[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 571 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 571

    To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a 
  deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to 
 fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into 
                            the Great Lakes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 14, 2013

 Mr. Kirk (for himself and Mr. Durbin) 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 establish a 
  deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to 
 fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into 
                            the Great Lakes.

    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 ``Great Lakes Water Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE GREAT LAKES.

    Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(s) Prohibition on Sewage Dumping Into the Great Lakes.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Bypass.--The term `bypass' means an 
                intentional diversion of waste streams to bypass any 
                portion of a treatment facility which results in a 
                discharge into the Great Lakes.
                    ``(B) Discharge.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `discharge' 
                        means a direct or indirect discharge of 
                        untreated sewage or partially treated sewage 
                        from a treatment works into the Great Lakes.
                            ``(ii) Inclusions.--The term `discharge' 
                        includes a bypass and a combined sewer 
                        overflow.
                    ``(C) Great lakes.--The term `Great Lakes' has the 
                meaning given the term in section 118(a)(3).
                    ``(D) Partially treated sewage.--The term 
                `partially treated sewage' means any sewage, sewage and 
                storm water, or sewage and wastewater, from domestic or 
                industrial sources that--
                            ``(i) is not treated to national secondary 
                        treatment standards for wastewater; or
                            ``(ii) is treated to a level less than the 
                        level required by the applicable national 
                        pollutant discharge elimination system permit.
                    ``(E) Treatment facility.--The term `treatment 
                facility' includes all wastewater treatment units used 
                by a publicly owned treatment works to meet secondary 
                treatment standards or higher, as required to attain 
                water quality standards, under any operating 
                conditions.
                    ``(F) Treatment works.--The term `treatment works' 
                has the meaning given the term in section 212.
            ``(2) Prohibition.--A publicly owned treatment works is 
        prohibited from performing a bypass unless--
                    ``(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to prevent loss 
                of life, personal injury, or severe property damage;
                    ``(ii) there is not a feasible alternative to the 
                bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treatment 
                facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or 
                maintenance during normal periods of equipment 
                downtime; and
                    ``(iii) the treatment works provides notice of the 
                bypass in accordance with this subsection; or
                    ``(B) the bypass does not cause effluent 
                limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 
                essential maintenance to ensure efficient operation of 
                the treatment facility.
            ``(3) Limitation.--The requirement of paragraph (2)(A)(ii) 
        is not satisfied if--
                    ``(A) adequate back-up equipment should have been 
                installed in the exercise of reasonable engineering 
                judgment to prevent the bypass; and
                    ``(B) the bypass occurred during normal periods of 
                equipment downtime or preventive maintenance.
            ``(4) Immediate notice requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A publicly owned treatment works 
                shall provide to the entities described in subparagraph 
                (B)--
                            ``(i) for any anticipated discharge, prior 
                        notice of that discharge; and
                            ``(ii) for any unanticipated discharge, as 
                        soon as practicable, but not later than--
                                    ``(I) for a treatment works with an 
                                automated detection system, 2 hours 
                                after the discharge begins; and
                                    ``(II) for a treatment works 
                                without an automated detection system, 
                                12 hours after the discharge begins.
                    ``(B) Notice.--The entities referred to in 
                subparagraph (A) are--
                            ``(i) the Administrator or, in the case of 
                        a State that has a permit program approved 
                        under this section, the State;
                            ``(ii) each local health department or, if 
                        a local health department does not exist, the 
                        State health department;
                            ``(iii) the municipality in which the 
                        discharge occurred and each municipality with 
                        jurisdiction over waters that may be affected 
                        by the discharge;
                            ``(iv) a daily newspaper of general 
                        circulation in each county in which a 
                        municipality described in clause (iii) is 
                        located; and
                            ``(v) the general public through a 
                        prominent announcement on a publicly accessible 
                        Internet site of the treatment works.
                    ``(C) Contents.--The notice under subparagraph (A) 
                shall include a description of--
                            ``(i) the volume and state of treatment of 
                        the discharge;
                            ``(ii) the date and time of the discharge;
                            ``(iii) the expected duration of the 
                        discharge;
                            ``(iv) the steps being taken to contain the 
                        discharge, except for a discharge that is a wet 
                        weather combined sewer overflow discharge;
                            ``(v) the location of the discharge, with 
                        the maximum level of specificity practicable; 
                        and
                            ``(vi) the cause for the discharge.
            ``(5) Follow-up notice requirements.--Each publicly owned 
        treatment works that provides notice under paragraph (4)(B) 
        shall provide to the Administrator (or to the State in the case 
        of a State that has a permit program approved under this 
        section), not later than 5 days after the date on which the 
        publicly owned treatment works provides initial notice, a 
        follow-up notice containing--
                    ``(A) a more full description of the cause of the 
                discharge;
                    ``(B) the reason for the discharge;
                    ``(C) the period of discharge, including the exact 
                dates and times;
                    ``(D) if the discharge has not been corrected, the 
                anticipated time the discharge is expected to continue;
                    ``(E) the volume of the discharge resulting from 
                the bypass;
                    ``(F) a description of any public access areas that 
                has or may be impacted by the bypass; and
                    ``(G) steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, 
                and prevent reoccurrence of the discharge.
            ``(6) Public availability of notices.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 48 hours after 
                providing or receiving a follow-up notice under 
                paragraph (5), as applicable, a publicly owned 
                treatment works and the Administrator (or the State, in 
                the case of a State that has a permit program approved 
                under this section) shall each post the follow-up 
                notice on a publicly accessible, searchable database on 
                the Internet.
                    ``(B) Annual publication.--The Administrator (or 
                the State, in the case of a State that has a permit 
                program approved under this section) shall annually 
                publish and make available to the public a list of each 
                of the treatment works from which the Administrator or 
                the State, as applicable, received a follow-up notice 
                under paragraph (5).
            ``(7) Sewage blending.--Bypasses prohibited by this section 
        include bypasses resulting in discharges from a publicly owned 
        treatment works that consist of effluent routed around 
        treatment units and thereafter blended together with effluent 
        from treatment units prior to discharge.
            ``(8) Implementation.--Not later than 180 days after the 
        date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall 
        establish procedures to ensure that permits issued under this 
        section (or under a State permit program approved under this 
        section) to a publicly owned treatment works include 
        requirements to implement this subsection.
            ``(9) Increase in maximum civil penalty for violations 
        occurring after january 1, 2033.--Notwithstanding section 309, 
        in the case of a violation of this subsection occurring on or 
        after January 1, 2033, or any violation of a permit limitation 
        or condition implementing this subsection occurring after that 
        date, the maximum civil penalty that shall be assessed for the 
        violation shall be $100,000 per day for each day the violation 
        occurs.
            ``(10) Applicability.--This subsection shall apply to a 
        bypass occurring after the last day of the 1-year period 
        beginning on the date of enactment of this subsection.''.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.

