H.R. 1971 · 115th Congress
Water Infrastructure Flexibility Act
Key: what the circles and colors mean
Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:
Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.
Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.
Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 115th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.
R
SmuckerSponsor1 cosponsor · 1 R
0 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.
This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to allow municipalities to develop a plan that integrates wastewater and stormwater management.
What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Apr 6, 2017
Water Infrastructure Flexibility Act
This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to allow municipalities to develop a plan that integrates wastewater and stormwater management.
A permit for a municipal discharge under the national pollutant discharge elimination system that incorporates an integrated plan may integrate all requirements under the Act addressed in the plan. Those permits may include a schedule of compliance that allows actions for meeting water quality-based effluent limitations to be implemented over more than one permit term if the compliance schedules are authorized by state water quality standards. Those actions may include implementing green infrastructure as part of a water quality-based effluent limitation. (Green infrastructure includes measures that mimic natural processes to store, reuse, or reduce stormwater.)
The bill establishes an Office of the Municipal Ombudsman in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide: (1) technical assistance to municipalities seeking to comply with the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and (2) information to the EPA to ensure that agency policies are implemented by all EPA offices.
The EPA must ensure that specified EPA offices promote the integration of green infrastructure into permitting programs, planning efforts, research, technical assistance, and funding guidance.
The bill establishes requirements for revising the EPA's 1997 guidance about combined sewer overflows, including by setting forth criteria for determining the ability of households to pay utility bills. (Combined sewer systems collect rainwater, sewage, and industrial wastewater into one pipe. During storms, the combined wastewater sometimes exceeds the capacity of the treatment plant. When this occurs, combined sewer overflows discharge directly into water bodies.)
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov
About this bill and sources
Official title: Water Infrastructure Flexibility Act
Latest action (Apr 7, 2017): Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
Policy area: Environmental Protection · Origin: House · Introduced: Apr 6, 2017
Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)
No recorded floor vote found.