[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 40 (Friday, March 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E510-E511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         NONPOINT SOURCE WATER POLLUTION PREVENTION ACT OF 1995

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                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 3, 1995
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, today I have introduced the Nonpoint 
Source Water Pollution Prevention Act of 1995, the sequel to what is 
now section 319 of the Clean Water Act, nonpoint source management 
programs.
  The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 set the 
Nation on its current cleanup course. The first line of that landmark 
legislation, in section 101(a), declares it the objective of the act 
``to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological 
integrity of the Nation's waters.''
  Until now, municipalities and industries have borne the brunt of this 
commitment. Since 1972 American citizens as Federal and State taxpayers 
have spent more than $75 billion to clean up municipal point sources. 
Industry, and citizens as consumers, have spent over $130 billion on 
cleaning up industrial point sources, including $67 billion in capital 
expenditures and $63 billion in operating costs.
  Despite that costly sacrifice, fully one-third of the Nation's 
rivers, half of our estuaries, and more than half of our lakes are not 
meeting designated uses. Only about half of our river miles, two-thirds 
of lake acres, and three-quarters of our estuaries have even been 
assessed, meaning that a much more significant though unknown number of 
waterbodies are impaired, and more are threatened.
  Dredging, to remove sediment from our harbors and navigation 
channels, costs American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each 
year. Polluted water from upstream forces communities to add expensive 
treatment technologies to both their drinking water and wastewater 
facilities. The outbreak of cryptosporidium in Milwaukee, caused by 
animal pathogens washed into the drinking water from farms upriver, are 
an illustration of the costs of nonpoint sources in terms of human 
health.
  The major cause of this failure to meet the standards is nonpoint 
sources of pollution [NPS]--or poison runoff--the unfinished agenda of 
the 1972 act.
  The program in my bill builds on established Federal, State, and 
local programs: the Nonpoint Management Program in the Clean Water Act, 
the nonpoint source provisions of 
[[Page E511]] the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990 
[CZARA], and USDA's conservation and water quality incentive programs.
  It focuses on sensitive watersheds, and encourages land users to 
prevent runoff, such as sediment, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, 
and toxics from city streets, from polluting our lakes, rivers, and 
streams.
  It uses watershed implementation plans, designed by the State with 
input from local landowners and other groups. Landowners would develop 
site-level plans using site-specific management measures that they 
themselves have chosen. Assistance would be available from a wide 
variety of sources, including USDA, the States, and EPA.
  As CZARA already does for coastal areas, the bill requires States or 
local governments to be able to take enforcement action against so-
called bad actors, those who refuse to comply while their neighbors are 
being good actors.
  The bill sets timetables for achieving clean water: 8 years from the 
beginning of the watershed implementation plans. At that point, the 
watershed would be assessed and, if clean water had not been achieved, 
additional measures would be implemented in two 2-year phases. At the 
end of 12 years, the waters would have to meet water quality standards.
  The bill also creates a nonpoint program for Federal lands directly 
under the President. It expands water quality criteria and standards to 
cover nonpoint pollutants, contains provisions for new sources of 
nonpoint pollution, and creates a Citizen Monitoring Program to assist 
States in their monitoring under this and other programs.
  This bill is fair to those who have already spent hundreds of 
millions of dollars on Clean Water Act mandates; fair to municipalities 
and drinking water suppliers who are faced with added costs; fair to 
landowners in coastal areas who already are complying with CZARA; and 
fair to future generations of Americans who will also need clean water.


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