Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II
Key claim: HR1390 would allow the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego to obtain a conditional NPDES permit with tailored treatment standards, eliminating the need for repeated Clean Water Act variance applications.
Abstract
(HR1390 · 119th Congress) Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II This bill provides an alternative permitting process for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant located in San Diego, California, to comply with the requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. Currently, the plant operates with a temporary variance (or waiver) from certain NPDES treatment standards under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The City of San Diego has applied for a new variance for the plant. If the variance is not granted, then the city must obtain a new NPDES permit and fully comply with the treatment standards. The bill allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue an NPDES permit that requires the plant to comply with certain conditions. Thus, it eliminates the need for the city to apply for another variance so long as it obtains the conditional NPDES permit and the plant: maintains its current deep ocean outfall pipe; complies with specified annual and monthly limits for total suspended solids (e.g., sewage); removes at least 80% of total suspended solids from the discharge on a monthly average and 58% of biochemical oxygen demand on an annual average; attains all other effluent limitations of secondary treatment; complies with CWA pretreatment requirements and other requirements applicable to NPDES permits; provides to the EPA 10 consecutive years of compliance data and analysis; and demonstrates that it will produce at least 83 million gallons per day on an annual average of water safe for human consumption by December 31, 2039. Latest action (2025-02-14): Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
Why this matters
NPDES variance renewal is one of the most durable examples of a single facility navigating the Clean Water Act’s secondary-treatment mandate through repeated case-by-case waivers; a legislative carve-out substituting a conditional permit would set a precedent for tailoring national effluent standards to individual coastal dischargers. The proposal reflects the interplay between wastewater compliance costs, ocean discharge quality, and municipal water-recycling investments like San Diego’s Pure Water program.