COMBINED SEWERS - H.B. 4045 (S-5): FLOOR ANALYSIS

House Bill 4045 (Substitute S-5 as reported)

Sponsor: Representative William Callahan

House Committee: Conservation, Environment and Recreation

Senate Committee: Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs

CONTENT

The bill would amend Part 31 (Water Resources Protection) of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to revise provisions concerning notification of discharges from a combined sewer system.

Part 31 requires a municipality that discharges untreated sewage from a combined sewer system, to notify the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), newspapers, and affected municipalities. The bill would require that a responsible municipality make the required notifications immediately, but not more than 24 hours after the beginning of discharge from a combined sewer system of sewage that had not received all the treatment that was available and used under ordinary dry weather conditions.

Currently, the Act specifies that upon the request of a local health department responsible for testing the affected waters, the municipality must conduct or pay the cost of testing to assess the risk to the public health from the discharge. The bill would delete this provision. The bill, instead, would require the permittee to test the affected waters for E. Coli each time a discharge of untreated sewage from a combined sewer system had occurred in order to assess the risk to the public health, and provide the test results to the affected local county health departments. The testing would be done at locations specified by each affected local county health department but could not exceed 10 tests for each separate discharge event. This testing requirement, however, could be waived by the affected local county health department if it determined that such testing was not needed to assess the risk to the public health from the discharge.

MCL 324.3112a - Legislative Analyst: N. Nagata

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have no fiscal impact on State government. It would have a minimal fiscal impact on local government by providing a 24-hour time limit for notification of combined sewer overflow discharges.

Date Completed: 12-1-97 - Fiscal Analyst: G. Cutler

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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.