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1998 SESSION

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980366719
SENATE BILL NO. 328 Senate Amendments in [ ] -- February 4, 1998 A BILL to direct the State Water Control Board to petition the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency to approve the designation of Smith Mountain Lake as a no-discharge zone for boat sewage. ---------- Patron-- Newman ---------- Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources ----------

[ Whereas, Smith Mountain Lake experienced significant water quality problems during the summer of 1997, including e. coli contamination, which may result from the discharge of sewage from boats; and

Whereas, contact with water contaminated with e. coli can have severe health effects, and several people were sickened by e. coli contamination in Smith Mountain Lake; and Whereas, Smith Mountain Lake was recently approved as a safe source for public drinking water; and ]

Whereas, prohibiting the discharge of sewage from boats would improve water quality in Smith Mountain Lake; and

Whereas, Section 312 of the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1322) provides that a "State may completely prohibit the discharge from all vessels of any sewage, whether treated or not, into [any] waters, except that no such prohibition shall apply until the Administrator determines that adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment from all vessels are reasonably available for such water to which such prohibition would apply"; now, therefore

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. That the State Water Control Board shall petition the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency to approve the designation of Smith Mountain Lake as a no-discharge zone for boat sewage. If such approval is granted, the Board shall prohibit the discharge from all vessels of any sewage into Smith Mountain Lake.