Sewage Treatment Overflow Prevention through Community Sanitation Outreach Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3363 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to ensure that publicly owned treatment works monitor for and report sewer overflows, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 19, 2019 Mr. MOULTON (for himself and Mrs. TRAHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to ensure that publicly owned treatment works monitor for and report sewer overflows, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sewage Treatment 4 Overflow Prevention through Community Sanitation Out- 5 reach Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘STOP CSO Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3363.IH H3363 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3363 IH SEC. 2. MONITORING, REPORTING, AND PUBLIC NOTIFICA- 1 TION OF SEWER OVERFLOWS. 2 (a) SEWER OVERFLOW AND STORMWATER REUSE 3 MUNICIPAL GRANTS.—Section 221(a) of the Federal 4 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1301(a)) is 5 amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—A State may use fund- 7 ing provided by a grant under this subsection for 8 monitoring, reporting, and notification required 9 under section 402(t).’’. 10 (b) NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMI- 11 NATION SYSTEM.—Section 402 of the Federal Water Pol- 12 lution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended— 13 (1) in subsection (b)(2)(B), by inserting ‘‘this 14 section and’’ after ‘‘required in’’; and 15 (2) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(t) SEWER OVERFLOW MONITORING, REPORTING, 17 AND NOTIFICATIONS.— 18 ‘‘(1) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—After the last 19 day of the 180-day period beginning on the date on 20 which regulations are issued under paragraph (4), a 21 permit issued, renewed, or modified under this sec- 22 tion by the Administrator (or a State, in the case of 23 a permit program approved by the Administrator) 24 for a publicly owned treatment works shall require 25 the owner or operator of the treatment works to— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3363.IH H3363 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3363 IH ‘‘(A) institute and utilize a feasible meth- 1 odology, technology, or management program 2 for monitoring sewer overflows to alert the 3 owner or operator to the occurrence of a sewer 4 overflow in a timely manner; 5 ‘‘(B) in the case of a sewer overflow that 6 has the potential to affect human health, notify 7 the public of the overflow as soon as prac- 8 ticable, but in no case more than 4 hours, after 9 the time the owner or operator knows of the 10 overflow; 11 ‘‘(C) in the case of a sewer overflow that 12 may imminently and substantially endanger 13 human health, notify public health authorities 14 and other affected entities, such as public water 15 systems, of the overflow immediately after the 16 owner or operator knows of the overflow; and 17 ‘‘(D) report each sewer overflow to the Ad- 18 ministrator (or the State), describing— 19 ‘‘(i) the magnitude, duration, and sus- 20 pected cause of the overflow; 21 ‘‘(ii) the steps taken or planned to re- 22 duce, eliminate, or prevent a recurrence of 23 the overflow; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3363.IH H3363 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3363 IH ‘‘(iii) the steps taken or planned to 1 mitigate the adverse effects of the over- 2 flow. 3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The reporting requirements 4 of paragraph (1)(D) shall not apply to a sewer over- 5 flow that is a release of wastewater that occurs in 6 the course of maintenance of a treatment works, is 7 managed consistently with best management prac- 8 tices for treatment works, and is intended to prevent 9 sewer overflows. 10 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL REPORT.—In the case of a permit 11 program approved by the Administrator, the State 12 shall submit to the Administrator an annual report 13 describing sewer overflows reported to the State 14 under paragraph (1)(D). 15 ‘‘(4) RULEMAKING.—Not later than one year 16 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 17 Administrator shall issue regulations to implement 18 this subsection, including regulations to— 19 ‘‘(A) establish a set of criteria to guide the 20 owner or operator of a publicly owned treat- 21 ment works in— 22 ‘‘(i) assessing whether a sewer over- 23 flow has the potential to affect human 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3363.IH H3363 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3363 IH health or may imminently and substan- 1 tially endanger human health; and 2 ‘‘(ii) developing communication meas- 3 ures that are sufficient to give notice 4 under paragraphs (1)(B) and (1)(C); and 5 ‘‘(B) define the terms ‘feasible’ and ‘time- 6 ly’ as such terms apply to paragraph (1)(A), 7 which definitions shall include consideration of 8 site-specific conditions. 9 ‘‘(5) SPECIAL RULES CONCERNING APPLICA- 10 TION OF NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—After the 11 last day of the 30-day period beginning on the date 12 on which the Administrator issues regulations under 13 paragraph (4), the requirements of paragraphs 14 (1)(B) and (1)(C) shall apply to the owner or oper- 15 ator of a publicly owned treatment works until such 16 date as a permit is issued, renewed, or modified 17 under this section in accordance with paragraph (1). 18 ‘‘(6) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 19 this subsection applies to a wastewater backup that 20 will not result in a discharge into waters of the 21 United States. 22 ‘‘(7) DEFINITION OF SEWER OVERFLOW.—In 23 this subsection, the term ‘sewer overflow’ means a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3363.IH H3363 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3363 IH sanitary sewer overflow or a municipal combined 1 sewer overflow.’’. 2 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. 3 Section 603(c) of the Federal Water Pollution Con- 4 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (11)(B), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 6 and inserting a semicolon; 7 (2) in paragraph (12)(B), by striking the period 8 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(13) for the implementation of monitoring for 11 sewer overflows required under section 402(t).’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3363.IH H3363 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS