May 1, 2015
U.S. Conference of Mayors' Water Council Focuses on Affordability
 Mayors from several cash-strapped cities expressed deepening concern with the high costs of managing their Clean Water Act compliance at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' (USCM) Water Council meeting in Washington, DC this week. Central to the discussion was the need for performance data, which USCM is aggregating. One of the key data points is that long-term local government debt grew from $886 billion in 2000 to $1.78 trillion in 2012, a 101 percent increase. Over the same period, spending on sewer systems went up 109 percent.
At issue is whether such spending increases, that demand more debt servicing, are sustainable. Concern was also expressed that, as the income of many households remains stagnant the increasing cost of sewer and water infrastructure take up larger portions of their budgets. How such data trends play out in cities with a shrinking ratepayer base is also of concern, as was the growing role of subsidy programs.
Several mayors discussed their consent decrees and the difficulty inherent in keeping on budget as other unanticipated needs, problems, and new mandates arise. The mayors discussed the critical importance of having reopener language in their decrees to ensure the ability to stay within budget despite changing circumstances – or to take advantage of new technologies. Mayor Yarber of Jackson Mississippi discussed how he declared a state of emergency for his water infrastructure, and noted that infrastructure must be at the top of any Administration's agenda - to much applause.
Blending, Integrated Planning Top List of Issues during Meeting with EPA
Andrew Sawyers, Director of EPA’s wastewater management office, and key members of his team provided updates on a range of issues during a meeting with NACWA staff Wednesday. The highlights included:
- Blending – Notes from last summer’s Public Health Forum are being finalized and will be released soon. The Agency hopes to develop a compendium of best practices on wet weather management by the end of the year. NACWA provided an overview of its wet weather legislation.
- Integrated Planning – EPA remains committed to integrated planning and has several projects underway to assist communities and states to make it a success.
- Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) – The Administration’s budget request should not be interpreted as a lack of commitment to the CWSRF. The Agency believes that the CWSRF is tremendously successful and will remain a priority for the Agency. EPA indicated that it hopes to use the newly-created Water Infrastructure & Resiliency Finance Center as a pipeline for more SRF projects.
- Clean Watersheds Needs Survey – EPA wants the next Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (due to be conducted in 2016) to include the additional SRF eligibilities added last year by the Water Resources Reform & Development Act (WRRDA). Should Congress opt to link the allotment formula to the Needs Survey, EPA shares NACWA’s concerns that the survey must better reflect existing needs.
- Financing Forums - EPA plans to hold a series of Financing Forums across the country, with the first one taking place in Region 6 later this year (details not yet available). The Forums will bring together communities in need of funding; SRF and other fund managers; and, private banking interests.
- Affordability - EPA acknowledged NACWA’s continuing interest in revising the 1997 affordability guidance – a focus of the Association’s ongoing legislative agenda. The Agency stressed that we should work with them to ensure that the recent Affordability Framework
 – which EPA considers a ‘living’ document – is revised as needed to further address any remaining concerns we have.
The meeting concluded with a discussion of the Water Resources Utility of the Future and the importance of collaborating as it evolves, not only among the water sector, but also with EPA.
Utility of the Future Annual Report Slated for July Release
NACWA, the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), and WateReuse are co-funding and collaborating to publish the first Water Resources Utility of the Future (UOTF) Annual Report. The report will highlight UOTF developments in the clean water, finance, technology, engineering, and professional association sectors – as well as within federal, state and local governments. It is slated for release in July at NACWA’s 2015 Utility Leadership Conference. The organizations hope to bring attention to the innovative work happening on multiple frontiers to encourage further efforts to advance the UOTF agenda.
NACWA and the collaborating UOTF groups, as well as EPA, are also committed to re-distributing the ground-breaking 2013 report, The Water Resources Utility of the Future: A Blueprint for Action , and related publications from EPA, in advance of the release of the new annual report. This will help ensure that this work is fresh in the minds of public agency leaders — whether with large, medium or small utilities — which will maximize these initiatives and practices being adopted as broadly as possible. This effort is being shepherded along by the leadership of NACWA’s Utility & Resource Management Committee and its Industry of the Future Workgroup.
Energy Workshop Examines Barriers to Increased Production
NACWA and several its Member Agencies participated, this week, in the Energy Positive Water Resource Recovery Workshop hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), and EPA. The purpose of the Workshop was to identify specific technical and non-technical barriers that hindering the development and deployment of water resources utilities of the future – with a focus on how to create facilities that will produce more energy than they use. Discussions addressed the following topics:
- Research, development, demonstration, and deployment of new or improved technologies;
- The role of the federal government;
- Non-technical considerations, such as financing, policy, and regulatory issues; and
- System sustainability, to incorporate environmental, social, and economic elements in decisions.
NSF, EPA, and DOE will utilize the discussions at the Workshop to guide research and technology development efforts and strategic planning. NACWA is planning further discussions with EPA and DOE to determine how the Association can best work with these agencies to enable utilities to further develop their energy resources.
Enforcement Issues Take Center Stage at Consent Decree Workshop
Nearly 100 clean water professionals, on the front lines of wet weather enforcement challenges, gathered in Philadelphia this week for NACWA’s Wet Weather Consent Decree Workshop. The Workshop provided a candid forum to share tips for renegotiating existing decrees or negotiate new decrees to achieve the most cost-effective environmental outcomes.
A highlight of this year’s Workshop was the panel of senior EPA officials – including both Headquarters and Regional officials – who shared their perspectives on wet weather enforcement, including insights on how regulators approach wet weather negotiations and what kinds of approaches they find most and least effective.
Top municipal clean water experts presented on the latest trends in clean water enforcement; real world case studies; available tools; effective negotiation strategies; and, areas of evolving regulatory flexibility. Presentations from the Workshop are available on NACWA’s website.
More detail on the Workshop will be provided in the Summer Legal Update. Any questions can be directed to
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(202/833-3692) or to
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(202/530-2758).
 
Financing Makes the World Go Round
It used to be money, but lately it seems that financing is what makes the world go ‘round, or at least the water sector. Wonder what we’ve been up to on financing? Read on to find out more.
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