4
Stormwater &
Wet Weather Issues
Wet Weather Overflow Issues
Continue as Central NACWA Focus
In addition to NACWA significant work over the past year
on stormwater, the Association has also maintained a strong
focus on advocacy issues related to combined sewer overflows
(CSO) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSO). A key effort for
NACWA has been working to pursue further clarification of
the regulatory status of SSOs, including advocacy with the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to pursue some
form of national SSO rule or policy. Additionally, NACWA has
worked to expand the resources available to members on CSO
and SSO concerns.
NACWA Urges EPA Action on
Comprehensive SSO Rule
After conducting a series of 2010 listening sessions aimed
at gathering input on the need for a comprehensive rule on
SSOs and collection systems, EPA determined that it did not
have the resources to pursue a SSO rule. NACWA continued
to urge EPA to take action, and the Agency responded by
conducting a two-day workshop on SSOs in July 2011, with
NACWA and other key stakeholders participating in a facili-
tated discussion and an opportunity for public comment.
NACWA’s SSO Workgroup held a series of calls and meetings
in anticipation of the SSO workshop to finalize NACWA’s
positions on issues related to a rule. To develop as much con-
sensus as possible NACWA met with the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), American Rivers, and the Water
Environment Federation (WEF) prior to the workshop. These
productive discussions provided an important foundation not
only for the workshop, but for continued cooperation on SSO
rule issues.
During EPA’s day-and-a-half workshop there was broad-
based backing for a comprehensive SSO rule – in line with
the Association’s long-standing support for such an ap-
proach. NACWA’s representatives for this critical discussion
were Ben Horenstein, Manager of Environmental Services at
the East Bay Municipal Utility District (Calif.) and Co-Chair
of NACWA’s Facility & Collection System Committee, and
Lisa Hollander, Special Liaison for Legislative & Regulatory
Affairs at the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (Ohio)
and Chair of NACWA’s Legal Affairs Committee. The other
participants in the facilitated discussion were the Water
Environment Federation (WEF), American Rivers, the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Clean Water Action, the
Cahaba River Society, the Association of State & Interstate
Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), and the
League of Cities. The range of issues discussed at the meeting
included monitoring/notification/reporting of SSOs, the need
for a Capacity, Management, Operations and Maintenance
(C-MOM) approach, peak excess flow treatment/”blending”,
and the appropriate standard for allowable or excusable over-
flow events. A significant degree of agreement on these issues
was found during the discussion, and the workshop concluded
with all of the groups, including EPA, expressing an interest
to continue working together on a comprehensive SSO rule.
NACWA will continue to push EPA to focus on an SSO rule
and make positive steps towards its development.
NACWA Expands Wet Weather
Consent Decree Resources
One of NACWA’s key roles in the wet weather arena is to
provide its members with resources related to negotiation and
implementation of combined sewer overflow (CSO) and sani-
tary sewer overflow (SSO) consent decrees. The Association
was successful this year in adding another valuable tool in this
important area. The Association’s Consent Decree Implemen-
tation Survey was released in November 2010, in conjunction
with NACWA’s annual
Clean Water Law Seminar
, to provide
another valuable resource for Association members dealing
with consent decree issues.
The survey contains responses from over 25 communities
across the nation currently under wet weather consent decree.
It provides information on topics such as the cost of each
community’s decree; increases in utility rates under the decree;
the major components of each decree; whether green infra-
structure is included; how much overflow reduction will be
achieved; and, many other topics. The survey itself provided
an opportunity for NACWA members currently under consent
decree to share information with each other regarding the im-
plementation phase of their decrees – allowing utilities to learn
from each other’s experiences. It complements NACWA’s
existing consent decree resources available to member utilities
regarding the negotiation phase of the process. NACWA
continues to add survey responses from communities under
consent decree. The survey is available to all NACWA mem-
bers on the Legal Resources page of the Association’s website.