I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1720 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to ensure that sewage 
treatment plants monitor for and report discharges of raw sewage, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 20, 2005 
Mr. BISHOP of New York 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 ensure 
that sewage treatment plants monitor for and report 
discharges of raw sewage, 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 ‘‘Raw Sewage Overflow 
Community Right-to-Know Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Centers for Disease Control estimates 
that there are 7,100,000 cases of mild to moderate,
and 560,000 cases of moderate to severe, infectious 
waterborne disease in the United States each year. 
(2) Inadequately treated sewage is filled with 
bacteria, viruses, parasites, and worms that make 
people sick. 
(3) People who ingest or inhale inadequately 
treated sewage can contract gastroenteritis, hepa-
titis, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, dysentery, and 
other gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases. 
(4) Between 1,800,000 and 3,500,000 Ameri-
cans become sick every year just from swimming in 
waters contaminated by sanitary sewer overflows. 
(5) The loss of swimming opportunities (beach 
closings) due to pathogen contamination is valued at 
$1,000,000,000 to $2,000,000,000 annually in the 
United States. 
(6) Economic losses due to swimming-related 
illnesses are estimated at $28,000,000,000 annually. 
(7) Many sewer systems do not routinely mon-
itor to detect sewer overflows or report those that do 
occur to environmental or public health agencies. 
(8) Better monitoring, reporting, and public no-
tification of sewer overflows would save millions of 
Americans from getting sick every year.
(9) Public health authorities are not routinely 
notified of sewer overflows that threaten public 
health. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(24) SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOW.—The term 
‘sanitary sewer overflow’ means an overflow, spill, 
release, or diversion of wastewater from a sanitary 
sewer system. Such term does not include combined 
sewer overflows or other discharges from the com-
bined portions of a combined sewer system and does 
not include wastewater backups into buildings 
caused by a blockage or other malfunction of a 
building lateral that is privately owned. Such term 
includes overflows or releases of wastewater that 
reach waters of the United States, overflows or re-
leases of wastewater that do not reach waters of the 
United States, and wastewater backups into build-
ings that are caused by blockages or flow conditions 
in a sanitary sewer other than a building lateral.’’.
SEC. 4. MONITORING, REPORTING, AND PUBLIC NOTIFICA-
TION OF 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: 
‘‘(r) SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOWS.— 
‘‘(1) GENERAL
REQUIREMENTS.—Not later 
than 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub-
section, the owner or operator of a publicly owned 
treatment works (as defined in section 212) under a 
permit issued under this section— 
‘‘(A) must institute and utilize a method-
ology, technology, or management program that 
will alert the owner or operator to the occur-
rence of a sanitary sewer overflow in a timely 
manner; 
‘‘(B) must notify the public of a sanitary 
sewer overflow in any area where the overflow 
has the potential to affect human health; 
‘‘(C) must notify the public as soon as 
practicable within 24 hours of the time the 
owner or operator becomes aware of the over-
flow; 
‘‘(D) must immediately notify public health 
authorities and other affected entities, such as 
public water systems, of any sanitary sewer
overflow that may imminently and substantially 
endanger human health; 
‘‘(E) must provide to the Administrator or 
the State in the case of a State that has a per-
mit program approved under this section either 
an oral or electronic report as soon as prac-
ticable within 24 hours of the time the owner 
or operator becomes aware of the overflow; 
‘‘(F) must provide to the Administrator or 
the State, as the case may be, within 5 days of 
the time the owner or operator becomes aware 
of the overflow a written report describing— 
‘‘(i) the magnitude, duration, and sus-
pected cause of the overflow; 
‘‘(ii) the steps taken or planned to re-
duce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of 
the overflow; and 
‘‘(iii) the steps taken or planned to 
mitigate the impact of the overflow; 
‘‘(G) must report all sanitary sewer over-
flows to waters of the United States on its 
monthly discharge monitoring report to the Ad-
ministrator or the State, as the case may be; 
and
‘‘(H) must report to the Administrator or 
the State, as the case may be, the total number 
of such overflows (including overflows that do 
not reach any waters of the United States) in 
a calendar year, including the details of how 
much wastewater was released per incident, the 
duration of each overflow, the location of the 
overflow and any potentially affected receiving 
waters, the responses taken to clean up the 
overflow, and the actions taken to mitigate im-
pacts and avoid further sanitary sewer over-
flows at the site. 
‘‘(2) REPORT TO EPA.—If a State receives a re-
port under paragraph (1)(H), the State shall report 
to the Administrator annually, in summary, the de-
tails of reported sanitary sewer overflows that oc-
curred in that State.’’. 
SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. 
Section 603(c) of the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ the first place it appears; 
and 
(2) by inserting after ‘‘320 of this Act’’ the fol-
lowing: ‘‘, and (4) for the implementation of require-
ments to monitor, report, and notify the public of 
sanitary sewer overflows under section 402’’. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
Section 607 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended by striking ‘‘the fol-
lowing sums’’ and all that follows through the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘$2,200,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2006 through 2012.’’. 
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