National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (Npdes)

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I reintroduce a noncontroversial amendment to the Clean Water Act, extending permit terms for publicly owned water infrastructure projects under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). I thank my colleague Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA) for his support as the original cosponsor.

This bipartisan bill would simply extend the NPDES permit term for projects owned by local public agencies and water districts from the current 5 up to 10 years. This would encourage investment in modern wastewater treatment facilities by relieving unnecessary, bureaucratic paperwork and allow regulators to focus on watershed-scale planning and water quality standards. This bill is supported by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Association of Counties, United States Conference of Mayors, National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, National Water Resources Association, Association of California Water Agencies, California Association of Sanitation Agencies, WateReuse Association, and Water Environment Federation.

The United States has fallen behind many other developed nations in wastewater infrastructure, receiving a D+ grade in the American Society of Civil Engineers' most recent report card. One reason for this lapse in infrastructure improvements is arbitrary permitting timetables imposed by the federal government. Permit terms should match the construction timelines and on-the-ground reality for the projects to which they apply. This is currently not the case. With over 95 percent of wastewater infrastructure spending at the local level, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, lengthening permit terms for local governments would be one of the most expeditious ways to encouraging further investment in 21st-century wastewater treatment facilities.

Current NPDES permitting under the Clean Water Act has a maximum term of 5 years, an aggressive timeline that is impracticable given construction schedules of local public agencies. As a result, California's State Water Resources Control Board and Clean Water Act regulators in other states are overwhelmed with a backlog of NPDES permitting requests for existing projects. New public projects are, likewise, significantly delayed by this unnecessary bureaucracy.

My office has identified nearly a dozen major public projects to modernize wastewater treatment plants or build water recycling facilities in California delayed by the current 5-year NPDES term. One such public water recycling project in a drought-stricken region of southern California is well into its third NPDES permit term before even breaking ground on the underlying project. This is just one example where the arbitrary 5-year permit term impedes public water infrastructure projects that would advance the stated goals of the Clean Water Act.

My bill would alleviate this burden by extending the maximum permit to 10 years, helping local water agencies nationwide better implement the Clean Water Act and literally cutting the permitting backlog in half. Extending the NPDES permitting term is a practical solution that allows local agencies to meet the existing regulatory standards while building public water projects that measurably improve water quality, which after all is the purpose of the Clean Water Act. NPDES permit terms for private projects or industrial discharges would remain at the current 5-year term.

Madam Speaker, I encourage all Members to cosponsor this bipartisan bill to extend the maximum NPDES permit term for public water projects under the Clean Water Act. I plan to make this commonsense legislation a top priority in my work on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

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