ARCHIVE SITE - Last updated Jan. 19, 2017. Please visit www.NACWA.org for the latest NACWA information.
ARCHIVE SITE - Last updated Jan. 19, 2017. Please visit www.NACWA.org for the latest NACWA information.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) recently introduced the Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012 (S. 2094), a bill to authorize $1.8 billion over the course of five years for sewer overflow control grants and require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update its approach to making community affordability determinations with respect to increasingly costly Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements. The bill also contains provisions to ensure that EPA’s integrated planning approach provides as much benefit to communities as possible. The complete bill can be found here and a section-by-section summary is below. The bill reflects many of the priorities set out in draft legislation developed by NACWA’s Money Matters Task Force over the past two years and demonstrates that the discussion on affordability and regulatory prioritization is now being heard and acted on in Congress. In fact, the affordability component of S. 2094 was developed with significant input from NACWA’s affordability workgroup over several years and focused on ensuring that EPA revise its outdated 1997 Combined Sewer Overflows—Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development CSO affordability guidance, which this bill calls for. NACWA sent Senator Brown a letter of support for his bill, noting that this legislation would provide a vital step toward helping communities address water infrastructure and affordability challenges in a sound and viable manner. While Senator Brown is looking for Republican co-sponsors to help propel his bill through the Senate, this task will likely be difficult because the $1.8 billion grant program contained in the bill has no funding offset. Still, Senator Brown remains optimistic. Next Steps on Integrated Planning and Money Matters Legislation At the same time, NACWA is seeking to ensure that EPA’s integrated planning effort incorporates clean water agency concerns to the greatest degree possible. EPA has now completed its series of workshops on the integrated planning effort and NACWA will be submitting comments by the February 29 deadline to help steer the development of the Agency’s integrated planning framework. Members should send any thoughts they have or comments they are filing to Chris Hornback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Section-by-Section Summary of the Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012 Section 2: Sewer Overflow Control Grants Section 3: Integrated Permitting Process Section 4: Combined Sewage Overflow Long-Term Control Plan Section 5: Environmental Protection Agency Green Infrastructure Promotion Section 6: Water Pollution Control Revolving Funds Section 7: Updating of Guidance Contact NACWA with any Thoughts or Questions on the Bill |
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Winter Conference
Next Generation Compliance …Where Affordability & Innovation Intersect
February 4 – 7, 2017
Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel
Tampa, FL