» Clean Water Current Archive

May 9, 2014

2013 NACWA Index: Cost of Clean Water Continues to Outpace Inflation

NACWA’s 2013 Cost of Clean Water Index (formerly the Service Charge Index) was released this week and indicates that the cost of wastewater services rose 5.5 percent in 2013, more than triple the rate of inflation for the same period, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Since the 1980’s, NACWA has tracked the annual amount a single family household pays for wastewater treatment, also known as the sewer service charge, to monitor trends in the cost of clean water. In 2013, NACWA found that the national average sewer service charge was $435 dollars, based on responses from over 180 NACWA members representing approximately 108 million people. That figure is expected to top $500 by 2016, with survey respondents indicating that they expect charges to continue to increase about 5 percent per year for the next 5 years.

The new design of NACWA’s 2013 Index highlights the most relevant and current information with historical information back to the base year of 1985 provided as a supplement. A breakdown of the results by EPA Region will also be made available soon on NACWA’s website.

EPA Announces Technical Assistance for Integrated Planning

EPA announced today the availability of $335,000 in technical assistance for five communities seeking technical support to develop and implement an integrated planning approach to meeting Clean Water Act requirements for municipal wastewater and stormwater management. The primary purpose of the technical assistance is to help EPA develop practical examples of how to implement the different steps in developing an integrated plan in order to provide useful information to communities across the nation who are interested in integrated planning.

Interested communities are encouraged to respond to the Request for Letters of Interest. Applicants must submit their letters of interest via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to the attention of Kevin Weiss. Letters of interest must be received by June 27, 2014, 5:00 pm EST.

NACWA had been urging EPA to provide communities with funding to help craft integrated plans and will continue its efforts to obtain further funding for an integrated planning pilot program in the FY 2015 appropriations bills. We will keep our members updated as new information on this technical assistance and the FY2015 budget becomes available.

Senate, House Reach Agreement on Water Resources Reform & Development Act

Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and David Vitter (R-LA), Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, along with Representatives Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Nick Rahall (D-WV), Chair and Ranking Member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, announced yesterday that they had reached a bicameral agreement on the Water Resources Reform & Development Act (WRRDA) conference report. More details are forthcoming, but NACWA expects that the final package includes significant Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) provisions attributable to strong efforts by the Association, the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) and the clean water community. The package is also anticipated to include a Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (WIFIA) pilot program to finance regionally significant water, wastewater, and flood control projects. NACWA will provide a full analysis of the legislation as soon as the conference report has been finalized and filed next week.

Technical Workgroup Meets to Present Flushability Facts

The technical workgroup that is addressing issues related to the flushability of wipes held its first in-person meeting this week. The workgroup is comprised of representatives from NACWA, the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and INDA (the trade association of the nonwoven fabrics industry) and is partially funded through the Association’s Targeted Action Fund (TAF). This week’s meeting focused on presenting key facts about wipes from the perspectives of wastewater utilities and manufacturers and led to a productive discussion between the two groups.

A series of conference calls and two more in-person meetings of the workgroup over the summer will result in the following objectives: characterizing the nature of impacts from wipes and other products; assessing how the Third Edition of the INDA Flushability Guidelines do or do not address concerns about these products; recommending actions needed to reconcile differences among the parties; and, developing a process and commitment for continued engagement among the parties to implement the recommendations. NACWA will keep members informed about the progress of the workgroup.

CEQ, NACWA Confer on Utility of the Future, Resilience and Reuse

After participating in the NACWA/AMWA Water Resilience Summit in April, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) met this with NACWA staff and member utility Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority (California) to outline possible partnerships on key advocacy issues under the Utility of the Future (UOTF) portfolio, including water reuse. NACWA briefed staff from CEQ’s Land and Water divisions on the collaborative UOTF initiative, including efforts to promote resource recovery, energy generation and water reuse. CEQ discussed its interest in UOTF issues, especially water reuse which relates to their work with the National Drought Resilience Partnership (NDRP), an interagency effort to make it easier to access Federal drought resources by linking relevant information with drought resilience strategies. NACWA will continue to engage CEQ and the White House on UOTF and reuse efforts, exploring possible partnerships and support statements on reuse and resilience-related issues in the coming months.

