H.R. 1390 — Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II.”

This section authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a Clean Water Act section 402 permit for discharges from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant into marine waters, notwithstanding other provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, if the permit includes specified conditions. It requires maintenance of the existing deep ocean outfall at a discharge depth of not less than 300 feet and not less than 4 miles from shore; limits total suspended solids discharges to not more than 12,000 metric tons per year beginning on the date of enactment, not more than 11,500 metric tons per year beginning December 31, 2029, and not more than 9,942 metric tons per year beginning December 31, 2031; and caps total suspended solids at 60 milligrams per liter on a 30-day average. It also requires removal of not less than 80 percent of total suspended solids on a monthly average and not less than 58 percent of biochemical oxygen demand on an annual average, while taking into account removal at all upstream treatment processes, and attainment of all other secondary treatment effluent limitations except those otherwise applicable to biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids. The section further requires compliance with all applicable federal permit-issuance requirements, including State concurrence under Clean Water Act section 401 and ocean discharge criteria review under section 403; implementation of the pretreatment program requirements in Clean Water Act section 301(h)(5) and (6), in addition to section 402(b)(8); submission of 10 consecutive years of ocean monitoring data and analysis for the period immediately preceding each permit application; maintenance of an ocean monitoring program that meets or exceeds section 301(h)(3) requirements; and, to the extent potable reuse is permitted by federal and State regulators, production of at least 83,000,000 gallons per day on an annual average of water suitable for potable reuse by December 31, 2039. It directs the Administrator to establish development milestones and include them as permit conditions in each permit issued before December 31, 2039. It also preserves the applicant’s ability to submit an alternative application for secondary treatment under Clean Water Act section 301(b)(1)(B) and section 402.