I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3570
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish nationally
consistent requirements for controlling urban wet weather flows, to pro-
vide additional funds to municipalities to meet those requirements, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 2, 2000
Mr. LATOURETTE (for himself and Mr. PASCRELL) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to estab-
lish nationally consistent requirements for controlling
urban wet weather flows, to provide additional funds
to municipalities to meet those requirements, 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 ‘‘Urban Wet Weather
Priorities Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Wet weather flows, including combined
sewer 
overflows, 
sanitary 
sewer 
overflows,
stormwater runoff, and nonpoint source discharges
constitute the largest remaining challenge to achiev-
ing the goals of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act.
(2) To effectively control wet weather flows, na-
tional regulatory requirements must be in place to
provide municipalities with clear and achievable
goals that allow them to prioritize the expenditure of
limited local funds, and that are consistent within
and among the regions of the United States and the
States.
(3) The Combined Sewer Overflow Control Pol-
icy signed by the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency on April 11, 1994, has
not been fully recognized as binding authority, leav-
ing those affected municipalities unsure of the ap-
propriate control standards.
(4) In the absence of a national policy clarifying
the appropriate control standard for sanitary sewer
overflows, municipalities are being subject to the in-
consistent exercise of enforcement discretion of each
region or State without the benefit of a clearly de-
fined control standard.
(5) In recognition of the unique nature of mu-
nicipal stormwater runoff, Congress established a
distinct compliance standard for municipal separate
storm sewer system control programs which is to be
based on the implementation of best management
practices and the reduction of pollutants to the max-
imum extent practicable.
(6) An effective solution to the problems associ-
ated with wet weather flows can be attained through
a coordinated urban watershed management ap-
proach to rules, policies, and guidelines for wet
weather flows.
(7) Current funding sources for the construc-
tion and modernization of publicly owned treatment
works are insufficient to assist municipalities in
meeting wet weather control mandates.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to achieve national consistency in the regu-
lation of urban wet weather flows;
(2) to codify the Combined Sewer Overflow
Control Policy signed by the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency on April 11, 1994,
to establish a clear and nationally consistent ap-
proach;
(3) to direct the Environmental Protection
Agency to develop, through direct consultation with
municipalities and others, a national sanitary sewer
overflow program which is uniformly adopted in all
regions of the United States and all States;
(4) to clarify that the original intent of Con-
gress with respect to the appropriate compliance
standard for municipalities subject to such Act’s mu-
nicipal separate storm sewer system control require-
ments was to require the implementation of best
management practices and not to impose numerical
discharge standards;
(5) to develop information to exhibit the effec-
tiveness of managing urban wet weather flows using
a watershed management framework and to evaluate
the effectiveness of available best management prac-
tices to control stormwater runoff; and
(6) to establish a wet weather grants program
to assist municipalities in addressing the impacts of
urban wet weather discharges.
SEC. 3. COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS.
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
‘‘(q) COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS.—
‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT
FOR
PERMITS, ORDERS,
AND
DECREES.—Each permit, order, or decree
issued pursuant to this section for a discharge from
a combined storm and sanitary sewer shall conform
to the Combined Sewer Overflow Control Policy
signed by the Administrator on April 11, 1994, as
amended by this Act.
‘‘(2) TERM OF PERMIT, ORDER, OR DECREE.—
‘‘(A) AUTHORITY
TO
ISSUE.—Notwith-
standing any schedule for compliance under sec-
tion 301(b) or any permit limitation authorized
by subsection (b)(1)(B), the Administrator or a
State with a program approved under sub-
section (b) may issue or execute a permit,
order, or decree consistent with this section for
a discharge from a combined storm and sani-
tary sewer.
‘‘(B) SCHEDULE
FOR
COMPLIANCE.—A
permit, order, or decree issued or executed
under subparagraph (A) shall include a sched-
ule for compliance, within a period of not to ex-
ceed 15 years, with a long-term control plan
under the policy referred to in paragraph (1).’’.
SEC. 4. SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOWS.
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is further amended by adding at
the end the following:
‘‘(r) SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOWS.—
‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT
OF
REGULATIONS.—Not
later than May 29, 2001, the Administrator, in con-
sultation with State, municipal, and wastewater au-
thorities, shall issue regulations which establish a
comprehensive program to control discharges from
municipal separate sanitary sewer overflows.
‘‘(2) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program shall
provide for the following:
‘‘(A) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—A prohibi-
tion on sanitary sewer overflows, except those
overflows which are unavoidable. Municipal sep-
arate sanitary sewer systems shall not be liable
for those overflows which are unavoidable.
‘‘(B) MINIMUM
PROCEDURES.—Develop-
ment by the Administrator, in consultation with
municipalities and wastewater authorities, of
minimum operational procedures as guidance
for use by operators of municipal separate sani-
tary sewer systems for identification of sanitary
sewer overflows, immediate overflow response,
proper operation and maintenance, and new
sewer and service lateral installation.
‘‘(C) REMEDIATION.—
‘‘(i) 
SYSTEM-SPECIFIC
CONTROL
PLANS.—If avoidable and repeated sani-
tary sewer overflows occur following imple-
mentation of the minimum operational pro-
cedures under subparagraph (B), a system-
specific control plan that establishes prior-
ities for addressing such overflows shall be
developed and implemented by the per-
mittee, after approval by the permitting
authority. The control plan shall provide
for short-term and long-term remediation
in accordance with this subparagraph.
‘‘(ii) SHORT-TERM
REMEDIATION.—
The control plan under this subparagraph
shall provide for short-term remediation of
those sanitary sewer overflows that pose
immediate and significant health risks or
environmental impacts or which can be ad-
dressed without conducting a complex
analysis of the system, including proce-
dures for dry weather operation and main-
tenance, dry weather capacity, wet weather
operation and maintenance, wet weather
preventative maintenance and minor cap-
ital improvement, and wet weather capac-
ity and rapid solution.
‘‘(iii) LONG-TERM
REMEDIATION.—
The control plan under this subparagraph
shall provide for any other chronic wet
weather or avoidable and repeated dry
weather sanitary sewer overflow, long-term
remediation, including a combination of ac-
tivities to remove extraneous peak flow
sources, improve conveyance capacity, im-
prove treatment plant capacity, and pro-
vide additional storage.
‘‘(iv) GUIDANCE.—The Administrator
shall develop guidance for determining the
type of short-term and long-term remedi-
ation necessary based on the relative im-
pacts to public health and environment.
‘‘(v) WET
WEATHER
TREATMENT.—
Under the control plan, discharges from
the sanitary sewer collection system via
wet weather facilities, at less than the
equivalent of secondary treatment that
meets technology-based standards of this
Act, are authorized in accordance with
clauses (vi) and (vii).
‘‘(vi) TEMPORARY MEASURES.—Under
clause (v), a temporary discharge (which is
part of an interim measure before comple-
tion of the long-term control plan) from a
wet weather facility is authorized if such
discharge reduces health risks by strategi-
cally locating discharges to lower risk areas
in a way that reduces or eliminates the oc-
currence of overflows to sensitive receiving
waters and the occurrence of sewage spills
and basement backups in other parts of
the collection system until other steps to
rehabilitate the collection system are taken.
If temporary discharges from a wet weath-
er facility are approved by the permitting
authority, either a permit or an enforce-
ment order must provide interim mile-
stones for constructing, operating, and ter-
minating the discharges.
‘‘(vii) 
LONG-TERM
FACILITIES.—
Under clause (v), a discharge from a long-
term wet weather facility is authorized if
the discharge is part of a comprehensive