Title 33, Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-110

§1298 Cost Effectiveness

Title 33 › CHAPTER 26 — WATER POLLUTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL › SUBCHAPTER II — GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF TREATMENT WORKS › § 1298

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Requires projects that get federal money for waste treatment and management to be planned as one complete system that is the most economical and cost-effective over the life of the works. That planning covers many parts of the system, such as sewers, pumps, treatment and recycling units, standby units and clear wells, land needed for treatment or disposal, water-saving devices, and ways to handle storm water and combined sewer systems. Before approving any grant for building, changing, or extending treatment works, the Administrator must find the facilities plan is the most economical choice when looking at construction, operation, maintenance, and replacement costs. If a project is expected to cost more than $10,000,000, the Administrator must require a value engineering review. A value engineering review is a focused cost-control process that finds unnecessary costs and savings without hurting reliability or performance. The rule applies only to projects that had not received federal help to prepare construction plans and specifications under this chapter before December 29, 1981.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §1298

Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Congressional statement of policy

It is the policy of Congress that a project for waste treatment and management undertaken with Federal financial assistance under this chapter by any State, municipality, or intermunicipal or interstate agency shall be considered as an overall waste treatment system for waste treatment and management, and shall be that system which constitutes the most economical and cost-effective combination of devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature to implement section 1281 of this title, or necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost over the estimated life of the works, including intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping power, and other equipment, and their appurtenances; extension, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process (including land use for the storage of treated wastewater in land treatment systems prior to land application) or which is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment; water efficiency measures and devices; and any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating, separating, or disposing of municipal waste, including storm water runoff, or industrial waste, including waste in combined storm water and sanitary sewer systems; to meet the requirements of this chapter.

(b)Determination by Administrator as prerequisite to approval of grant

In accordance with the policy set forth in subsection (a) of this section, before the Administrator approves any grant to any State, municipality, or intermunicipal or interstate agency for the erection, building, acquisition, alteration, remodeling, improvement, or extension of any treatment works the Administrator shall determine that the facilities plan of which such treatment works are a part constitutes the most economical and cost-effective combination of treatment works over the life of the project to meet the requirements of this chapter, including, but not limited to, consideration of construction costs, operation, maintenance, and replacement costs.

(c)Value engineering review

In furtherance of the policy set forth in subsection (a) of this section, the Administrator shall require value engineering review in connection with any treatment works, prior to approval of any grant for the erection, building, acquisition, alteration, remodeling, improvement, or extension of such treatment works, in any case in which the cost of such erection, building, acquisition, alteration, remodeling, improvement, or extension is projected to be in excess of $10,000,000. For purposes of this subsection, the term “value engineering review” means a specialized cost control technique which uses a systematic and creative approach to identify and to focus on unnecessarily high cost in a project in order to arrive at a cost saving without sacrificing the reliability or efficiency of the project.

(d)Projects affected

This section applies to projects for waste treatment and management for which no treatment works including a facilities plan for such project have received Federal financial assistance for the preparation of construction plans and specifications under this chapter before December 29, 1981.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 1298

Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110