Estuaries and Clean Waters Act of 2000

Estuaries and Clean Waters Act of 2000 - Title I: Estuary Restoration - Estuary Restoration Act of 2000 - Establishes an estuary habitat restoration program under which the Secretary of the Army may carry out estuary habitat restoration projects and provide technical assistance. Requires the Secretary to select projects from a list of proposals submitted by the Estuary Habitat Restoration Council established under this title. Sets forth selection criteria, including: (1) project feasibility, technical merit, and applicability to estuary restoration strategy; and (2) whether the project will encourage Federal, State, and local cooperation and foster public-private partnerships.

Gives priority to projects that: (1) occur within a watershed in which there is a program that addresses pollution sources and other activities that would reimpair the restored habitat; or (2) include pilot testing or demonstration of an innovative technology for improving restoration cost-effectiveness. Limits to 65 percent the Federal share of project costs.

(Sec. 105) Establishes the Estuary Habitat Restoration Council to review project proposals and submit to Congress a national strategy for the restoration of estuary habitat.

(Sec. 106) Mandates: (1) as the Council's strategy goal the restoration of 1 million acres of estuary habitat by 2010; and (2) the integration of Federal estuary habitat restoration plans, programs, and partnerships.

(Sec. 107) Directs the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere of the Department of Commerce to develop and maintain an appropriate database for monitoring estuary habitat restoration projects authorized under this title, and to make such information available to the public.

(Sec. 108) Sets forth reporting requirements.

(Sec. 109) Authorizes FY 2001 through 2005 appropriations for: (1) estuary restoration activities; and (2) database monitoring.

(Sec. 110) Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Administrator) to conduct a two-year study on the efficacy of bioremediation products.

Title II: Chesapeake Bay Restoration - Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act of 2000 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Administrator to: (1) continue the Chesapeake Bay Program; and (2) maintain a Program Office to provide specified support to the Chesapeake Executive Council.

Authorizes the Administrator to provide technical assistance and assistance grants to nonprofit organizations, State and local governments, colleges and universities, and interstate agencies to achieve Program goals. Provides the Federal and non-Federal share of various Program costs. Provides for Chesapeake Bay Agreement (an agreement among signatory members to restore and protect the Bay's ecosystem) implementation and monitoring grants, with specified Federal and non-Federal shares. Directs the Administrator to make public a document describing in detail projects funded for the current and previous years. Requires any Federal agency that owns or operates a facility within the Bay watershed to: (1) participate in regional and subwatershed planning and restoration programs; and (2) report to the President and the Council on expenditures to carry out such programs.

Requires the Administrator to: (1) ensure that management plans are developed and that implementation is begun by Agreement signatories to achieve and maintain specified water nutrient and quality goals and habitat restoration and protection; and (2) offer technical assistance and assistance grants for a small watershed grants program within the Bay.

Directs the Administrator to study and report to Congress on the state of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and on Program strategies. Requires a five-year study to establish and expand understanding of Bay ecosystem living resources response to water quality improvements resulting from the Program.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005.

Title III: National Estuary Program - Adds Lake Pontchartrain Basin, Louisiana and Mississippi, to the list of estuaries to be give priority consideration for inclusion in the National Estuary Program.

(Sec. 302) Requires grants made under such Program to be used for activities necessary for the development and implementation of conservation and management plans (currently, for research and other technical work necessary for the development of such plans).

(Sec. 303) Reauthorizes Program appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005.

Title IV: Long Island Sound Restoration - Long Island Sound Restoration Act - Requires the office established to assist the Management Conference of the Long Island Sound Study (Management Conference) to assist in efforts to establish a system for promoting innovative methodologies and technologies that are cost-effective and consistent with restoration plan goals.

(Sec. 403) Authorizes the Administrator, in providing assistance for upgrading wastewater treatment facilities, to give priority to a distressed community.

(Sec. 404) Extends through FY 2005 the authorization of appropriations for the Management Conference and the restoration plan.

Title V: Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration - Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act of 2000 - Requires the Administrator to establish the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program to restore the ecological health of such Basin by developing and funding restoration projects and related scientific and public education projects. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants for such purposes. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005.

Title VI: Alternative Water Sources - Alternative Water Sources Act of 2000 - Authorizes the Administrator to establish a pilot program to make grants to State, interstate, and intrastate water resource development agencies, local government agencies, private utilities, and nonprofit entities for alternative water source projects to meet critical water supply needs. Requires entities chosen to have authority under State law to develop or provide water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural uses in an area experiencing critical water supply needs. Directs the Administrator, in making such grants, to consider whether a project is located within the boundaries of a State or area referred to in the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902, and within the geographic scope of such reclamation and reuse program.

Requires, for projects for which the Federal share of costs exceed $3 million, approval by resolution of specified congressional committees.

Requires the Administrator to report to Congress on pilot program results.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 2002 through 2004.

Title VII: Clean Lakes - Reauthorizes through FY 2005 grants to States for carrying out methods and procedures to control pollution sources from, and restore quality of, lakes (clean lakes program).

(Sec. 702) Adds specified lakes, ponds, or reservoirs in New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Nevada, California, Oregon, New Jersey New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida, and Georgia to the list of lakes given priority for demonstration projects under a lake water quality demonstration program. Requires the Administrator, notwithstanding a provision of the Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 that eliminates certain Federal reporting requirements, to report to specified congressional committees on work undertaken under the program.

Increases the maximum amount of appropriations authorized for grants to States for carrying out methods to mitigate effects of high acidity in lakes.

Title VIII: Tijuana River Valley Estuary and Beach Cleanup - Tijuana River Valley Estuary and Beach Sewage Cleanup Act of 2000 - Authorizes and directs the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico, subject to the negotiation and conclusion of a new Treaty Minute pursuant to the Treaty for the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande or the amendment of Treaty Minute 283, to provide for the secondary treatment of up to 50 million gallons per day (mgd) in Mexico of: (1) effluent from the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP) if such treatment is not provided for at a U.S. facility; and (2) additional sewage emanating from the Tijuana River Area, Mexico.

Authorizes the Commission to provide up to an additional 25 mgd of such capacity for the above-described treatment.

Requires the Administrator to develop a comprehensive plan with stakeholder involvement to address the transborder sanitation problems in the border region.

Permits the Commission, upon the conclusion of a new Treaty Minute or the amendment of Treaty Minute 283, to enter into a fee-for-services contract with the owner of the Mexican facility (proposed wastewater treatment facility to be constructed within Mexico for treating sewage flows generated within Mexico, which flows impact U.S. and Mexican surface waters, health, and safety) to carry out the secondary treatment requirements of this title. Requires the Inspector General of the Department of State to monitor and report to Congress on such contract.

(Sec. 805) Requires the Secretary of State to give the highest priority to the negotiation and execution of a new Treaty Minute or the modification of Treaty Minute 283 in order that the provisions of this title to address river and ocean pollution in the border region may be implemented as soon as possible. Requires the Secretary to initiate such negotiations with Mexico. Requires the new or modified Treaty Minute to be subject to the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

(Sec. 806) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005.

Title IX: General Provisions - Expresses the sense of Congress that, to the extent practicable, all equipment and products purchased with funds made available under this Act should be American-made.

(Sec. 902) Authorizes the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior to carry out a long-term estuary assessment project in the areas of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Authorizes such Secretaries to enter into a management agreement with a university-based consortium to establish, operate, and maintain such project. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005.

(Sec. 903) Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 to increase and extend through FY 2005 the authorization of appropriations for the rural sanitation grants program.