    (a) In General.--Title V of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
(33 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 519 (33 U.S.C. 1251 note) as 
        section 520; and
            (2) by inserting after section 518 (33 U.S.C. 1377) the 
        following:

``SEC. 519. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Fund.--The term `Fund' means the Great Lakes Cleanup 
        Fund established by subsection (b).
            ``(2) Great lakes; great lakes states.--The terms `Great 
        Lakes' and `Great Lakes States' have the meanings given the 
        terms in section 118(a)(3).
    ``(b) Establishment of Fund.--There is established in the Treasury 
of the United States a trust fund to be known as the `Great Lakes 
Cleanup Fund' (referred to in this section as the `Fund').
    ``(c) Transfers to Fund.--Effective January 1, 2033, there are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Fund amounts equivalent to the 
penalties collected for violations of section 402(s).
    ``(d) Administration of Fund.--The Administrator shall administer 
the Fund.
    ``(e) Use of Funds.--The Administrator shall--
            ``(1) make the amounts in the Fund available to the Great 
        Lakes States for use in carrying out programs and activities 
        for improving wastewater discharges into the Great Lakes, 
        including habitat protection and wetland restoration; and
            ``(2) allocate those amounts among the Great Lakes States 
        based on the proportion that--
                    ``(A) the amount attributable to a Great Lakes 
                State for penalties collected for violations of section 
                402(s); bears to
                    ``(B) the total amount of those penalties 
                attributable to all Great Lakes States.
    ``(f) Priority.--In selecting programs and activities to be funded 
using amounts made available under this section, a Great Lakes State 
shall give priority consideration to programs and activities that 
address violations of section 402(s) resulting in the collection of 
penalties.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment to State Revolving Fund Program.--Section 
607 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``There is'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--There is''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Treatment of Great Lakes Cleanup Fund.--For purposes of this 
title, amounts made available from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under 
section 519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out this title and as funds made available under this title, 
except that the funds shall be made available to the Great Lakes States 
in accordance with section 519.''.
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