shall be promulgated and 

issued by the Secretary of Defense. 

   (e) Before the standards and regulations under this section are
promulgated, the Administrator and 

the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating
shall consult with the 

Secretary of State; the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; the
Secretary of Defense; the 

Secretary of the Treasury; the Secretary of Commerce; other interested
Federal agencies; and the 

States and industries interested; and otherwise comply with the
requirements of section 553 of title 

5 of the United States Code. 

   (f)(1) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), after the
effective date of the initial standards 

and regulations promulgated under this section, no State or political
subdivision thereof shall adopt 

or enforce any statute or regulation of such State or political
subdivision with respect to the design, 

manufacture, or installation or use of any marine sanitation devise on
any vessel subject to the 

provisions of this section. 

[312(f)(1)(A) designated and amended by PL 100-4]

   (B) A State may adopt and enforce a statute or regulation with
respect to the design, manufacture, 

or installation or use of any marine sanitation device on a houseboat,
if such statute or regulation is 

more stringent than the standards and regulations promulgated under this
section. For purposes of 

this paragraph, the term "houseboat' means a vessel which, for a period
of time determined by the 

State in which the vessel is located, is used primarily as a residence
and is not used primarily as a 

means of transportation. 

[312(f)(1)(B) added by PL 100-4]

   (2) If after promulgation of the initial standards and regulations
and prior to their effective date, a 

vessel is equipped with a marine sanitation device in compliance with
such standards and 

regulations and the installation and operation of such device is in
accordance with such standards 

and regulations, such standards and regulations shall, for the purposes
of paragraph (1) of this 

subsection, become effective with respect to such vessel on the date of
such compliance. 

   (3) After the effective date of the initial standards and regulations
promulgated under this section, 

if any State determines that the protection and enhancement of the
quality of some or all of the 

waters within such State require greater environmental protection, such
State may completely 

prohibit the discharge from all vessels of any sewage, whether treated
or not, into such waters, 

except that no such prohibition shall apply until the Administrator
determines that adequate 

facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage
from all vessels are reasonably 

available for such water to which such prohibition would apply. Upon
application of the State, the 

Administrator shall make such determination within 90 days of the date
of such application. 

   (4)(A) If the Administrator determines upon application by a State
that the protection and 

enhancement of the quality of specified waters within such State
requires such a prohibition, he 

shall by regulation completely prohibit the discharge from a vessel of
any sewage (whether treated 

or not) into such waters. 

   (B) Upon application by a State, the Administrator shall, by
regulation, establish a drinking water 

intake zone in any waters within such State and prohibit the discharge
of sewage from vessels 

within that zone. 

   (g)(1) No manufacturer of a marine sanitation device shall sell,
offer for sale, or introduce or 

deliver for introduction in interstate commerce, or import into the
United States for sale or resale 

any marine sanitation device manufactured after the effective date of
the standards and regulations 

promulgated under this section unless such device is in all material
respects substantially the same 

as a test device certified under this subsection. 

   (2) Upon application of the manufacturer, the Secretary of the
department in which the Coast 

Guard is operating shall so certify a marine sanitation device if he
determines, in accordance with 

the provisions of this paragraph, that it meets the appropriate
standards and regulations promulgated 

under this section. The Secretary of the department in which the Coast
Guard is operating shall test 

or require such testing of the device in accordance with procedures set
forth by the Administrator as 

to standards of performance and for such other purposes as may be
appropriate. If the Secretary of 

the department in which the Coast Guard is operating determines that the
device is satisfactory 

from the standpoint of safety and any other requirements of maritime law
or regulation, and after 

consideration of the design, installation, operation, material, or other
appropriate factors, he shall 

certify the device. Any device manufactured by such manufacturer which
is in all material respects 

substantially the same as the certified test device shall be deemed to
be in conformity with the 

appropriate standards and regulations established under this section. 

