HOUSE BILL No. 5681
February 20, 2002, Introduced by Rep. Scranton and referred to the Committee on Land Use and Environment. A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled "Natural resources and environmental protection act," by amending section 3112a (MCL 324.3112a), as amended by 2000 PA 286. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: 1 Sec. 3112a. (1) If untreated sewage or partially treated 2 sewage is discharged from a sewer system onto land or into the 3 waters of the state, the municipality OR OTHER PERMITTEE respon- 4 sible for the discharge shall immediately, but not more than 24 5 hours after the discharge begins, notify the department; local 6 health departments as defined in section 1105 of the public 7 health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.1105; a daily newspaper of gen- 8 eral circulation in the county or counties in which a 9 municipality notified pursuant to subsection (3) is located; and 10 a daily newspaper of general circulation in the county in which 05717'01 JCB 2 1 the municipality OR OTHER PERMITTEE responsible for the discharge 2 is located of all of the following: 3 (a) Promptly after the discharge starts, by telephone or in 4 another manner required by the department, that the discharge is 5 occurring. 6 (b) At the conclusion of the discharge, in writing or in 7 another manner required by the department, all of the following: 8 (i) The volume and quality of the discharge as measured pur- 9 suant to procedures and analytical methods approved by the 10 department. 11 (ii) The reason for the discharge. 12 (iii) The waters or land area, or both, receiving the 13 discharge. 14 (iv) The time the discharge began and ended as measured pur- 15 suant to procedures approved by the department. 16 (v) Verification of the municipality's compliance status OF 17 THE MUNICIPALITY OR OTHER PERMITTEE with the requirements of its 18 national pollutant discharge elimination system permit and appli- 19 cable state and federal statutes, rules, and orders. 20 (2) Upon being notified of a discharge under subsection (1), 21 the department shall promptly post the notification on its 22 website. 23 (3) Each time a discharge occurs under subsection (1), the 24 MUNICIPALITY OR OTHER permittee RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISCHARGE 25 shall test the affected waters for E. coli to assess the risk to 26 the public health as a result of the discharge and shall provide 27 the test results to the affected local county health departments 05717'01 3 1 and to the department. The testing shall be done at locations 2 specified by each affected local county health department but 3 shall not exceed 10 tests for each separate discharge event. The 4 requirement for this testing may be waived by the affected local 5 county health department if the affected local county health 6 department determines that such testing is not needed to assess 7 the risk to the public health as a result of the discharge 8 event. 9 (4) A municipality OR OTHER PERMITTEE that operates a sewer 10 system that may discharge untreated sewage or partially treated 11 sewage into the waters of the state shall annually contact other 12 municipalities EACH MUNICIPALITY whose jurisdictions contain 13 JURISDICTION CONTAINS waters that may be affected by the 14 discharges DISCHARGE. If those contacted municipalities wish 15 to be notified in the same manner as provided in subsection (1), 16 the municipality OR OTHER PERMITTEE operating the sewer system 17 shall provide that notification. 18 (5) A municipality OR OTHER PERMITTEE that is responsible 19 for a discharge of untreated sewage or partially treated sewage 20 from a sewer system into the waters of the state shall comply 21 with the requirements of its national pollutant discharge elimi- 22 nation system permit and applicable state and federal statutes, 23 rules, and orders. 24 (6) This section does not authorize the discharge of 25 untreated sewage or partially treated sewage into the waters of 26 the state or limit the state from bringing legal action as 27 otherwise authorized by this part. 05717'01 4 1 (7) The penalties and fines provided for in section 3115 2 apply to a violation of this section. 3 (8) As used in this section: 4 (a) "Partially treated sewage" means any sewage, sewage and 5 storm water, or sewage and wastewater, from domestic or indus- 6 trial sources that is not treated to national secondary treatment 7 standards for wastewater or that is treated to a level less than 8 that required by the municipality's national pollutant discharge 9 elimination system permit. 10 (b) "Sewer system" means a PUBLIC OR PRIVATE sewer system 11 designed and used to convey sanitary sewage or storm water, or 12 both. SEWER SYSTEM DOES NOT INCLUDE A SEPTIC SYSTEM SERVING 2 OR 13 FEWER HOUSEHOLDS. 05717'01 Final page. JCB