I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3873
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a national
urban watershed restoration program.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 22, 1994
Ms. NORTON (for herself, Mr. BLACKWELL, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. EVANS, Mr.
FILNER, Mr. FROST, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. LEWIS of
Georgia, Mr. MANTON, Mr. MORAN, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. MURPHY, Mr.
OLVER, Mr. OWENS, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SANDERS,
Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. STOKES, Mrs. UNSOELD, Ms.
VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. WALSH, Mr. WATT, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Public Works
and Transportation and Merchant Marine and Fisheries
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to
establish a national urban watershed restoration program.
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 Watershed Res-
toration Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Urban communities are disproportionately
impacted by water quality degradation and aquatic
habitat loss.
(2) Local residents in urban communities can
and should be supported and empowered to revitalize
and restore the urban streams, rivers, lakes, and
wetlands in their neighborhoods.
(3) Water quality and watershed programs in
urban areas must create new and diverse jobs for
youths and other unemployed workers in order to
ensure the long-term participation of urban commu-
nities within these programs.
(4) A range of biological techniques, including
revegetation and other methods, have been dem-
onstrated to be effective in restoring urban waters,
but have been underutilized and underfunded in mu-
nicipal stormwater and watershed management pro-
grams.
(5) Loss of species diversity and the invasion of
exotic species negatively impact estuarine habitat
and can be addressed through projects that enhance
the diversity of indigenous plant and animal commu-
nities.
(6) Lack of public access to waterways and ri-
parian parkland fosters human isolation from and
disinterest in urban watersheds. Access to waterways
can and should be created in urban neighborhoods
when and where appropriate.
(7) The Nation benefits by supporting citizen
monitoring and local initiatives to protect and pre-
vent further degradation of urban waterways.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To enable local citizen and government or-
ganizations in urban areas to undertake, with Fed-
eral, State, and private assistance, urban watershed
restoration programs which are consistent with ex-
isting watershed and estuarine restoration plans and
existing Federal regulatory programs.
(2) To restore both small and large urban
waterbodies to become oases of beauty, recreation,
sustenance, and renewal for their communities.
(3) To achieve the goals of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act in the most degraded and ne-
glected urban areas; specifically, to restore and
maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integ-
rity of urban waters and watersheds, including res-
toration and maintenance of water quality, a bal-
anced indigenous population of shellfish, fish, and
wildlife, aquatic and riparian vegetation, and rec-
reational activities in and on the water, and to pro-
tect designated uses, including fishing, swimming,
and drinking water supply.
(4) To support the formation of, and provide
the funds for, small local and minority-owned busi-
nesses and nonprofit citizen organizations focused on
providing urban watershed restoration jobs, services,
and products for persons and communities in de-
graded urban watershed areas.
(5) To promote development of careers in urban
watershed restoration and related fields, as well as
environmental education, for youths.
(6) To create urban watershed restoration
project opportunities for State and local conservation
or service corps.
(7) To encourage the coordination of urban wa-
tershed 
restoration 
projects 
and 
municipal
stormwater and combined sewer overflow permit pro-
grams.
(8) To increase public access to urban water-
ways and to increase the amount of urban estuarine
and riparian parkland available for passive recre-
ation.
(9) To promote the use of physical restoration
of urban waterways as a means to low-cost
stormwater management.
(10) Creation of new wetland and riparian envi-
ronments as part of a multiobjective stormwater
management system in which the created wetlands,
stream 
channels, 
and 
riparian 
zones 
provide
stormwater storage, detention, retention, nutrient
filtering, wildlife habitat, and increase biological
diversity.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.
Section 319 of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (33 U.S.C. 1329) is amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
‘‘(o) NATIONAL URBAN WATERSHED RESTORATION
PROGRAM.—
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this subsection,
the Administrator shall establish a National Urban
Watershed Restoration Program to be carried out in
accordance with the requirements of this subsection.
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Program shall be
administered by each State which the Adminis-
trator determines has a demonstrated success-
ful urban river restoration program. If a State
does not have a demonstrated successful urban
river restoration program, the Administrator
shall administer the Program through the Re-
gional Administration of the Environmental
Protection Agency.
‘‘(B) COMBINED FUNDING.—The Adminis-
trator shall assist States participating in the
Program in combining funding from the Pro-
gram and other related programs to reduce in-
efficiencies.
‘‘(3) FUNDING.—The Administrator shall allo-
cate at least 25 percent of funds made available to
carry out this section for the purpose of carrying out
the Program.