   (3) Every manufacturer shall establish and maintain such records,
make such reports, and provide 

such information as the Administrator or the Secretary of the department
in which the Coast Guard 

is operating may reasonably require to enable him to determine whether
such manufacturer has 

acted or is acting in compliance with this section and regulations
issued thereunder and shall, upon 

request of an officer or employee duly designated by the Administrator
or the Secretary of the 

department in which the Coast Guard is operating, permit such officer or
employee at reasonable 

times to have access to and copy such records. All information reported
to or otherwise obtained by 

the Administrator or the Secretary of the department in which the Coast
Guard is operating or their 

representatives pursuant to this subsection which contains or relates to
a trade secret or other matter 

referred in section 1905 of title 18 of the United States Code shall be
considered confidential for the 

purpose of that section, except that such information may be disclosed
to other officers or 

employees concerned with carrying out this section. This paragraph shall
not apply in the case of 

the construction of a vessel by an individual for his own use. 

   (h) After the effective date of standards and regulations promulgated
under this section, it shall be 

unlawful-- 

   (1) for the manufacturer of any vessel subject to such standards and
regulations to manufacture 

for sale, to sell or offer for sale, or to distribute for sale or resale
any such vessel unless it is 

equipped with a marine sanitation device which is in all material
respects substantially the same as 

the appropriate test device certified pursuant to this section; 

   (2) for any person, prior to the sale or delivery of a vessel subject
to such standards and 

regulations to the ultimate purchaser, wrongfully to remove or render
inoperative any certified 

marine sanitation device or element of design of such device installed
in such vessel; 

   (3) for any person to fail or refuse to permit access to or copying
of records or to fail to make 

reports or provide information required under this section; and 

   (4) for a vessel subject to such standards and regulations to operate
on the navigable waters of the 

United States, if such vessel is not equipped with an operable marine
sanitation device certified 

pursuant to this section. 

   (i) The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdictions
to restrain violations of 

subsection (g)(1) of this section and subsections (h)(1) through (3) of
this section. Actions to 

restrain such violations shall be brought by, and in, the name of the
United States. In case of 

contumacy or refusal to obey a subpena served upon any person under this
subsection, the district 

court of the United States for any district in which such person is
found or resides or transacts 

business, upon application by the United States and after notice to such
person, shall have 

jurisdiction to issue an order requiring such person to appear and give
testimony or to appear and 

produce documents, and any failure to obey such order of the court may
be punished by such court 

as a contempt thereof. 

  

   (j) Any person who violates subsection (g)(1) of this section or
clause (1) or (2) of subsection (h) 

of this section shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than
$5,000 for each violation. Any 

person who violates clause (4) of subsection (h) of this section or any
regulation issued pursuant to 

this section shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than $2,000
for each violation. Each 

violation shall be a separate offense. The Secretary of the department
in which the Coast Guard is 

operating may assess and compromise any such penalty. No penalty shall
be assessed until the 

person charged shall have been given notice and an opportunity for a
hearing on such charge. In 

determining the amount of the penalty, or the amount agreed upon in
compromise, the gravity of 

the violation, and the demonstrated good faith of the person charged in
attempting to achieve rapid 

compliance, after notification of a violation, shall be considered by
said Secretary. 

   (k) The provisions of this section shall be enforced by the Secretary
of the department in which 

the Coast Guard is operating and he may utilize by agreement, with or
without reimbursement, law 

enforcement officers or other personnel and facilities of the
Administrator, other Federal agencies, 

or the States to carry out the provisions of this section. The
provisions of this section may also be 

enforced by a State. 

[312(k) amended by PL 100-4]

   (l) Anyone authorized by the Secretary of the department in which the
Coast Guard is operating 

to enforce the provisions of this section may, except as to public
vessels, (1) board and inspect any 

vessel upon the navigable waters of the United States and (2) execute
any warrant or other process 

issued by an officer or court of competent jurisdiction. 

   (m) In the case of Guam and the Trust Territory of the Pacific
Islands, actions arising under this 

section may be brought in the district court of Guam, and in the case of
the Virgin Islands such 

actions may be brought in the district court of the Virgin Islands. In
the case of American Samoa 

and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, such actions may be
brought in the District Court of 

the United States for the District of Hawaii and such court shall have
jurisdiction of such actions. In 

the case of the Canal Zone, such action may be brought in the District
Court for the District of the 

Canal Zone.