[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 23, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          INTRODUCTION OF THE URBAN WATERSHED RESTORATION ACT

                                 ______


                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 23, 1994

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to introduce the Urban 
Watershed Restoration Act. This urgently needed legislation will 
provide local governments and citizens groups with the resources and a 
methodology to revitalize and restore the waters in urban areas.
  Last year, American Rivers named the Anacostia River the most 
endangered urban and the fourth dirtiest river in the United States. 
The Anacostia River is emblematic of dozens of other waterways around 
the country. Because of neglect and outright abuse, urban lakes, 
rivers, streams, and other waterways--particularly those in low-income 
and minority communities--are trashed-out, channelized and enclosed as 
sewers, and fouled with raw sewage and stormwater runoff. The Urban 
Watershed bill is designed to equip governments and citizens groups 
with the resources to restore urban waterways.
  I appreciate that some provisions of the Clean Water Act address some 
of the current threats to urban rivers. Yet the unadorned facts support 
the proposition that the severity of the problems warrants a specific 
program. The Urban Watershed bill would require the Administrator of 
the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a National Urban 
Watershed Restoration grants program within section 319 of the Clean 
Water Act, the non-point source program. Under the bill, at least 25 
percent of annually appropriated section 319 funds would be dedicated 
to urban river restoration projects. A 1992 study by the Environmental 
Protection Agency found that while urban areas comprise only about 2.5 
percent of the total land surface of the country, pollution from these 
areas accounts for 18 percent of impaired river miles, and these areas 
receive only 13 percent of the available funding.
  The Administrator would use the program to encourage communities to 
use physical restoration projects to meet stormwater and combined sewer 
overflow permit requirements and other water quality objectives under 
the Clean Water Act. States with demonstrated successful river 
restoration programs would administer the program themselves; 
otherwise, the Environmental Protection Agency would administer the 
program directly.
  The Administrator would issue grants using an established set of 
criteria, including standards related to ecological objectives. 
Priority for projects would be given to those rivers and streams in the 
watersheds of identified national estuaries, provided that they assist 
in implementing completed National Estuary Program plans.
  Citizen involvement is a central innovation in the Urban Watershed 
Restoration Act. Thus, under the bill, projects would be funded only if 
they have both a local government and a local citizens group sponsor. 
The numerous environmental restoration efforts already under way attest 
to the dedication of urban residents to revitalizing the waterways in 
their communities. The Urban Watershed Restoration Act will provide 
them with the means to restore urban lakes, rivers, streams and other 
waterways that have been among the most neglected. I urge my colleagues 
to support this important and badly needed legislation.

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