Save Our Waters From Sewage Act of 2005

Save Our Waters From Sewage Act of 2005 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) from intentionally diverting waste streams to bypass any portion of the treatment facility unless: (1) the bypass is unavoidable to prevent loss of life, personal injury, or severe property damage; (2) there is no feasible alternative; and (3) the treatment works provides notice of the bypass in accordance with this Act; or (4) the bypass does not cause effluent limitations to be exceeded and is for essential maintenance.

Requires POTWs to provide the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (or the State if the State has an approved permit program) with: (1) prior notice of an anticipated bypass; and (2) notice of an unanticipated bypass within 24 hours of becoming aware of such bypass as well as follow-up notice.

Directs the Administrator to establish procedures to ensure that permits issued to POTWs under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System include requirements to implement this Act.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1126 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1126

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit a publicly 
owned treatment works from diverting flows to bypass any portion of its 
                          treatment facility.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 3, 2005

Mr. Stupak (for himself, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Case, Mr. Davis of Illinois, 
 Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Saxton, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Grijalva, 
 Mr. Platts, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Ms. Loretta Sanchez 
of California, Mr. Weldon of Pennsylvania, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. 
   Butterfield, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Ms. 
 Slaughter, Mr. Cummings, Ms. Schwartz of Pennsylvania, Mr. Jackson of 
 Illinois, Mr. Lantos, Mr. LaHood, Mr. Markey, Mr. Levin, Ms. Carson, 
Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Berman, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Owens, 
 Mr. Kirk, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
 Emanuel, and Mr. Gilchrest) 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 prohibit a publicly 
owned treatment works from diverting flows to bypass any portion of its 
                          treatment facility.

    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 ``Save Our Waters From Sewage Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING.

    Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (22 U.S.C. 
1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(r) Prohibition on Sewage Dumping.--
            ``(1) In general.--A publicly owned treatment works is 
        prohibited from intentionally diverting waste streams to bypass 
        any portion of a treatment facility at the treatment works 
        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 the requirements of 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.
            ``(2) Limitation.--The requirement of paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 
        is not satisfied if adequate back-up equipment should have been 
        installed in the exercise of reasonable engineering judgment to 
        prevent the bypass and the bypass occurred during normal 
        periods of equipment downtime or preventive maintenance.
            ``(3) Notice requirements.--A publicly owned treatment 
        works shall provide to the Administrator (or to the State in 
        the case of a State that has a permit program approved under 
        this section)--
                    ``(A) prior notice of an anticipated bypass; and
                    ``(B) notice of an unanticipated bypass within 24 
                hours following the time the treatment works first 
                becomes aware of the bypass.
            ``(4) Follow-up notice requirements.--In the case of an 
        unanticipated bypass for which a publicly owned treatment works 
        provides notice under paragraph (3)(B), the treatment works 
        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 following the date on which the 
        treatment works first becomes aware of the bypass, a follow-up 
        notice containing a description of--
                    ``(A) the cause of the bypass;
                    ``(B) the period of bypass, including the exact 
                dates and times;
                    ``(C) if the bypass has not been corrected, the 
                anticipated time the bypass is expected to continue; 
                and
                    ``(D) steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, 
                and prevent reoccurrence of the bypass.
            ``(5) Public availability of notices.--The Administrator 
        (or the State in the case of a State that has a permit program 
        approved under this section) shall post all notices received 
        under this section in a searchable database accessible on the 
        Internet.
            ``(6) 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.
            ``(7) Definitions.--In this subsection, the following 
        definitions apply:
                    ``(A) Bypass.--The term `bypass' means an 
                intentional diversion of waste streams to bypass any 
                portion of a treatment facility.
                    ``(B) Treatment facility.--The term `treatment 
                facility' includes all wastewater treatment units used 
                by a publicly-owned treatment works to meet secondary 
                treatment standards under any operating conditions.
                    ``(C) Treatment works.--The term `treatment works' 
                has the meaning given that term in section 212.
            ``(8) Implementation.--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.''.
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