I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1185 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a deadline 
for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to fund pro-
grams and activities for improving wastewater discharges into the Great 
Lakes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 14, 2013 
Mr. HULTGREN (for himself and Mr. LIPINSKI) 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 a deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the 
Great Lakes and to fund programs and activities for 
improving wastewater discharges into the Great Lakes. 
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 ‘‘Great Lakes Water 
Protection Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE 
GREAT LAKES. 
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(s) PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE 
GREAT LAKES.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) BYPASS.—The term ‘bypass’ means 
an intentional diversion of waste streams to by-
pass any portion of a treatment facility which 
results in a discharge into the Great Lakes. 
‘‘(B) DISCHARGE.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘dis-
charge’ means a direct or indirect dis-
charge of untreated sewage or partially 
treated sewage from a treatment works 
into the Great Lakes. 
‘‘(ii) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘dis-
charge’ includes a bypass and a combined 
sewer overflow. 
‘‘(C) GREAT
LAKES.—The term ‘Great 
Lakes’ has the meaning given the term in sec-
tion 118(a)(3). 
‘‘(D) PARTIALLY TREATED SEWAGE.—The 
term ‘partially treated sewage’ means any sew-
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age, sewage and storm water, or sewage and 
wastewater, from domestic or industrial sources 
that— 
‘‘(i) is not treated to national sec-
ondary treatment standards for waste-
water; or 
‘‘(ii) is treated to a level less than the 
level required by the applicable national 
pollutant discharge elimination system per-
mit. 
‘‘(E) TREATMENT
FACILITY.—The term 
‘treatment facility’ includes all wastewater 
treatment units used by a publicly owned treat-
ment works to meet secondary treatment stand-
ards or higher, as required to attain water qual-
ity standards, under any operating conditions. 
‘‘(F) 
TREATMENT
WORKS.—The 
term 
‘treatment works’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 212. 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—A publicly owned treat-
ment works is prohibited from performing a bypass 
unless— 
‘‘(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to pre-
vent loss of life, personal injury, or severe prop-
erty damage; 
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‘‘(ii) there is not a feasible alternative to 
the bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treat-
ment facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or 
maintenance during normal periods of equip-
ment downtime; and 
‘‘(iii) the treatment works provides notice 
of the bypass in accordance with this sub-
section; or 
‘‘(B) the bypass does not cause effluent 
limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 
essential maintenance to ensure efficient oper-
ation of the treatment facility. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The requirement of para-
graph (2)(A)(ii) is not satisfied if— 
‘‘(A) adequate back-up equipment should 
have been installed in the exercise of reasonable 
engineering judgment to prevent the bypass; 
and 
‘‘(B) the bypass occurred during normal 
periods of equipment downtime or preventive 
maintenance. 
‘‘(4) IMMEDIATE NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A publicly owned 
treatment works shall provide to the entities de-
scribed in subparagraph (B)— 
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‘‘(i) for any anticipated discharge, 
prior notice of that discharge; and 
‘‘(ii) for any unanticipated discharge, 
as soon as practicable, but not later 
than— 
‘‘(I) for a treatment works with 
an automated detection system, 2 
hours after the discharge begins; and 
‘‘(II) for a treatment works with-
out an automated detection system, 
12 hours after the discharge begins. 
‘‘(B) NOTICE.—The entities referred to in 
subparagraph (A) are— 
‘‘(i) the Administrator or, in the case 
of a State that has a permit program ap-
proved under this section, the State; 
‘‘(ii) each local health department or, 
if a local health department does not exist, 
the State health department; 
‘‘(iii) the municipality in which the 
discharge occurred and each municipality 
with jurisdiction over waters that may be 
affected by the discharge; 
‘‘(iv) a daily newspaper of general cir-
culation in each county in which a munici-
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pality described in clause (iii) is located; 
and 
‘‘(v) the general public through a 
prominent announcement on a publicly ac-
cessible Internet site of the treatment 
works. 
‘‘(C) CONTENTS.—The notice under sub-
paragraph (A) shall include a description of— 
‘‘(i) the volume and state of treatment 
of the discharge; 
‘‘(ii) the date and time of the dis-
charge; 
‘‘(iii) the expected duration of the dis-
charge; 
‘‘(iv) the steps being taken to contain 
the discharge, except for a discharge that 
is a wet weather combined sewer overflow 
discharge; 
‘‘(v) the location of the discharge, 
with the maximum level of specificity prac-
ticable; and 
‘‘(vi) the cause for the discharge. 
