I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 465 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide for an 
integrated planning and permitting process, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 12, 2017 
Mr. GIBBS (for himself and Mr. CHABOT) 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 pro-
vide for an integrated planning and permitting process, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Quality Im-
provement Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. INTEGRATED PLANNING PROCESS. 
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(s) INTEGRATED PLANNING AND PERMITTING.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish a comprehensive and flexible integrated plan-
ning process and permitting process for municipal 
wastewater and stormwater management that will 
help municipalities comply with the requirements of 
this Act by enabling municipalities to identify the 
most cost-effective and protective approaches to 
comply with such requirements, and prioritize their 
investments in addressing such requirements. 
‘‘(2) PLANNING AND PERMITTING PROCESS.— 
The Administrator shall ensure that, under the plan-
ning and permitting process established under para-
graph (1)— 
‘‘(A) actions taken by the municipality to 
comply with the requirements of this Act are 
implemented in a manner that— 
‘‘(i) considers alternative approaches 
and actions for the municipality to comply 
with such requirements; 
‘‘(ii) takes into consideration the tech-
nical feasibility and economic affordability 
of the alternative approaches and actions 
considered; 
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‘‘(iii) accounts for the financial capa-
bility of the municipality to comply with 
such requirements; 
‘‘(iv) prioritizes such requirements in 
order to provide the greatest environmental 
and public health benefits for the resources 
expended; 
‘‘(v) accounts for both the municipal-
ity’s preexisting and reasonably anticipated 
future compliance requirements related to, 
as applicable— 
‘‘(I) a combined sewer overflow; 
‘‘(II) a sanitary sewer overflow; 
‘‘(III) a capacity, management, 
operation, and maintenance program 
for sanitary sewer collection systems; 
‘‘(IV) a municipal stormwater 
discharge; 
‘‘(V) a municipal wastewater dis-
charge; 
‘‘(VI) a water quality-based efflu-
ent limitation to implement an appli-
cable wasteload allocation in a total 
maximum daily load; 
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‘‘(VII) source water protection 
efforts that protect surface water sup-
plies; and 
‘‘(VIII) nonpoint source controls 
through proposed trading approaches 
or other mechanisms; 
‘‘(vi) allows a municipality to develop 
a schedule of compliance that sequences 
the implementation of effluent limitations 
and other control measures based on the 
priorities established under clause (iv), in 
accordance with paragraph (4); 
‘‘(vii) enables the municipality to im-
plement innovative or sustainable tech-
nologies, approaches, and practices to com-
ply with such requirements, including 
through the use of green infrastructure 
measures as set forth in the memorandum 
issued by the Administrator on April 20, 
2011, entitled ‘Protecting Water Quality 
with Green Infrastructure in EPA Water 
Permitting and Enforcement Programs’; 
‘‘(viii) provides for meeting the re-
quirements of this Act by using the exist-
ing flexibilities in this Act and its imple-
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menting regulations, policies, and guid-
ance; and 
‘‘(ix) reflects State requirements and 
planning efforts and incorporates State 
input on priority setting and other key im-
plementation issues; 
‘‘(B) a municipality may develop an inte-
grated plan, in consultation with the Adminis-
trator (or an authorized State, in the case of a 
permit program approved under subsection (b)), 
that— 
‘‘(i) identifies the compliance require-
ments of the municipality under this Act, 
including effluent limitations and other 
control measures to be implemented by the 
municipality; 
‘‘(ii) includes, as applicable, a sched-
ule developed under subparagraph (A)(vi) 
for complying with such requirements; and 
‘‘(iii) includes documentation of the 
integrated planning and permitting process 
of the municipality under this section, in-
cluding data and other information on 
which the integrated plan is based; 
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‘‘(C) such an integrated plan (including as 
applicable, the schedule of compliance included 
in the plan) may be incorporated in whole or in 
part into a permit issued to the municipality 
under this section; 
‘‘(D) progress in implementing the inte-
grated plan is tracked and evaluated; 
‘‘(E) a process for revising the integrated 
plan, using adaptive management processes, to 
account for adjustments and further actions 
that may be needed to comply with the require-
ments of this Act is incorporated into the inte-
grated plan and the municipality’s permit 
issued under this section; 
‘‘(F) with respect to any permit issued 
under this subsection that includes effluent lim-
itations and other control measures that are es-
tablished as part of a schedule of compliance in-
cluded in such an integrated plan, such effluent 
limitations and other control measures included 
in that permit shall be based on water quality 
and other requirements under this Act that are 
technically feasible and economically affordable, 
as described in paragraphs (6) and (7); and 
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‘‘(G) an authorized State, in the case of a 
permit program approved under subsection (b), 
may implement the integrated planning process 
under this subsection. 
‘‘(3) INTEGRATED PLANS.— 
‘‘(A) PLAN
CONTENTS.—An integrated 
plan developed under this subsection shall in-
clude the elements described in Part III of the 
Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Waste-
water Planning Approach Framework, issued by 
the Environmental Protection Agency and dated 
May 2012. 
‘‘(B) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 
The Administrator shall— 
‘‘(i) inform municipalities of the op-
portunity to develop an integrated plan; 
and 
‘‘(ii) at the request of a municipality 
or a State, provide information and tech-
nical assistance to the municipality or 
State regarding developing an integrated 
plan. 
‘‘(4) COMPLIANCE SCHEDULES.— 
‘‘(A) DURATION.—A schedule of compli-
ance developed under paragraph (2)(A)(vi) and 
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incorporated into a permit under this section 
may be implemented over more than 1 permit 
term. 
‘‘(B) SEQUENCING
IMPLEMENTATION
OF 
HIGH-PRIORITY CONTROL MEASURES.—A sched-
ule of compliance under this subsection may 
allow a municipality to sequence the implemen-
tation of effluent limitations and other control 
measures that allow the municipality to imple-
ment, and assess the effectiveness of, the high-
est priority effluent limitations and other con-
trol measures before requiring implementation 
of other effluent limitations or control meas-
ures, if the schedule, once completed, would re-
sult in compliance with all requirements of this 
Act. 
‘‘(C) REASONABLE PROGRESS.—A schedule 
of compliance under this subsection shall pro-
vide for reasonable progress, including interim 
dates and milestones, as appropriate, to be 
made towards meeting the permit requirements 
subject to such schedule. 
‘‘(D) CONTROLS IDENTIFIED IN CURRENT 
AND
SUBSEQUENT
PERMITS.—Approved efflu-
ent limitations and other control measures to be 
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implemented by the municipality pursuant to 
this subsection— 
‘‘(i) during the term of the current 
permit shall be identified as such in the 
schedule of compliance and the current 
permit, and shall be requirements of the 
current permit; and 
‘‘(ii) subsequent to the term of the 
current permit shall be identified as such 
in the schedule of compliance and the cur-
rent permit, and shall become require-
ments of an appropriate subsequent per-
mit, but shall not be requirements of the 
current permit. 
‘‘(E) STATE
AUTHORITY
TO
AUTHORIZE 
SCHEDULES OF COMPLIANCE IN STATE WATER 
QUALITY STANDARDS.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in section 
301(b)(1)(C) shall preclude a State from 
authorizing in its water quality standards 
the issuance of a schedule of compliance to 
meet water quality-based effluent limita-
tions in permits that incorporate provisions 
of an integrated plan pursuant to this sub-
section. 
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