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Confidence in Clean Water Permits Act
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to the scope of permits, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify what pollutants are covered under NPDES permits and what constitutes compliance with permit conditions. It expands the scope of covered pollutants to include those identified during the permit application process or specifically monitored through indicator parameters, even if they lack explicit effluent limitations. The bill also requires that water quality-based effluent limitations be expressed clearly, either as numerical discharge limits or as narrative descriptions of required actions to achieve compliance. These changes are intended to provide clarity to permit holders about which pollutants and practices fall within the scope of their permits.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (3)
- Jun 13, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. · house
- Jun 11, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. · house
- Jun 11, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 11, 2025
Mr. Taylor introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to the scope of permits, and for other purposes.
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 “Confidence in Clean Water Permits Act”.
SEC. 2. CONFIDENCE IN CLEAN WATER PERMITS.
(a) Compliance With Permits.—Section 402(k) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(k)) is amended—
(1) by striking “(k) Compliance with” and inserting the following:
“(k) Compliance With Permits.—
“(1) In general.—Subject to paragraph (2), compliance with”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(2) Scope.—For purposes of paragraph (1), compliance with the conditions of a permit issued under this section shall be considered compliance with respect to a discharge of—
“(A) any pollutant for which an effluent limitation is included in the permit; and
“(B) any pollutant for which an effluent limitation is not included in the permit that is—
“(i) specifically identified as controlled or monitored through indicator parameters in the permit, the fact sheet for the permit, or the administrative record relating to the permit;
“(ii) specifically identified during the permit application process as present in discharges to which the permit will apply; or
“(iii) whether or not specifically identified in the permit or during the permit application process—
“(I) present in any waste streams or processes of the point source to which the permit applies, which waste streams or processes are specifically identified during the permit application process; or
“(II) otherwise within the scope of any operations of the point source to which the permit applies, which scope of operations is specifically identified during the permit application process.”.
(b) Technical Corrections.—Section 402(l)(3) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(l)(3)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (B)—
(A) by striking “section 402” and inserting “this section”; and
(B) by striking “federal” and inserting “Federal”; and
(2) in subparagraph (C)—
(A) by striking “Section” and inserting “section”;
(B) by striking “402(p)(6)” and inserting “subsection (p)(6)”;
(C) by striking “402(l)(3)(A),” and inserting “subparagraph (A),”; and
(D) by striking “402(l)(3)(A).” and inserting “such subparagraph.”.
(c) Expression of Water Quality-Based Effluent Limitations.— Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(t) Expression of Water Quality-Based Effluent Limitations.—If the Administrator (or a State, in the case of a permit program approved by the Administrator) determines that a water quality-based limitation on a discharge of a pollutant is necessary to include in a permit under this section in addition to any appropriate technology-based effluent limitations included in such permit, the Administrator (or the State) may include such water quality-based limitation in such permit only in the form of a limitation that—
“(1) specifies the pollutant to which it applies; and
“(2) clearly describes the manner in which compliance with the limitation may be achieved, which shall include—
“(A) a numerical limit on the discharge of such pollutant; or
“(B) a narrative description of required actions (including any measures or practices required to be applied).”. <all>
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