I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4289
To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act to establish
a Waterways Restoration Program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 21, 1994
Ms. FURSE (for herself, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. HOCHBRUECKNER,
Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. MILLER
of California, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. WYDEN,
Mr. STUDDS, Mr. HAMBURG, Mr. BARRETT
of Wisconsin, Mrs.
UNSOELD, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. DICKS, Mr. RANGEL, and
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly
to the Committees on Agriculture, Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and
Public Works and Transportation
A BILL
To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention
Act to establish a Waterways Restoration Program, 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 ‘‘Waterways Restoration
Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND POLICY.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) restoring degraded streams, rivers, wet-
lands, and other waterways to their natural state is
a cost effective and environmentally sensitive means
to control flooding, excessive erosion, sedimentation,
and nonpoint pollution, including stormwater runoff;
(2) protecting and restoring watersheds pro-
vides critical ecological benefits by restoring and
maintaining biodiversity, providing fish and wildlife
habitat, filtering pollutants, and performing other
important ecological functions;
(3) 
waterway 
restoration 
and 
protection
projects can provide important economic benefits by
rejuvenating waterfront areas, providing recreational
opportunities, and creating community service jobs
and job training opportunities in environmental res-
toration for disadvantaged youth, displaced resource
harvesters, and other unemployed residents; and
(4) restoring waterways helps to increase the
fishing potential of waterways and restore dimin-
ished fisheries, which are important to local and re-
gional cultures and economies and to low income
and ethnic cultural groups who rely heavily on fish
as a food source.
(b) POLICY.—Therefore, Congress declares it in the
national interest to—
(1) protect and restore the chemical, biological,
and physical components of streams and rivers and
associated wetland systems such that the biological
and physical structures, diversity, functions, and dy-
namics of the stream and wetland ecological systems
are restored;
(2) replace deteriorating stormwater structural
infrastructures and physical waterway alterations
that are environmentally destructive with cost effec-
tive, low maintenance, and environmentally sensitive
projects;
(3) promote the use of nonstructural means to
manage and convey streamflow, stormwater, and
flood waters;
(4) increase the involvement of the public and
youth conservation and service corps in the monitor-
ing, inventorying, and restoration of watersheds in
order to improve public education, prevent pollution,
and develop coordinated citizen and governmental
partnerships to restore damaged waterways; and
(5) benefit business districts, local economies,
and neighborhoods through the restoration of water-
ways.
SEC. 3. WORKS OF IMPROVEMENT DEFINED.
The second paragraph of section 2 of the Watershed
Protection and Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. 1002; re-
lating to works of improvement) is amended by striking
the following: ‘‘Each project must contain benefits directly
related to agriculture, including rural communities, that
account for at least 20 percent of the total benefits of the
project.’’.
SEC. 4. WATERWAYS RESTORATION PROGRAM.
The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act
(16 U.S.C. 1001–1008; 1010) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 14. WATERWAYS RESTORATION PROGRAM.
‘‘(a) 
ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
Secretary, 
acting
through the Chief of the Soil Conservation Service, shall
establish and implement a Waterways Restoration Pro-
gram in accordance with the requirements of this section.
Under the program, the Secretary shall provide technical
assistance and grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible
entities to assist such entities in carrying out waterway
restoration projects.
‘‘(b) PROJECT ELIGIBILITY.—
‘‘(1) PROJECT OBJECTIVES.—A project shall be
eligible for assistance under the program if the
project is designed to achieve ecological restoration
or protection and 1 or more of the following objec-
tives:
‘‘(A) Flood damage reduction.
‘‘(B) Erosion control.
‘‘(C) Stormwater management.
‘‘(D) Water quality enhancement.
‘‘(2) LOCATION OF PROJECTS.—A project may
be carried out under the program on Federal lands
or on State or private lands in any case in which the
State or the private land owner is a sponsor or co-
sponsor of the project.
‘‘(3) PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS.—Projects eligible
for assistance under the program shall include
projects for any of the following purposes:
‘‘(A) Restoration and monitoring of de-
graded waterways, including revegetation, res-
toration of biological communities, and changes
in land management practices.
‘‘(B) Reestablishment of stream channel
quasi-equilibrium.
‘‘(C) Restoration or establishment of wet-
land and riparian environments as part of a
multiobjective stormwater management system
in which the restored or established areas pro-
vide stormwater storage, detention, and reten-
tion; nutrient filtering; wildlife habitat; and in-
creased biological diversity.
‘‘(D) Reduction of runoff.
‘‘(E) Stream bank restoration using the
principles of biotechnical slope stabilization.
‘‘(F) Creation and acquisition of multi-ob-
jective floodplain riparian zones, including re-
moval of natural or humanmade levees, for
floodwater and sediment storage, wildlife habi-
tat, and recreation.
‘‘(G) Removal of culverts and storm drains
to establish natural environmental conditions.
‘‘(H) Organization of local watershed coun-
cils in conjunction with the implementation of
on-the-ground action education or restoration
projects.
‘‘(I) Training of participants, including
youth conservation and service corps program
participants, in restoration techniques in con-
junction with the implementation of on-the-
ground action education or restoration projects.
‘‘(J) Development of waterway restoration
or watershed plans which are intended for use
within the grant agreement period to implement
specific restoration projects.
‘‘(K) Restoration of any stream channel to
reestablish a meandering, bankfull flow channel,
riparian vegetation, and floodplain in order—
‘‘(i) to restore the functions and dy-
namics of a natural stream system to a
previously channelized waterway; or
‘‘(ii) to convey larger flood flows as an
alternative to a channelization project.
‘‘(L) Release of reservoir flows to restore
riparian and instream habitat.
‘‘(M) Watershed or wetland programs that
have undergone planning pursuant to other
Federal, State, tribal, or local programs and
laws and have received necessary environmental
review and permits.
‘‘(N) Early action projects which a water-
shed council wants to implement prior to the
completion of its required final consensus wa-
tershed plan, if the project is determined to
meet the council’s watershed management ob-
jectives and is useful in fostering citizen in-
volvement in the planning process.
‘‘(4) PRIORITY PROJECTS.—Projects which have
the following attributes shall be given priority by