‘‘(4) PROJECT GRANTS AND TECHNICAL ASSIST-
ANCE.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator
shall use funds allocated to carry out the Pro-
gram for making grants and providing technical
assistance for projects which meet the require-
ments of this subsection and which are selected
by the Administrator or the State, as the case
may be.
‘‘(B) 
FEDERAL
SHARE.—The 
Federal
share of the cost of carrying out a project with
Federal assistance under this subsection in any
fiscal year shall not exceed 60 percent of the
cost incurred in carrying out such project and
shall be made on condition that the non-Federal
share is provided from non-Federal sources.
The non-Federal share may include in-kind
services.
‘‘(C) MAXIMUM AMOUNT TO BE USED FOR
INDIVIDUAL
PROJECTS.—Not 
more 
than
$500,000 of the funds allocated to carry out
the Program may be expended to carry out any
individual project.
‘‘(D) SIMPLIFIED
CONTRACTING
PROCE-
DURES.—The Administrator shall develop sim-
plified contracting procedures for grants under
the Program and may waive Federal contract-
ing requirements as appropriate for grants
under $100,000.
‘‘(5) PROJECT SELECTION.—
‘‘(A) CONDITIONS.—The Administrator or
State, as the case may be, shall select a project
to be carried out under the Program only if the
project meets the following requirements:
‘‘(i) PROPOSAL.—The project is joint-
ly nominated by a State, local, regional, or
tribal governmental entity and by a private
citizen’s organization active in the urban
watershed area of the project, and the
project sponsors submit to the Adminis-
trator or State a proposal for carrying out
the project.
‘‘(ii) CONSISTENCY
WITH
EXISTING
PLANS AND PERMITS.—In order to ensure
consistency with regional restoration prior-
ities, the project sponsors—
‘‘(I) certify that all available and
relevant water quality and watershed
plans, reports, studies, and strategies
(including those under sections 118,
119, 120, 208, 303, 314, 319, and
320 of this Act) that the Adminis-
trator deems appropriate and, where
appropriate, 
municipal 
stormwater
discharge and combined sewer over-
flow permits under section 402 have
been considered by the project spon-
sor; and
‘‘(II) provide assurances that the
project will be carried out in a man-
ner which is consistent with such
plans, reports, studies, strategies, and
permits, as well as the goals and ob-
jectives of the Program and this Act.
‘‘(B) PRIORITY
PROJECTS.—Under the
Program, the Administrator shall encourage
through technical assistance and other means,
and give priority to, those projects that—
‘‘(i) assist communities in meeting
municipal stormwater discharge and com-
bined sewer overflow permit program re-
quirements under section 402 of this Act;
‘‘(ii) assist in the implementation of
approved national estuary plans under sec-
tion 320 of this Act; and
‘‘(iii) assist municipalities in the de-
velopment and implementation of stream
protection measures and monitoring.
‘‘(C) FACTORS
TO
BE
CONSIDERED.—In
considering whether or not to select a project to
be carried out under the Program, the Adminis-
trator or State shall consider, at a minimum,
the following factors and give priority to those
projects that meet more than one of these
factors:
‘‘(i) The project will be carried out in
a low-income urban area.
‘‘(ii) The project will correct a water
pollution, stormwater drainage, aquatic
and riparian habitat loss, erosion reduction
and control, or landscape degradation
problem which contributes to the economic,
social, and environmental and water qual-
ity degradation of the area.
‘‘(iii) The project will support eco-
logically-oriented businesses or occupations
in the area served by the project.
‘‘(iv) The project will employ and
train State and local conservation or serv-
ice corps in watershed restoration and
monitoring and assessment work.
‘‘(v) The project will employ youth.
‘‘(vi) The project will support diverse
community coalitions in low-income urban
areas and support outreach programs to
involve these communities in urban water-
shed monitoring and restoration.
‘‘(vii) The project will restore urban
waterways providing benefits to urban fish-
eries of recreational, subsistence, commer-
cial, or scientific significance, giving prior-
ity to ecological restoration methods.
‘‘(viii) The project will employ and
train urban fishers and other urban aquat-
ic resource users and harvesters who have
experienced loss or reduction of their liveli-
hoods due to habitat degradation or related
harvesting regulations.
‘‘(ix) The project will integrate local
or regional schools, colleges, universities,
and nonprofit organizations into the res-
toration, monitoring, and education activi-
ties of urban water quality programs.
‘‘(x) The project will assist a munici-
pal project sponsor in complying with mu-
nicipal stormwater and combined sewer
overflow permit program requirements
under section 402.
‘‘(6) ELIGIBLE PROJECT COSTS.—Project costs
eligible for funding under the Program shall be lim-
ited to the following activities and purposes:
‘‘(A) Ecological restoration of existing de-
graded wetlands, streams, lakes, and rivers.
‘‘(B) Removal of debris.
‘‘(C) Creation of a greater diversity of
aquatic habitats in urban environments.
‘‘(D) Construction of new wetlands and
vegetated riparian areas.
‘‘(E) Reduction of runoff caused by urban-
ization, including impervious surface and aban-
doned lot reclamation and revegetation projects.
‘‘(F) Streambank restoration and stabiliza-
tion utilizing biological slope stabilization.
‘‘(G) Creation of floodplain riparian zones,
sediment removal from storm flows, and nutri-
ent uptake by riparian plant communities.
‘‘(H) Projects designed to remove barriers
to fish passage and projects designed to remove
culverts or storm drains to reestablish stream
channel environments or to manage stormwater
flow.
‘‘(I) Organization of neighborhood or re-
gional nonprofit watershed citizen groups and
councils to develop a consensus watershed res-
toration strategy where one does not currently
exist and to carry out restoration activities
under such a plan.
‘‘(J) Watershed landscape projects and
geographical surveys and mapping to carry out
the purposes of this Act, including the identi-
fication of potential riparian restoration sites.
‘‘(K) Employment of youths in any or all
of the activities described in subparagraphs (A)
and (J). Such employment shall be through
membership in State or local conservation or
service corps or, where such corps do not exist,
through membership in State, regional, or local
community service organizations or other equiv-
alent agencies.
‘‘(7) COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—
The Administrator shall assist project sponsors in
coordinating with Federal and State agencies, aca-
demic institutions, community organizations, and
public interest groups.
‘‘(8) COOPERATIVE
AGREEMENTS.—Each Re-
gional Administrator may enter into 1 or more coop-
erative agreements with appropriate officials of the
Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Ag-
riculture and the Fish and Wildlife Service and the
National Park Service of the Department of the In-
terior for the purpose of having the cooperating
agency provide technical assistance to one or more
projects being carried out under the Program.
‘‘(9) NONDEGRADATION
POLICY.—Nothing in
this subsection shall be construed to encourage addi-
tional development, alteration, loss, or degradation
of wetlands or other waters within urban watersheds
or stream corridors or any other waters of the
United States.
‘‘(10) REPORTS.—
‘‘(A) REGIONAL
ADMINISTRATORS.—Not
later than January 1, 1995, and each January
1 thereafter, each Regional Administrator shall
submit to the Administrator a report for the
preceding fiscal year on the implementation of
the Program in its region, together with rec-
ommendations of methods of improving such
implementation.
‘‘(B) ADMINISTRATOR.—Not later than
March 1, 1997, the Administrator shall trans-
mit to Congress a report for fiscal years 1994,
1995, and 1996 on the implementation of the
Program under this subsection, together with
recommendations concerning continuation of
the Program after fiscal year 1998 and rec-
ommendations concerning methods of improving
such implementation.
‘‘(11) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this
subsection, the following definitions apply:
‘‘(A) 
ECOLOGICAL
RESTORATION.—The
term ‘ecological restoration’ means the process
of intentionally altering a site to establish a de-
fined, indigenous, historic ecosystem with the
goal of emulating the structure, function, diver-
sity, and dynamics of the ecosystem.
‘‘(B) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’
means the National Urban Watershed Restora-
tion Program established under paragraph (1)
by the Administrator.
‘‘(C) 
REGIONAL
ADMINISTRATOR.—The
term ‘Regional Administrator’ means a Re-
gional Administrator of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency.
‘‘(D) URBAN
WATERSHED.—The term
‘urban watershed’ means any watershed located
wholly or substantially within the boundaries of
an urbanized area designated by the Bureau of
the Census or any watershed located wholly or
substantially within the boundaries of lands
owned or controlled by an Indian tribe.
‘‘(E) WATERSHED.—The term ‘watershed’
means all lands that drain directly into a single
waterbody, the land that drains into sewer con-
veyances that discharge to the waterbody, and
the waterbody itself.’’.
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