[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 189 (Wednesday, November 29, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17780-S17782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LAUTENBERG:

  S. 1436. A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to 
allow certain privately owned public treatment works to be treated as 
publicly owned treatment works, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Environment and Public Works.


 THE MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY PRIVATE INVESTMENT ACT OF 
                                  1995

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Municipal 
Wastewater Treatment Private Investment Act. This bill will remove an 
impediment to private investment in municipal wastewater treatment 
facilities and in doing so, will improve water quality, provide 
increased fiscal flexibility to local governments, and create jobs.
  Mr. President, our Nation's waters are a priceless resource. They 
provide recreational opportunities, habitat for fish and wildlife, and 
drinking water among other uses. But we cannot assure our citizens that 
our waterways will be clean unless we have adequate wastewater 
treatment facilities.
  And our wastewater treatment needs are staggering. According to the 
1992 EPA National Needs Survey, it will cost the United States $112 
billion to build necessary wastewater treatment facilities. My State of 
New Jersey's wastewater treatment needs alone are $4.759 billion. This 
includes close to $2 billion for wastewater treatment plants necessary 
for compliance with the Clean Water Act and an estimated $1.29 billion 
to reduce discharges of bacteria, garbage and other floatable debris, 
and other untreated waste from combined sewer overflows. The remaining 
needs are to construct new sewers and repair existing sewers.
  Federal dollars are necessary but insufficient to build these 
facilities. The 

[[Page S 17781]]
Senate VA/HUD appropriations bill includes $1.5 billion for State 
revolving loan funds. This funding level alone is insufficient to pay 
the costs local communities will have to bear to comply with the Clean 
Water Act. In addition, State revolving loan assistance will have to 
address other water quality needs such as storm water and nonpoint 
source pollution.
  Local communities are looking increasingly to privatization of local 
governmental programs as a way to pay for these programs. This is an 
obvious way for them to minimize the costs associated with Federal 
requirements, which are eating into their budgets. And the Federal 
Government should do everything possible to assist these efforts.
  In 1992, President Bush issued Executive Order 12803, which made it 
easier for local governments to privatize facilities that have received 
Federal financing--including wastewater treatment facilities. EPA 
Administrator Carol Browner has expressed her support to continue these 
efforts. In a letter she wrote to Mr. Edward Limbach, vice president of 
the American Water Works Co. in Voorhees, NJ, Ms. Browner said:

       [W]e need to provide communities the opportunity to work 
     more closely with the private sector in financing 
     environmental infrastructure. Local officials are in the best 
     position to develop capital financing structures that meet 
     their particular needs. We find that communities throughout 
     the Nation are taking the lead in ``reinventing government'' 
     and acknowledging the ability of private capital to enhance 
     public investment. The EPA is committed to supporting these 
     communities and allowing them flexibility in financing the 
     infrastructure systems needed to achieve the environmental 
     protection our citizens demand.

