SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE 
GREAT LAKES. 
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (22 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(r) PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE 
GREAT LAKES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A publicly owned treatment 
works is prohibited from intentionally diverting 
waste streams to bypass any portion of a treatment 
facility at the treatment works if the diversion re-
sults in a discharge into the Great Lakes unless— 
‘‘(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to pre-
vent loss of life, personal injury, or severe prop-
erty damage; 
‘‘(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 the require-
ments of this subsection; or 
‘‘(B) the bypass does not cause effluent 
limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 
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essential maintenance to ensure efficient oper-
ation of the treatment facility. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The requirement of para-
graph (1)(A)(ii) is not satisfied if adequate back-up 
equipment should have been installed in the exercise 
of reasonable engineering judgment to prevent the 
bypass and the bypass occurred during normal peri-
ods of equipment downtime or preventive mainte-
nance. 
‘‘(3) 
NOTICE
REQUIREMENTS.—A 
publicly 
owned treatment works shall provide to the Adminis-
trator (or to the State in the case of a State that 
has a permit program approved under this sec-
tion)— 
‘‘(A) prior notice of an anticipated bypass; 
and 
‘‘(B) notice of an unanticipated bypass 
within 24 hours following the time the treat-
ment works first becomes aware of the bypass. 
‘‘(4) FOLLOW-UP NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.—In 
the case of an unanticipated bypass for which a pub-
licly owned treatment works provides notice under 
paragraph (3)(B), the treatment works shall provide 
to the Administrator (or to the State in the case of 
a State that has a permit program approved under 
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this section), not later than 5 days following the 
date on which the treatment works first becomes 
aware of the bypass, a follow-up notice containing a 
description of— 
‘‘(A) the cause of the bypass; 
‘‘(B) the reason for the bypass; 
‘‘(C) the period of bypass, including the 
exact dates and times; 
‘‘(D) if the bypass has not been corrected, 
the anticipated time the bypass is expected to 
continue; 
‘‘(E) the volume of the discharge resulting 
from the bypass; 
‘‘(F) any public access areas that may be 
impacted by the bypass; and 
‘‘(G) steps taken or planned to reduce, 
eliminate, and prevent reoccurrence of the by-
pass. 
‘‘(5) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY
OF
NOTICES.—A 
publicly owned treatment works providing a notice 
under this subsection, and the Administrator (or the 
State in the case of a State that has a permit pro-
gram approved under this section) receiving such a 
notice, shall each post the notice, within 48 hours of 
providing or receiving the notice (as the case may 
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be), in a searchable database accessible on the Inter-
net. 
‘‘(6) 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. 
‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol-
lowing definitions apply: 
‘‘(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) GREAT
LAKES.—The term ‘Great 
Lakes’ has the meaning given such term by sec-
tion 118(a)(3). 
‘‘(C) 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. 
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