[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2080 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2080

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 20, 2007

Mr. Lautenberg introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 Right-to-Know Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 
        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 contains bacteria, viruses, 
        parasites, and worms that make individuals ill;
            (3) individuals who ingest or inhale inadequately-treated 
        sewage can contract gastroenteritis, hepatitis, giardiasis, 
        cryptosporidiosis, dysentery, and other gastrointestinal and 
        respiratory diseases;
            (4) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
        Agency has estimated that between 1,800,000 and 3,500,000 
        individuals in the United States become ill every year just 
        from swimming in water contaminated by sanitary sewer 
        overflows;
            (5) many sewer systems do not routinely monitor to detect 
        sewer overflows;
            (6) public health authorities are not routinely notified of 
        sewer overflows that threaten public health;
            (7) better monitoring, reporting, and public notification 
        of sewer overflows could prevent millions of individuals in the 
        United States from becoming ill each year;
            (8) sewage treatment operators perform an important job 
        that--
                    (A) helps protect the public; and
                    (B) is critical in achieving the goals of the 
                Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et 
                seq.);
            (9) the wastewater systems of the United States are aging 
        and require significant investment in traditional and green 
        infrastructure to prevent the occurrence of sewer overflows; 
        and
            (10) public notification of sewer overflows that threaten 
        public health will--
                    (A) protect the public; and
                    (B) increase recognition and support for needed 
                investment in infrastructure to address contaminated 
                stormwater and sewer overflows.

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:
            ``(25) Sanitary sewer overflow.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `sanitary sewer 
                overflow' means an overflow, spill, release, or 
                diversion of wastewater from a sanitary sewer system.
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--The term `sanitary sewer 
                overflow' includes--
                            ``(i) an overflow or release of wastewater 
                        that reaches waters of the United States;
                            ``(ii) an overflow or release of wastewater 
                        that does not reach waters of the United 
                        States; and
                            ``(iii) a wastewater backup into a building 
                        that is caused by a blockage or flow conditions 
                        in a sanitary sewer other than a building 
                        lateral.
                    ``(C) Exclusions.--The term `sanitary sewer 
                overflow' does not include--
                            ``(i) a combined sewer overflow or other 
                        discharge from the combined portions of a 
                        combined sewer system; or
                            ``(ii) a wastewater backup into a building 
                        caused by a blockage or other malfunction of a 
                        building lateral that is privately owned.
            ``(26) Combined sewer overflow.--The term `combined sewer 
        overflow' means an overflow, spill, release, or diversion of 
        wastewater from a combined sanitary system at a point prior to 
        the publicly owned treatment works treatment plant.
            ``(27) Sewer overflow.--The term `sewer overflow' means a 
        sanitary sewer overflow or a combined sewer overflow.''.

SEC. 4. 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 1 year after 
        the date of enactment of this subsection, the owner or operator 
        of a publicly owned treatment works (as defined in section 
        403.3 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 
        March 1, 2007)) under a permit issued under this section 
        shall--
                    ``(A) institute and use a methodology, technology, 
                or management program that will alert the owner or 
                operator to the occurrence of a sewer overflow in a 
                timely manner;
                    ``(B) notify the public of a sewer overflow in any 
                area in which the overflow has the potential to affect 
                human health;
                    ``(C) notify the public as soon as practicable, but 
                not later than 24 hours, after the time at which the 
                owner or operator becomes aware of the overflow;
                    ``(D) 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;
                    ``(E) provide to the Administrator (or the State, 
                in the case of a State that has a permit program 
                approved under this section) an oral or electronic 
                report as soon as practicable, but not later than 24 
                hours, after the time at which the owner or operator 
                becomes aware of the overflow;
                    ``(F) provide to the Administrator or the State, as 
                the case may be, not later than 5 days after the time 
                at which the owner or operator becomes aware of the 
                overflow a written report describing--
                            ``(i) the magnitude, duration, and 
                        suspected cause of the overflow;
                            ``(ii) the steps taken or planned to 
                        reduce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of 
                        the overflow; and
                            ``(iii) the steps taken or planned to 
                        mitigate the impact of the overflow;
                    ``(G) report all sewer overflows to waters of the 
                United States on the monthly discharge monitoring 
                report of the owner or operator to the Administrator or 
                the State, as the case may be; and
                    ``(H) report to the Administrator or the State, as 
                the case may be, the total number of sewer overflows 
                (including sewer overflows that do not reach any waters 
                of the United States) in a calendar year, including a 
                detailed description of--
                            ``(i) the quantity of wastewater that was 
                        released per incident;
                            ``(ii) the duration of each sewer overflow;
                            ``(iii) the location of the overflow and 
                        any potentially affected receiving water;
                            ``(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)(H), the State shall report to the Administrator 
        annually, in summary, the details of reported sewer overflows 
        that occurred in the State.''.

SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE.

    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 ``320 of this Act'' the following: 
        ``, and (4) for the implementation of requirements to monitor, 
        report, and notify the public of sewer overflows under section 
        402(r)''.
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