I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5734 
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 
JUNE 29, 2006 
Mr. KIRK (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 (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 all such notices provided or 
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received in a searchable database accessible on the 
Internet. 
‘‘(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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‘‘(D) 
TREATMENT
WORKS.—The 
term 
‘treatment works’ has the meaning given that 
term in section 212. 
‘‘(8) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Administrator 
shall establish procedures to ensure that permits 
issued under this section (or under a State permit 
program approved under this section) to a publicly 
owned treatment works include requirements to im-
plement this subsection. 
‘‘(9) 
MAXIMUM
CIVIL
PENALTY.—Notwith-
standing any provision of section 309, the maximum 
civil penalty which shall be assessed for a violation 
of this subsection, or any permit limitation or condi-
tion implementing this subsection, shall be $100,000 
per day for each day the violation occurs. 
‘‘(10) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by 
subparagraph (B), the requirements of this sub-
section shall become effective beginning Janu-
ary 1, 2026. 
‘‘(B) NOTICE
REQUIREMENTS.—The re-
quirements of paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) shall 
become effective one year after the date of en-
actment of this subsection.’’. 
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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 
by redesignating section 519 as section 520 and inserting 
after section 518 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 519. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP 
FUND. 
‘‘(a) CREATION OF FUND.—There is established in 
the Treasury of the United States a trust fund to be 
known as the ‘Great Lakes Cleanup Fund’ (in this section 
referred to as the ‘Fund’). 
‘‘(b) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—Effective January 1, 
2026, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund 
amounts equivalent to the penalties collected for violations 
of section 402(r). 
‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION
OF FUND.—The Adminis-
trator shall administer the Fund. 
‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—The Administrator shall make 
the amounts in the Fund available to the Great Lakes 
States for programs and activities for improving waste-
water discharges into the Great Lakes, including habitat 
protection and wetland restoration. The Administrator 
shall allocate such amounts among the Great Lakes States 
based on the proportional amount attributable to each 
Great Lakes State for penalties collected for violations of 
section 402(r). 
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‘‘(e) 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(r) resulting in the collection of penalties. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘Great 
Lakes’ and ‘Great Lakes States’ have the meanings given 
such terms in section 118(a)(3).’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO STATE REVOLV-
ING FUND PROGRAM.—Section 607 of such Act (33 
U.S.C. 1387) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 
‘‘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 such funds shall be made 
available to the Great Lakes States as provided in section 
519.’’. 
Æ 
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