For Immediate Release: June 24, 2011

Contact:  Pat Sinicropi, 202/533-1823
NACWA’s Legislative Affairs Director

NACWA Testifies in House Hearing on EPA’s Nutrient Policies

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) testifies today at an oversight hearing entitled “Running Roughshod Over States and Stakeholders: EPA’s Nutrients Policies”, before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources & Environment on EPA’s policy approach to controlling nutrients in our waterways.  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:30 am and will be in 2167 Rayburn House Office Building and available live via webcast.  Barbara Biggs, Chair of NACWA’s Water Quality Committee and Government Affairs Officer for the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District in Denver, Colorado, testifies on behalf of NACWA and will discuss the Association’s general views on EPA’s approach toward developing numeric nutrient criteria and related Colorado’s experience with the subject.  Biggs will urge the Subcommittee to explore new and innovative approaches to nutrient control and used Colorado as an example to illustrate her point.  In Colorado, wastewater utilities have been working for almost two years on an approach that includes scientifically-derived numeric values for nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as an adaptive implementation plan that ensures nutrient reductions in priority watersheds, including those where point sources are a significant contribution.  EPA, however has told Colorado that these efforts may not be sufficient.

Other witnesses at the hearing include the following: Honorable Nancy Stoner, Assistant Administrator, Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Richard Opper, Director, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, representing the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS); Colleen Sullins, Director, Division of Water Quality, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, representing the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASWIPCA); Bethany Card, Director, Water Quality Programs, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC); George Elmaraghy, Chief, Division of Surface Water, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; and Richard Budell, Director, Office of Agricultural Water Policy, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

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NACWA represents the interests of more than 300 public agencies and organizations that have made the pursuit of scientifically based, technically sound and cost effective laws and regulations their objective. NACWA members serve the majority of the sewered population in the United States and collectively treat and reclaim more than 18 billion gallons of wastewater daily.