I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 550
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish requirements
and provide assistance to prevent nonpoint sources of water pollution,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 4, 1997
Mr. OBERSTAR 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 estab-
lish requirements and provide assistance to prevent
nonpoint sources of water pollution, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Nonpoint Source
Water Pollution Prevention Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. POLICY, FINDINGS, AND PURPOSES.
(a) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States to
consummate the objective set forth in the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act to ‘‘restore and maintain the chemi-
cal, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s wa-
ters’’.
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) While the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act spoke to control of all sources of water pollution,
subsequent legislative and regulatory actions have
concentrated on point sources.
(2) United States citizens as Federal and State
taxpayers have spent $75,000,000,000 to clean up
municipal point sources. Citizens as consumers have
spent $130,000,000,000 to clean up industrial point
sources. Ninety percent of municipalities, and 95
percent of industry, currently comply with the Fed-
eral Water Pollution Control Act. Despite this costly
sacrifice, and high compliance rate, at least 1⁄3 of
the Nation’s waters have not attained water quality
standards.
(3) The major cause of this failure are nonpoint
sources of pollution: the neglected legacy and unfin-
ished agenda set forth in 1972 in the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act.
(4) It is time to complete the task set forth in
1972.
(5) Nonpoint sources are best addressed on a
watershed basis by State and local and public and
private organizations and by citizens. The Federal
Government is a contributor, and must accept its
share of responsibility, but the prime authority and
most effective means are the province of State and
local entities. The Federal Government’s financial,
technical, and human resources must be harnessed
to assist in this effort.
(6) The right to private action on private land
is circumscribed by the responsibility not to destroy
natural resources which are the heritage of all Amer-
icans. Pollution of the Nation’s waters is not a right,
inviolate; nor is it free. Private pollution imposes
heavy public costs; denies rights, in terms of human
and aquatic health, clean water for industry, and
recreation; and impoverishes the enjoyment of these
rights by future generations.
(7) Section 319 of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act, the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization
Amendments of 1990, and the water quality pro-
grams of the Department of Agriculture have laid
the basis for and offer the supporting means to con-
trol and prevent nonpoint sources of pollution. Fur-
ther legislation and resources are necessary to com-
plete the task in a timely fashion.
(8) To the extent the Federal Government con-
tinues to contribute financially to the water pollution
control effort, those resources should be divided be-
tween point and nonpoint sources on a basis com-
mensurate with each aspect of the problem.
(c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to prevent where possible, and reduce else-
where, nonpoint sources of pollution which, 2 dec-
ades after enactment of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act, are the major cause of the degradation
of the Nation’s waters;
(2) to control and eliminate nonpoint sources of
pollution on Federal lands by creating a Federal
program and placing it directly under the President;
(3) to provide State and, to the extent possible,
local government and nongovernmental entities with
the means and responsibility for preventing nonpoint
source pollution within their jurisdictions;
(4) to encourage and reward compliance by will-
ing land owners and operators, while assuring that
they will not suffer competitive disadvantages from