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NACWA is pleased to announce the release of the Association’s white paper, Working with Satellite Communities on Regional Wet Weather Issues. This new publication is designed to help clean water agencies that are providing treatment services to satellite collection systems address the challenges of managing wet weather flows. Several NACWA member agencies have explored solutions for engaging satellite communities on the need to better manage wet weather flows and the white paper provides detailed case studies for five agencies that have been successfully doing so.

We are pleased to provide this publication to the Association’s membership as a free download from NACWA’s website .

White Paper Provides Framework for Engaging Satellite Communities

While a spectrum of approaches can be used to make regional progress in addressing wet weather issues, the white paper focuses on two overall strategies. Voluntary efforts of a collaborative nature between a regional clean water agency and its satellites can be productive in achieving progress. However, there are situations in which conditions cannot support a completely voluntary approach and more direct involvement through required programs (including financial impacts), oversight, or even regulatory controls may need to be taken by a regional agency. Each option is discussed in the paper.

Compliance problems related to excess flow at the treatment plant or in the interceptor system are the responsibility of the regional agency. However, a regional system will typically consist of only 10 percent of the publicly owned pipe upstream of the permitted treatment plant, and five percent of all pipe in the system. Therefore, the regional agency can typically make limited progress in reducing wet weather flows by improving just its own system. In many cases, a significant amount of the stormwater and groundwater entering the sewer system, or infiltration and inflow (I/I), enters the collection system through defects on private property, which usually falls under the jurisdiction of satellite system owners, not the regional agency. Often, local elected officials see little benefit in addressing I/I from either the private systems or their municipal systems unless they themselves experience system performance problems. In order to address the wet weather problem all parties need to take collaborative action where they have responsibility.

The purpose of this issue paper is to provide regional agencies with a potential framework for initiating a dialogue with satellites in an effort to deal with excess flow issues on a regional basis. By following the lead of the case study agencies, several paths are available for agencies seeking to make progress on regional wet weather flow issues.

Section 1 of the paper provides an overview of the issues, including the drivers for regional progress, the anticipated benefits, the constraints facing both regional authorities and satellite communities, and a range of considerations for engaging stakeholders on a regional basis.

Section 2 outlines several incentive-based strategies for achieving environmental progress and provides linkages to effective approaches for reducing peak flows regionally. Voluntary and a spectrum of mandatory approaches are considered.

Section 3 provides a brief introduction to the Case Studies that are included as an appendix. The information in the case studies will provide the most valuable information for the reader and Section 3 provides the highlights from each.

Again, the white paper is available to the Association’s membership as a free download from NACWA’s website. Please contact Chris Hornback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions.