Title: Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II
This bill revises requirements under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, California.
Currently, the plant must meet standards established under the NPDES permit program for the primary and secondary treatment of wastewater discharged by the plant into marine waters. The city of San Diego may apply for permit modifications, which offer alternatives to certain secondary treatment standards.
This bill eliminates the need for the city to obtain a separate permit for such modifications. Instead, the city may apply to obtain the permit modifications under the main NPDES permit if the plant meets certain conditions, such as the implementation of a pretreatment program.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4611 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4611

To modify permitting requirements with respect to the discharge of any 
  pollutant from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in certain 
                 circumstances, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 4, 2019

  Mr. Peters introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 
    Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To modify permitting requirements with respect to the discharge of any 
  pollutant from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in certain 
                 circumstances, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1972, Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution 
        Control Act Amendments of 1972, which required publicly owned 
        treatment works to achieve secondary treatment capability by 
        1977.
            (2) In 1994, the United States District Court for the 
        Southern District of California determined that upgrading the 
        City of San Diego's Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant (in 
        this Act referred to as the ``Point Loma Plant'') to secondary 
        treatment standard would not be in the public interest, being 
        excessively costly without producing additional environmental 
        benefits.
            (3) The Point Loma Plant currently meets all the 
        requirements of secondary treatment except for the removal of 
        total suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand.
            (4) At the direction of Congress, the Environmental 
        Protection Agency (in this Act referred to as the ``EPA'') 
        requested that the National Research Council advise the agency 
        on ways to improve wastewater management in coastal urban 
        areas. The resulting study ``Managing Wastewater in Coastal 
        Urban Areas'' produced several important findings, including--
                    (A) biochemical oxygen demand discharged through a 
                well-designed outfall is generally not of ecological 
                concern in open coastal waters;
                    (B) total suspended solids can be adequately 
                controlled by advanced primary treatment and high 
                dilution outfalls; and
                    (C) over-control is particularly likely along ocean 
                coasts, but nevertheless full secondary treatment is 
                required regardless of cost or lack of benefits.
            (5) Past reviews by the City of San Diego, the EPA, the 
        State of California, and scientists affiliated with the Scripps 
        Institution of Oceanography, the University of California, San 
        Diego, and other organizations have concluded the Point Loma 
        Plant does not have any known significant adverse effect on the 
        ocean environment outside the immediate area of the discharge.
            (6) The ocean outfall for the Point Loma Plant discharges 
        effluent 4.5 miles from the coast at a depth of over 300 feet, 
        one of the longest and deepest ocean outfalls in the world.
            (7) Implementing full secondary treatment standards at the 
        Point Loma Plant will cost approximately $1,800,000,000.
            (8) Implementing full secondary treatment standards at the 
        Point Loma Plant is contrary to the national interest, in that 
        it will compromise views from the Cabrillo National Monument 
        and interfere with the Navy's use of adjacent property.
            (9) The City of San Diego generates all the energy it needs 
        to operate the Point Loma Plant onsite through co-generation. 
        Implementing full secondary treatment will turn a ``green'' 
        facility into one of the region's largest energy consumers, 
        requiring the purchase of over $17,000,000 each year in 
        electricity and producing more than 100,000 tons of greenhouse 
        gas emissions annually.
            (10) Implementing full secondary treatment standards at the 
        Point Loma Plant will require removal of 1,250,000 tons of 
        earth from environmentally sensitive habitat immediately 
        adjacent to the Point Loma Ecological Reserve.
            (11) Recognizing the unique situation surrounding the Point 
        Loma Plant, Congress adopted the Ocean Pollution Reduction Act 
        (OPRA). OPRA allowed the Point Loma Plant to avoid conversion 
        to full secondary treatment and instead operate under a 
        modified permit according to standards contained in sections 
        301(h) and 301(j)(5) of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
        Act, as modified by OPRA.
            (12) The City of San Diego has complied with all 
        requirements of OPRA and the results have been significant, 
        including reduction in the discharge of total suspended solids 
        and biochemical oxygen demand, advanced ocean monitoring, and 
        construction of 45,000,000 gallons per day of treatment 
        capacity to produce reclaimed water at a cost of approximately 
        $340,000,000.
            (13) This Act will capitalize on the record of improvements 
        initiated under OPRA and provide a framework for further 
        enhancements to the City of San Diego's water and wastewater 
        systems, increased potable water reliability, and additional 
        meaningful environmental protection.
            (14) The City of San Diego has completed its Water 
        Purification Demonstration Project showing that municipal 
        wastewater can successfully be treated to levels suitable for 
        potable reuse. The City of San Diego completed its Recycled 
        Water Study in 2012 describing how wastewater can be diverted 
        from the Point Loma Plant to new treatment facilities to 
        generate water suitable for potable reuse. Through the 
        construction and operation of new treatment facilities to 
        produce 83,000,000 gallons per day of water suitable for 
        potable reuse, the City of San Diego is expected to reduce the 
        total suspended solids discharged by the Point Loma Plant to 
        the same or lower levels as would be achieved by implementing 
        full secondary treatment, while creating an important new local 
        source of water.
            (15) The City of San Diego currently relies on imported 
        water for over 85 percent of its water supply. A new local 
        source of water can significantly reduce the environmental 
        impacts of importing water to San Diego from the Colorado River 
        and the California Bay-Delta by offsetting the City's demand 
        for imported water.
            (16) Due to the severe drought in California, the 2014 
        water allocation from the State Water Project was only 5 
        percent of normal, forcing water agencies to draw down water 
        reserves, implement mandatory conservation measures, and search 
        for new, dependable sources of water.

SEC. 3. SAN DIEGO POINT LOMA PERMITTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) or section 307 of 
the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1456), the 
Administrator may issue a permit under section 402 of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342), which, in lieu of the 
requirements of section 301(j)(5) of such Act (33 U.S.C. 1311(j)(5)), 
and in lieu of section 301(b)(1)(B) of such Act (33 U.S.C. 
1311(b)(1)(B)) otherwise applicable to the discharge of biochemical 
oxygen demand (in this section referred to as ``BOD'') and total 
suspended solids (in this section referred to as ``TSS'') from the 
Point Loma Plant into marine waters, applies or otherwise ensures 
implementation of the provisions of subsection (b).
    (b) Conditions.--The permit shall apply or otherwise ensure that 
the applicant shall--
            (1) maintain the currently designed deep ocean outfall from 
        the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant with a discharge 
        depth of no less than 300 feet and distance from the shore of 
        no less than 4 miles;
            (2) discharge no more than 12,000 metric tons of TSS per 
        year commencing on the date of enactment of this section, no 
        more than 11,500 metric tons of TSS per year commencing on 
        December 31, 2025, and no more than 9,942 metric tons of TSS 
        per year commencing on December 31, 2027;
            (3) discharge not more than 60 milligrams per liter of TSS, 
        calculated as a 30-day average;
            (4) remove no less than 80 percent of TSS on a monthly 
        average and no less than 58 percent of BOD on an annual 
        average, taking into account removal occurring at all treatment 
        processes for wastewater upstream from and at the Point Loma 
        Wastewater Treatment Plant;
            (5) attain all other effluent limitations of secondary 
        treatment as determined by the Administrator pursuant to 
        section 304(d)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
        (33 U.S.C. 1314(d)(1)), other than with respect to 
        concentration limits for BOD and TSS;
            (6) comply with the requirements applicable to Federal 
        issuance of a permit under section 402 of the Federal Water 
        Pollution Control Act, including State approval consistent with 
        this Act and ocean discharge criteria evaluation pursuant to 
        sections 401 and 403 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
        Act, respectively (33 U.S.C. 1341 and 33 U.S.C. 1343);
            (7) implement the pretreatment program requirements of 
        sections 301(h)(5) and 301(h)(6) of the Federal Water Pollution 
        Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311(h)(5) and 33 U.S.C. 1311(h)(6)) in 
        addition to the requirements of section 402(b)(8) of the 
        Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(b)(8));
            (8) provide 10 consecutive years of ocean monitoring data 
        and analysis for the period immediately preceding the date of 
        each application sufficient to demonstrate to the satisfaction 
        of the Administrator that the discharge of pollutants pursuant 
        to this section meets the requirements of section 301(h)(2) of 
        the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311(h)(2)) 
        and that the applicant has established and will maintain 
        throughout the permit term an ocean monitoring program that 
        meets or exceeds the requirements of section 301(h)(3) of the 
        Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311(h)(3)); and
            (9) to the extent potable reuse is permitted by Federal and 
        State regulatory agencies, demonstrate that at least 83,000,000 
        gallons per day on an annual average of water suitable for 
        potable reuse will be produced by December 31, 2035, taking 
        into account production of water suitable for potable reuse 
        occurring at all treatment processes for wastewater upstream 
        from and at the Point Loma Plant.
    (c) Milestones.--The Administrator shall determine development 
milestones necessary to ensure compliance with this section and include 
such milestones as conditions in each permit issued before December 31, 
2035.
    (d) Secondary Treatment.--Nothing in this section prevents the 
applicant from alternatively submitting an application for the Point 
Loma Plant that complies with secondary treatment pursuant to section 
301(b)(1)(B) and section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
(33 U.S.C. 1311(b)(1)(B) and 33 U.S.C. 1342).
    (e) Definitions.--Any term used in this section which is also used 
under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act shall have the same 
meaning as when used in such Act.
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