MSD Seeks Info on Consent Decree Communications and Engagement

NACWA is encouraging public agency members to complete a short survey from the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District to create a resource for Consent Decree communications and engagement best practices being employed by clean water agencies across the country. Last week, NACWA held the first-of-its-kind Wet Weather Consent Decree Workshop in Chicago providing timely and critical information on the current state of play in the wet weather consent decree arena. The survey will provide a key opportunity for NACWA public agency members to share best practices on the communication issues surrounding the consent decree process and learn from real world case studies.

When complete, MSD plans to share the results with NACWA members, respondents, and other stakeholders. Additionally, the District plans to periodically update this survey so that clean water agencies can continue to learn from each other. The survey can be found here and will take about 5 minutes to complete. Please contact Nathan Gardner-Andrews at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions.

NACWA, Value of Water Coalition to Make a Splash at Infrastructure Week 2014

NACWA and other members of the Value of Water Coalition have joined together to host an in-depth conversation, From Invisible to Invaluable: Changing the Way We Think about Water Infrastructure on Wednesday, May 14, from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST at The Newseum in Washington, DC. The panel discussion, which will also be webcast (see below), will explore the current condition of water infrastructure in the United States, the consequences of letting systems age and fail, and solutions to meeting the water challenges of today and tomorrow. Panelists include: George Hawkins, General Manager, DC Water; Tony Parrott, Executive Director, Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio; Ed Pinero, Chief Sustainability Officer, Veolia North America; Ken Kopocis, Senior Advisor for Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and Mark Strauss, Sr. VP of Corporate Strategy and Business Development, American Water.

The discussion will also be simultaneously webcast at http://thevalueofwater.org/?p=127155, free of charge, and will feature a live Twitter conversation. You may tweet your questions to @TheValueOfWater with the hashtag #valueofwater to pose a question to the panel. This event is taking place as part of Infrastructure Week 2014 sponsored by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, Building America’s Future, 1776, the Organization for International Investment, the Value of Water Coalition, and the National Association of Manufacturers. These groups bring unique and powerful perspectives to the ongoing dialogue about the deteriorating condition of our nation’s infrastructure.

NACWA Blog of the Week:
Moving Toward Sustainability — It’s a Trek, not a Sprint!

This week’s blog was co-written by Jim Horne, Environmental Management Systems Project Manager in the Office of Wastewater Management at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tom Sigmund, Executive Director of NEW Water in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It’s no secret that water and wastewater utilities across the country are dealing with an unprecedented set of challenges including aging infrastructure, increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, and competing priorities within the communities they serve. At the same time, more and more utilities are assuming leadership roles related to community sustainability, resource recovery and conservation, economic development, and climate change. Given this combination of old and new “realities”, collaboration among utilities, states, regulators, and communities is not just desirable, it’s essential for the long-term sustainability of our water resources. How can EPA and utilities collaborate better to reach a common goal of sustainable infrastructure and a healthy environment? Find out by reading this week’s The Water Voice post and don’t miss out on a post by subscribing today!

Recipients of Singapore International Water Week Scholarships Announced

Eight recipients will form a utility of the future-focused delegation of U.S. water sector leaders – hosted by the Singapore Public Utility Board and NACWA, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) – to attend Singapore International Water Week (SIWW), June 1-5, 2014. The scholarship recipients include:

• Jay Bernas, Chief of Planning and Analysis, Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia Beach, Va.
• Rajendra Bhattarai, Division Manager, Austin Water Utility Environmental & Regulatory Services, Austin, Texas
• Tom Broderick, Deputy General Manager Operations, Loudon Water, Ashburn, Va.
• Sandra Kilroy, Assistant Director, King County Wastewater Treatment Division, Seattle, Wash.
• Jim McQuarrie, Division Head of Operations, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Denver, Colo.
• Logan Olds, General Manager, Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority, Hesperia, Calif.
• Lou Storino, Principal Civil Engineer, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Ill.
• Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, Deputy General Manager, Clean Water Services, Hillsboro, Ore.

SIWW is a global platform for water professionals to share innovative solutions for integration of sustainable water management strategies with urban planning processes. Scholarship recipients will receive funds for travel, lodging and registration, and will share the perspectives gained from their experiences upon their return. You can read more about SIWW at http://www.siww.com.sg/.