33 U.S.C. § 1274 — Watershed pilot projects

(a) The Administrator, coordinating with the States, may provide technical assistance and grants to a municipality^* or municipal entity for pilot projects concerning: (1) Watershed management of wet-weather discharges. Managing municipal combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewer overflows, and stormwater discharges on an integrated watershed or subwatershed basis to demonstrate the effectiveness of a unified wet-weather approach. (2) Stormwater best-management practices. Controlling pollutants from municipal separate storm sewer systems to demonstrate and determine controls that are cost-effective and use innovative technologies to manage, reduce, treat, recapture, or reuse municipal stormwater, including techniques that use infiltration, evapotranspiration, and onsite reuse of stormwater. (3) Watershed partnerships. Efforts by municipalities and property owners to demonstrate cooperative ways to address “nonpoint sources of pollution^*” and reduce adverse effects on water quality. This section does not define “nonpoint sources of pollution.” (4) Integrated water-resource plan. Developing an integrated water-resource plan for coordinated management and protection of surface water, groundwater, and stormwater resources on a watershed or subwatershed basis to meet this chapter’s objectives, goals, and policies. (5) Municipality-wide stormwater-management planning. Developing a municipality-wide plan that identifies the most effective placement of stormwater technologies and management approaches to reduce water-quality impairments from stormwater throughout the municipality. (6) Increased resilience of treatment works^*. Assessing future risks and vulnerabilities of publicly owned treatment works from human-made or natural disasters, including extreme weather events and sea-level rise, and carrying out systemwide or area-wide measures to increase the resilience of publicly owned treatment works.nn(b) Coordinating with the States, the Administrator must give municipalities participating in a pilot project under this section the ability to use innovative practices, including combining separate wet-weather control efforts under one permit.nn(c) By October 1, 2015, the Administrator must send Congress a report on the results of pilot projects conducted under this section and their possible nationwide application.