‘‘(5) FOLLOW-UP
NOTICE
REQUIREMENTS.— 
Each publicly owned treatment works that provides 
notice under paragraph (4)(B) shall provide to the 
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Administrator (or to the State in the case of a State 
that has a permit program approved under this sec-
tion), not later than 5 days after the date on which 
the publicly owned treatment works provides initial 
notice, a follow-up notice containing— 
‘‘(A) a more full description of the cause of 
the discharge; 
‘‘(B) the reason for the discharge; 
‘‘(C) the period of discharge, including the 
exact dates and times; 
‘‘(D) if the discharge has not been cor-
rected, the anticipated time the discharge is ex-
pected to continue; 
‘‘(E) the volume of the discharge resulting 
from the bypass; 
‘‘(F) a description of any public access 
area that has or may be impacted by the by-
pass; and 
‘‘(G) steps taken or planned to reduce, 
eliminate, and prevent reoccurrence of the dis-
charge. 
‘‘(6) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF NOTICES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 48 
hours after providing or receiving a follow-up 
notice under paragraph (5), as applicable, a 
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publicly owned treatment works and the Admin-
istrator (or the State, in the case of a State 
that has a permit program approved under this 
section) shall each post the follow-up notice on 
a publicly accessible, searchable database on the 
Internet. 
‘‘(B) ANNUAL PUBLICATION.—The Admin-
istrator (or the State, in the case of a State 
that has a permit program approved under this 
section) shall annually publish and make avail-
able to the public a list of each of the treatment 
works from which the Administrator or the 
State, as applicable, received a follow-up notice 
under paragraph (5). 
‘‘(7) SEWAGE BLENDING.—Bypasses prohibited 
by this section include bypasses resulting in dis-
charges from a publicly owned treatment works that 
consist of effluent routed around treatment units 
and thereafter blended together with effluent from 
treatment units prior to discharge. 
‘‘(8) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of enactment of this subsection, 
the Administrator shall establish procedures to en-
sure that permits issued under this section (or under 
a State permit program approved under this section) 
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to a publicly owned treatment works include require-
ments to implement this subsection. 
‘‘(9) INCREASE
IN
MAXIMUM
CIVIL
PENALTY 
FOR
VIOLATIONS
OCCURRING
AFTER
JANUARY
1, 
2033.—Notwithstanding section 309, in the case of a 
violation of this subsection occurring on or after 
January 1, 2033, or any violation of a permit limita-
tion or condition implementing this subsection occur-
ring after that date, the maximum civil penalty that 
shall be assessed for the violation shall be $100,000 
per day for each day the violation occurs. 
‘‘(10) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall 
apply to a bypass occurring after the last day of the 
1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of 
this subsection.’’. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Federal Water Pol-
lution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating section 519 (33 U.S.C. 
1251 note) as section 520; and 
(2) by inserting after section 518 (33 U.S.C. 
1377) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 519. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP 
FUND. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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‘‘(1) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Great 
Lakes Cleanup Fund established by subsection (b). 
‘‘(2) GREAT LAKES; GREAT LAKES STATES.— 
The terms ‘Great Lakes’ and ‘Great Lakes States’ 
have the meanings given the terms in section 
118(a)(3). 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is estab-
lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 
to be known as the ‘Great Lakes Cleanup Fund’ (referred 
to in this section as the ‘Fund’). 
‘‘(c) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—Effective January 1, 
2033, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund 
amounts equivalent to the penalties collected for violations 
of section 402(s). 
‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION
OF FUND.—The Adminis-
trator shall administer the Fund. 
‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.—The Administrator shall— 
‘‘(1) make the amounts in the Fund available 
to the Great Lakes States for use in carrying out 
programs and activities for improving wastewater 
discharges into the Great Lakes, including habitat 
protection and wetland restoration; and 
‘‘(2) allocate those amounts among the Great 
Lakes States based on the proportion that— 
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‘‘(A) the amount attributable to a Great 
Lakes State for penalties collected for violations 
of section 402(s); bears to 
‘‘(B) the total amount of those penalties 
attributable to all Great Lakes States. 
‘‘(f) PRIORITY.—In selecting programs and activities 
to be funded using amounts made available under this sec-
tion, a Great Lakes State shall give priority consideration 
to programs and activities that address violations of sec-
tion 402(s) resulting in the collection of penalties.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO STATE REVOLV-
ING FUND PROGRAM.—Section 607 of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘There is’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN 
GENERAL.—There is’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) TREATMENT
OF
GREAT
LAKES
CLEANUP 
FUND.—For purposes of this title, amounts made avail-
able from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under section 
519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appro-
priated to carry out this title and as funds made available 
under this title, except that the funds shall be made avail-
able to the Great Lakes States in accordance with section 
519.’’. 
Æ 
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