1.This Act may be cited as
the Clean Water Affordability
Act
.
2.Sewer overflow control grants
(a)Sewer overflow control grantsSection 221 of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act (33
U.S.C. 1301) is amended by striking subsections (a) through (g)
and inserting the following:
(a)The Administrator
may—
(1)make grants to
States for the purpose of providing grants to local or regional authorities or
a municipality or municipal entity for use in planning, designing, and
constructing treatment works to intercept, transport, control, or treat
municipal combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows; and
(2)make a grant
directly to a local or regional authority or municipality or municipal entity
for the purposes described in paragraph (1).
(b)In selecting
from among municipalities applying for grants under this section, a State or
the Administrator shall give priority to an applicant that is a financially
distressed community, as determined by the applicable State under subsection
(c).
(c)In determining whether a community is a
distressed community for the purposes of subsection (b), a State shall
consider, among other factors, the criteria described in section 3(b)(2) of the
Clean Water Affordability Act.
(d)
(1)The Federal share of the cost of any project or activity
carried out using funds from a grant made under subsection (a) shall be not
less than 75 percent.
(2)The non-Federal share of the cost of any project or
activity carried out using funds from a grant made under subsection (a) may
include—
(A)in any amount,
public and private funds and in-kind services; and
(B)notwithstanding
section 603, financial assistance, including loans, from a State water
pollution control revolving fund.
(e)Administrative Requirements
(1)Subject to paragraph (2), a project that
receives grant assistance under subsection (a) shall be carried out subject to
the same requirements as a project that receives assistance from a State water
pollution control revolving fund established pursuant to title VI.
(2)Determination of GovernorThe requirement described in paragraph (1)
shall not apply to a project that receives grant assistance under subsection
(a) to the extent that the Governor of the State in which the project is
located determines that a requirement described in title VI is inconsistent
with the purposes of this section.
(f)
(1)Authorization of
AppropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section—
(A)$250,000,000 for fiscal year 2010;
(B)$300,000,000 for fiscal year 2011;
(C)$350,000,000 for fiscal year 2012;
(D)$400,000,000 for fiscal year 2013;
and
(E)$500,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.
(2)Amounts authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this section under paragraph (1) shall remain available until
expended.
(g)
(1)For fiscal year 2010, subject to subsection
(h), the Administrator shall use the amounts appropriated to carry out this
section under subsection (f)(1) to provide grants to municipalities and
municipal entities under subsection (a)(2) in accordance with the priority
criteria described in subsection (b).
(2)Fiscal year 2011 and
thereafterFor fiscal year
2011 and each fiscal year thereafter, subject to subsection (h), the
Administrator shall use the amounts appropriated to carry out this section
under subsection (f)(1) to provide grants to States under subsection (a)(1) in
accordance with a formula that—
(A)shall be established by the Administrator,
after providing notice and an opportunity for public comment; and
(B)allocates to each State a proportional
share of the amounts based on the total needs of the State for municipal
combined sewer overflow controls and sanitary sewer overflow controls, as
identified in the most recent survey—
(i)conducted under section 210; and
(ii)included in a report required under section
516(a).
.
(b)Section 221(i) of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1301(i)) is amended in
the first sentence by striking 2003
and inserting
2010
.
3.
(a)In
this section:
(1)The
term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency.
(2)The
term affordability means, with respect to payment of a utility
bill, a measure of whether an individual customer or household can pay the bill
without undue hardship or unreasonable sacrifice in the essential lifestyle or
spending patterns of the individual or household, as determined by the
Administrator.
(3)The term financial capability means the
financial capability of a community to make investments necessary to make water
quality-related improvements, taking into consideration the criteria described
in subsection (b)(2)(A).
(4)The
term guidance means the guidance published by the Administrator
entitled Combined Sewer Overflows—Guidance for Financial Capability
Assessment and Schedule Development
and dated February 1997, as
applicable to combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows.
(b)
(1)Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Administrator shall update the guidance to ensure that the evaluations
by the Administrator of financial capability assessment and schedule
development meet the criteria described in paragraph (2).
(2)The
criteria described in this paragraph are that, under the updated
guidance—
(A)in assessing
financial capability of a community—
(i)greater emphasis
should be placed on local economic conditions;
(ii)for regional
systems, consideration should be given to the economic conditions of political
jurisdictions and significant demographic groups within each region;
(iii)prescriptive
formulas for use in calculating financial capability and thresholds for
expenditure should not be considered to be the only indicator of the financial
capability of a community;
(iv)site-specific
local conditions should be taken into consideration in analyzing financial
capability;
(v)a
single measure of financial capability or affordability (such as median
household income) should be viewed in the context of other economic measures,
rather than as a threshold to be achieved; and
(vi)(I)consideration should be
given to the economic outlook of a community, including the potential impact of
program requirements over time, in the development of implementation schedules;
and
(II)the assessment should take into
consideration other essential community investments relating to water quality
improvements;
(B)with respect to
the timing of implementation of water quality-related improvements—
(i)environmental
improvement implementation schedules should be structured to mitigate the
potential adverse impact on distressed populations resulting from the costs of
the improvements; and
(ii)implementation
schedules should reflect local community financial conditions and economic
impacts;
(C)with respect to
implementation of methodologies—
(i)a
determination of local financial capability may be achieved through an
evaluation of an array of factors the relative importance of which may vary
across regions and localities; and
(ii)an
appropriate methodology should give consideration to such various factors as
are appropriate to recognize the prevailing and projected economic concerns in
a community; and
(D)the residential
indicator should be revised to include—
(i)a
consideration of costs imposed upon ratepayers for essential utilities;
(ii)increased
consideration and quantification of local community-imposed costs in regional
systems;
(iii)a
mechanism to assess impacts on communities with disparate economic conditions
throughout the entire service area of a utility;
(iv)a
consideration of the industrial and population trends of a community;
(v)recognition
that—
(I)the median
household income of a service area reflects a numerical median rather than the
distribution of incomes within the service area; and
(II)more
representative methods of determining affordability, such as shelter costs,
essential utility payments, and State and local tax efforts, should be
considered;
(vi)a
consideration of low-income ratepayer percentages; and
(vii)impacts
relating to program delivery, such as water quality infrastructure market
saturation and program management.
(3)The
updated guidance should indicate that, in a case in which a previously approved
long-term control plan or associated enforceable agreement allows for
modification of the plan or terms of the agreement (including financial
capability considerations), and all parties are in agreement that a change is
needed or that the plan or agreement contains a reopener provision to address
changes in the economic or financial status of the community since the
effective date of the plan or agreement, reconsideration and modification of
financial capability determinations and implementation schedules based on the
criteria described in paragraph (2) is appropriate.
(c)Publication and
submissionUpon completion of the updating of guidance under
subsection (b), the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register and
submit to the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives
the updated guidance.
(d)Authorization
of appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated such
sums as are necessary to carry out this section.