[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2452 Reported in House (RH)]






                                                 Union Calendar No. 458
110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2452

                          [Report No. 110-723]

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

                              May 23, 2007

 Mr. Bishop of New York (for himself, Mr. LoBiondo, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. 
  Grijalva, Ms. Norton, Mr. Nadler, Mr. DeFazio, Mrs. Maloney of New 
   York, Mr. Lantos, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Mr. Saxton, and Mr. 
Bartlett of Maryland) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
         to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

                             June 19, 2008

Additional sponsors: Mr. Payne, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Kucinich, 
 Mr. Hinchey, Ms. Schakowsky, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Filner, Mr. 
  Pallone, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. 
Holt, Ms. Lee, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Platts, Mr. Boswell, Mr. Carnahan, Mr. 
Engel, Mr. Baird, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Mr. 
Pascrell, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Sires, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. 
 Rothman, Mr. Capuano, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Levin, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, 
   Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Wynn, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota, Mr. Arcuri, Mr. 
 Shays, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Murphy of Connecticut, Mr. Wexler, 
   Mr. Hinojosa, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Klein of Florida, Mr. Israel, Mr. 
                     Sestak, and Mr. Ruppersberger

                             June 19, 2008

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
          on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 23, 
                                 2007]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-
Know Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1362) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(25) 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 municipal combined sewer overflows or other discharges 
        from a municipal combined storm and sanitary 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 
        releases of wastewater in the United States that do not reach 
        waters of the United States, and wastewater backups into 
        buildings that are caused by blockages or flow conditions in a 
        sanitary sewer other than a building lateral.
            ``(26) Treatment works.--The term `treatment works' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 212.''.

SEC. 3. MONITORING, REPORTING, AND PUBLIC NOTIFICATION 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) Sewer Overflow Notifications.--
            ``(1) General requirements.--Not later than one year after 
        the date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator 
        shall take such action as may be necessary to ensure that each 
        permit issued under this section before, on, or after the date 
        of enactment of this subsection for a publicly owned treatment 
        works shall require, at a minimum, that the owner or operator 
        of the treatment works--
                    ``(A) institute and utilize a feasible methodology, 
                technology, or management program to alert the owner or 
                operator to the occurrence of a sewer overflow in a 
                timely manner;
                    ``(B) notify the public of a sewer overflow as soon 
                as practicable, but not later than 24 hours after the 
                time the owner or operator becomes aware of such 
                overflow, if such overflow has the potential to affect 
                human health, except for overflows that are wastewater 
                backups into single-family residences;
                    ``(C) immediately notify public health authorities 
                and other affected entities, such as public water 
                systems, of any sewer overflow that may imminently and 
                substantially endanger human health, except for 
                overflows that are wastewater backups into single-
                family residences;
                    ``(D) report each sewer overflow (other than a 
                release of wastewater that occurs in the course of 
                maintenance of the treatment works, is managed 
                consistently with the treatment works' best management 
                practices, and is intended to prevent overflows) on its 
                monthly discharge monitoring report to the 
                Administrator or the State, as the case may be, by 
                describing--
                            ``(i) the magnitude, duration, and 
                        suspected cause of the overflow;
                            ``(ii) the steps taken or planned to 
                        reduce, eliminate, or prevent recurrence of the 
                        overflow; and
                            ``(iii) the steps taken or planned to 
                        mitigate the impact of the overflow; and
                    ``(E) report to the Administrator or the State, as 
                the case may be, the total number of sewer overflows 
                (other than a release of wastewater that occurs in the 
                course of maintenance of the treatment works, is 
                managed consistently with the treatment works' best 
                management practices, and is intended to prevent 
                overflows) in a calendar year, including--
                            ``(i) the details of how much wastewater 
                        was released per incident;
                            ``(ii) the duration of each sewer overflow;
                            ``(iii) the location of the overflow and 
                        any potentially affected receiving waters;
                            ``(iv) the responses taken to clean up the 
                        overflow; and
                            ``(v) the actions taken to mitigate impacts 
                        and avoid further sewer overflows at the site.
            ``(2) Report to epa.--If a State receives a report under 
        paragraph (1)(E), the State shall report to the Administrator 
        annually, in summary, the details of reported sewer overflows 
        that occurred in that State.
            ``(3) Rulemaking by epa.--Not later than one year after the 
        date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall, 
        after providing notice and the opportunity for public comment, 
        issue regulations to--
                    ``(A) establish a set of criteria to guide owners 
                and operators of publicly owned treatment works in 
                assessing whether a sewer overflow has the potential to 
                affect human health or may imminently and substantially 
                endanger human health; and
                    ``(B) define the terms `feasible' and `timely' as 
                such terms apply to paragraph (1)(A).
            ``(4) Site specific conditions.--The definitions under 
        paragraph (3)(B) shall include site specific conditions.
            ``(5) Definitions.--
                    ``(A) Sewer overflow.--In this subsection, the term 
                `sewer overflow' means a sanitary sewer overflow or a 
                municipal combined sewer overflow.
                    ``(B) Single family residence.--In this subsection, 
                the term `single-family residence' means an individual 
                dwelling unit, including an apartment, condominium, 
                house, or dormitory. Such term does not include the 
                common areas of a multi-dwelling structure.''.

SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Purpose of State Revolving Fund.--Section 601(a) of the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1381(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' the first place it appears; and
            (2) by inserting after ``section 320'' the following: ``, 
        and (4) for the implementation of requirements to monitor for 
        sewer overflows under section 402''.
    (b) Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Funds.--Section 603(c) 
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' the first place it appears; and
            (2) by inserting after ``section 320 of this Act'' the 
        following: ``, and (4) for the implementation of requirements 
        to monitor for sewer overflows under section 402 of this Act''.

SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act, including any amendment made by this Act, 
shall be construed--
            (1) to limit the ability of any State from implementing and 
        enforcing more stringent monitoring and notification standards 
        than those required by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
        (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); or
            (2) to supplant or diminish obligations to comply with all 
        other requirements of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
            Amend the title so as to read: ``A bill to amend the 
        Federal Water Pollution Control Act to ensure that sewage 
        treatment plants monitor for and report discharges of sewage, 
        and for other purposes.''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 458

110th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2452

                          [Report No. 110-723]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                             June 19, 2008

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
          on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed