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This edition of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ (NACWA) Legislative Update, current through March 26, 2009, provides information on the activities of the 111th Congresses of interest to the nation’s publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). For more detailed information regarding NACWA activities related to specific legislation, click on the web links in selected news items, visit NACWA’s website, or contact Pat Sinicropi at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Byron DeLuke at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Top Stories

NACWA Supports $13.8 Billion CWSRF House Bill; Focuses Attention on Senate

On March 12, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would reauthorize funding to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). The Water Quality Investment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1262) was introduced by Representative James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I), Committee and passed by a 317-101 vote. The legislative package includes funding for a variety of water-related progress, including authorizing up to $13.8 billion over five years for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, $2.5 billion over five years in grants to address combined sewer overflow projects, $250 million for grants to develop alternative water sources, and $750 million in grants to remediate contaminated sediments in the Great Lakes. The House bill also includes provisions directing EPA to convene a task force to develop recommendations on the proper disposal of unused pharmaceuticals and a public education plan to advance those ideas. Finally, the legislation incorporates the previous Congress’s “Sewage Overflow Community Right to Know Act”, as negotiated by NACWA and American Rivers, establishing a monitoring, reporting and public notification program for sewer overflows.

Prior to the vote, NACWA sent a letter to urge support of this legislation by House members and worked hard to garner support for this critical piece of legislation. NACWA now is turning its attention to ensuring that the legislation is successful when it makes its way to the Senate floor. NACWA has learned that the Senate bill will likely only include SRF reauthorization and not the “omnibus” approach of the House bill. However, it is expected that the Senate bill will include provisions related to the reauthorization of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program. Staff for the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee has also indicated that the Committee expects to take up consideration of the bill prior to the Memorial Day recess. NACWA has also been discussing the need for a trust fund and a stronger grants component to address the water infrastructure funding gap.

FY10 Budget Bill Boosts Clean Water Funding for SRF Programs

President Obama released his budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2010 and included $2.4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and $1.5 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). The proposal indicates that more than 1,000 clean water projects and nearly 700 drinking water projects will be funded annually based on average costs due to the increased infusion of funding.

The President’s budget also contains $475 million for a new EPA-led, interagency Great Lakes restoration initiative to target the most significant problems in the region, including nonpoint source pollution. The total proposed EPA budget would increase to approximately $10.5 billion. NACWA issued a press release and sent letters to Capitol Hill expressing its strong support for the proposed funding increases, which represent a significant step toward addressing the water and wastewater infrastructure crisis. While Democratic leaders have indicated their support for Obama’s proposal, Republican House and Senate members have called for a freeze on federal spending levels and have stated they would try to block some of Obama’s proposed spending increases.

Last week, NACWA staff and Board Member Dan Thompson, Wastewater Operations Division Manager for the City of Tacoma, Wash., met with Representative Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over EPA’s budget to discuss his support for a long-term funding solution for water and wastewater infrastructure investments. During our discussion, Mr. Dicks indicated that he will seek to include language in the FY10 EPA appropriations bill authorizing additional subsidization for the CWSRF and DWSRF, similar to language included in the stimulus package. He also indicated his support for possible trust fund legislation and understood that communities need more federal grant assistance to be able to meet their water and wastewater infrastructure needs. NACWA will continue to work aggressively with Congress to ensure strong support for the President’s funding proposal as appropriations bills are considered.

Meanwhile Congress approved a $410 billion omnibus spending bill for FY 2009. The sweeping measure covers the FY 2009 appropriations bills that were not acted on by the 110th Congress and includes funding for all environment-related programs, including the CWSRF and DWSRF. EPA would receive $7.6 billion, which is $74 million above the FY 2008 level. The SRF programs are funded at $1.5 billion, including $689 million for the CWSRF and $829 million for the DWSRF. The bill also contains $145 million for state and tribal assistance grants (STAG) for drinking and wastewater infrastructure systems and $154 million for the nation’s great water bodies including the Great Lakes, Puget Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay. President Obama signed the measure on March 11.

National Clean Water Policy Forum to be Held in Washington, DC

NACWA, along with the Water Environment Foundation (WEF), will host the 2009 National Clean Water Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. from May 3-6 at the Renaissance Washington Hotel. This Policy Forum will serve as an excellent chance for members of the clean water community to come together to discuss the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and what it means for our nation’s wastewater agencies. In addition, legislative and regulatory issues will be discussed, including Clean Water Act jurisdiction, sewer overflow right-to-know, nutrient control, emerging contaminants, chemical security, and, perhaps the most impactful issue that is poised to be addressed by this Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — climate change. Draft agenda of topics can be found here.

The Policy Forum will spotlight new clean water policy leaders in the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress. Also, we will once again host the popular Roundtable Breakfast, featuring breakout sessions with the EPA staff leads on priority clean water issues. For more information on this, please visit the Forum website.

Security

Initial Agreement Reached on Jurisdictional Issues Related to CFATS Reauthorization

The House Homeland Security Committee is working on legislation to reauthorize the “Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) Program” with the goal of reporting new legislation by the Memorial Day recess. The current CFATS program is set to expire this October. Under the reauthorized program, it is expected that the exemption for water and wastewater utilities will be eliminated. There has been agreement between the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Energy and Commerce that the latter will write legislation governing security at drinking water facilities with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as lead agency overseeing their program, while the House Homeland Security Committee will write legislation governing security at wastewater treatment facilities with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as lead. NACWA is advocating that EPA be given authority over the security programs at both drinking water and wastewater facilities and has pointed out that dual jurisdiction is not workable because there are a large number of joint water and wastewater facilities. NACWA has met with staff for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to sort out the jurisdictional issues presented by the proposal. NACWA will continue to work closely with key members of these committees to ensure that this legislation is reauthorized with the best outcome for wastewater treatment agencies.

Stimulus Package

EPA Releases Final Guidance on Stimulus Package

On March 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released final guidance to its regional offices and States on how the Agency plans to award and carry out capitalization grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). NACWA has provided a copy of this guidance to its members which can be accessed by clicking here. This document was made available to States and lays out the requirements needed to be met in order to receive funding through the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Programs (CWSRF and DWSRF).

The guidance requires States to provide details on how they intend to use stimulus dollars. This includes furnishing EPA with detailed information that includes a description of the projects to be funded, amount of assistance needed, as well the number of jobs that will be created or maintained by the project. EPA will allow States to apply for conditional grants and partial grants based on draft “intended use plan” submissions if all other components of the program are in place. States are allowed to “blend” funding from the ARRA with funding obtained from previous appropriations as long as all funding is carefully tracked and the state can issue weekly reports back to EPA on how the stimulus funds are being spent. This information will be posted on www.recovery.gov, the government-wide, web-based tracking system for the stimulus. For more on the EPA Guidance, please see the detailed analysis provided in NACWA’s Legislative Alert 09-06.

NACWA is planning two complimentary conference calls on Wednesday, April 1, 2009. The conference calls, The Stimulus Stump . . . Giving a Voice to Clean Water Utilities, will be offered at 10:00 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and at 2:00 pm EDT. These calls are designed to allow members to share their challenges and successes with receiving stimulus dollars. To register for one of these calls, please visit the NACWA website. Additionally, NACWA has devoted a portion of its website to any problems or concerns members are having with any part of this process, from getting funding and approval to local project implementation issues. The web-portal will be available on the Association’s website shortly.