Sec. 3. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The Federal Water Pollution Control Act ( 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. ) has— resulted in improved water quality, habitat restoration, and the protection of public health; and proven effective for managing municipal wastewater flows under most weather conditions, however, during heavy precipitation events, wastewater flows to a municipal sanitary or combined sewer system can overload the system, overwhelm treatment plant processes, and lead to sewer overflows.
There are approximately 15,800 municipal sanitary sewer systems, 770 municipal combined sewer systems, and 5,000 satellite collection systems that convey wastewater through municipal sewer systems for treatment at publicly owned treatment works. In December 1999, Congress incorporated the national Combined Sewer Overflow Control Policy of the Environmental Protection Agency into section 402(q) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act ( 33 U.S.C. 1342(q) ), codifying framework to manage wet weather events that overwhelm combined sewer systems.
No other framework similar to the framework described in paragraph
(3)has been established for managing wet weather-related challenges at municipal sanitary sewer systems. Municipal sanitary sewer systems can experience flows exceeding the capacity of those sewer systems during periods in which stormwater enters the system by infiltration and inflow. The Administrator estimates that— more than $8,000,000,000 is needed to correct infiltration and inflow throughout the United States with no expectation that overflows will be eliminated; more than $290,000,000,000 is needed to address general wastewater and stormwater management needs at the municipal level over the next 20 years; and $335,000,000,000 of community investment is needed to address drinking water needs. The Director of the Bureau of the Census estimates that municipalities spend more than $90,000,000,000 annually on water and wastewater infrastructure, an amount that is second only to education as a municipal budget item and greater than amounts spent on roads, hospitals, police, and other essential services. Affordable treatment and management techniques are available to help municipalities manage wet weather-related flows affordably and cost-effectively while ensuring the protection of the environment and public health. Many communities have used wet weather wastewater management techniques for decades with the approval of the Administrator and Federal and State funding through grants or loans. The added challenge of extreme weather unpredictability will increasingly result in— communities facing both intensive precipitation events that will overwhelm sewer systems; unwanted system overflows; and more intensive droughts that render the more costly treatment techniques a stranding of scarce resources for marginal environmental benefits. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act ( 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. ) may provide more cost-effective tools— to accelerate the elimination of combined sewage overflows; to incentivize better planning for heavy precipitation events; to enable alternative treatment and management techniques that protect the environment and public health; and to provide for better overall cost-effective management of wet weather flows.
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