  EPA has an initiative underway to encourage private investment in 
wastewater treatment facilities.
  I urge the Congress to join with the administration in providing 
flexibility to local officials struggling to address the wastewater 
needs of this country. One problem identified by EPA which requires 
legislation concerns the phrase ``publicly owned treatment works'' or 
[POTWs]. This is the phrase used in the Clean Water act to identify 
what we all know to be municipal sewage facilities. Under the act, 
POTWs, treating municipal waste, are required to provide a level of 
treatment known as secondary treatment. However, if a private company 
offered to provide the same municipal waste services to the same 
community, it would have to meet a different treatment standard only 
because it is not a publicly owned treatment work.
  Mr. President, the level of waste- water treatment should be based on 
the quality of the receiving water, or a national technology standard--
it should not turn on the tax status of the owner of the sewer pipe.
  My bill would define publicly owned treatment works to include waste- 
 water facilities which are privatized or jointly owned by public and 
private partners. The legislation would remove the uncertainty 
regarding the environmental standards governing privately owned 
wastewater treatment facilities providing municipal wastewater 
services. It would require the same environmental standards for 
municipal wastewater treatment facilities owned in whole or in part by 
private investors as would apply to publicly owned treatment works. 
Communities and their citizens should not face an additional burden 
imposed by the Federal Government simply because they are developing 
innovative means to pay for a clean environment.
  This bill would have numerous positive benefits. Perhaps most 
importantly, it would lead to more construction of wastewater treatment 
facilities. According to a report done by NatWest Washington Analysis, 
potential private investment in municipal wastewater treatment 
facilities could reach $2 billion a year. This would double the Federal 
investment in wastewater facilities.
  To the extent that this investment is in new facilities, there will 
be more treatment facilities and cleaner water. The legislation also 
would help private capital flow into wastewater systems facing 
upgrades, expansions and new requirements.
  Under the legislation, private and public/private facilities would 
have to comply with all of the same requirements that publicly owned 
facilities must comply with. Industrial facilities discharging into 
sewers and treatment plants, whether public or private, would continue 
to be subject to the pretreatment requirements of the Clean Water Act.
  The legislation also will lead to additional jobs. According to a 
study prepared by Apogee Research, every $1 billion spent on wastewater 
facility investment generates 34,200 to 57,400 jobs.
  The bill also would mean more capital investment to protect and 
prolong the extensive Federal investment in existing structures.
  Privatization gives local governments which must comply with the 
Clean Water Act an additional fiscal tool for construction and 
maintenance of these facilities. It provides equitable treatment of 
communities that choose to pursue alternative financing on their own 
rather than depending on limited Federal funds.
  Mr. President, this bill will help the private sector provide the 
infrastructure financing which is essential for economic growth. It 
will give local governments with limited financial resources another 
tool to address their budgetary problems. It will generate jobs. And it 
will improve the quality of the Nation's waters.
  This proposal is endorsed by the National Association of Water 
Companies, the National Council for Public-Private Partnership, the 
Utility and Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey, the 
National Utility Contractors Association, and the Water and Wastewater 
Equipment Manufacturers Association.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be included in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1436

       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 ``Municipal Wastewater 
     Treatment Facility Private Investment Act of 1995''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) municipal wastewater treatment construction needs 
     exceed $100,000,000,000;
       (2) Federal assistance for State revolving loan programs 
     will provide funding for only a portion of the municipal 
     wastewater treatment facilities;
       (3) increasing the amount of funds invested by the private 
     sector in municipal wastewater treatment facilities would--
       (A) help address the funding shortfall referred to in 
     paragraph (2);
       (B) stimulate economic growth;
       (C) lead to an increase in the construction of wastewater 
     treatment facilities and jobs;
       (D) result in a cleaner environment; and
       (E) provide a greater degree of fiscal flexibility for 
     local governments in meeting Federal mandates; and
       (4) the most effective way to encourage an increase in the 
     level of involvement of the private sector in the provision 
     of municipal wastewater services is to provide for the 
     uniform regulation of municipal wastewater treatment plants 
     without regard to whether the wastewater treatment plants are 
     publicly or privately owned or under the control of a public 
     and private partnership.

     SEC. 3. PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS DEFINED.

       Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
     U.S.C. 1362) is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new paragraphs:
       ``(21) As used in titles I, III, and IV, and this title, 
     the term `publicly owned treatment works' means a device or 
     system used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, 
     or reclamation of municipal wastewater (or a mixture of 
     municipal wastewater and industrial wastes of a liquid 
     nature) with respect to which all or part of the device or 
     system--
       ``(A) was constructed and is owned or operated by a State 
     or municipality;
       ``(B) was constructed, owned, or operated by a State or 
     municipality and the ownership has been transferred (in whole 
     or in part) to a private entity that is a regulated utility 
     or that has in effect a contract with a State or municipality 
     to receive municipal wastewater (or a mixture of municipal 
     wastewater and industrial wastes of a liquid nature) from 
     sewers, pipes, or other conveyances, if the facility is used 
     in a manner prescribed in the matter preceding subparagraph 
     (A) by the private entity; or
       ``(C) is owned or operated by a private entity that is a 
     regulated utility or that has in effect a contract with a 
     State or municipality to receive municipal wastewater (or a 
     mixture of municipal wastewater and industrial wastes of a 
     liquid nature) from sewers, pipes, or other conveyances 
     within a service area that would otherwise be served by the 

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     State or municipality, if the facility is used in a manner prescribed 
     in the matter preceding subparagraph (A).
       ``(22) The term `regulated utility' means a person, firm, 
     or corporation with respect to which--
       ``(A) a State water pollution control agency grants a 
     license to own or operate (or both) a wastewater treatment 
     facility; and
       ``(B) a State regulates the fees or other charges of the 
     utility.''.
       By Mr. THURMOND:

  S. 1437. A bill to provide for an increase in funding for the conduct 
and support of diabetes-related research by the National Institutes of 
Health; to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

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