» Clean Water Current Archive

September 17, 2010

NACWA Nutrient Summit Sheds Light on Potential National Path Forward

NACWA members gathered in Chicago this week for the Association’s Nutrient Summit to hear from key policymakers and stakeholders and engage in a dialogue aimed at making recommendations to EPA on a viable national path forward on nutrient issues. Key federal, state, municipal, legal and NGO representatives provided presentations that framed national issues and the set the stage for a productive facilitated session. Ephraim King, Director of EPA’s Office of Science and Technology, made it clear that the Agency viewed wastewater treatment utilities to be among the significant contributors to the nutrient problem and that the development of numeric nutrient criteria was the appropriate path forward to ensure accountability. King noted that “NACWA is absolutely part of the solution,” adding that “NACWA is a problem-solver — not a problem creator.”  Other highlights included presentations from state environmental officials from Wisconsin and Kansas who discussed their approaches to addressing nutrient control from both point and nonpoint sources and offered some alternatives to the approach in Florida where EPA is driving the process.

The facilitated session took place over two days and focused on what NACWA should offer proactively to EPA on a more rational approach to addressing nutrient-related water quality impacts.  Participants highlighted the need to establish causal linkages before imposing nutrient controls and the need to address nutrients on a site-specific basis with sound modeling being one of the key ways to accomplish this.  Given the current challenges with establishing linkages between nutrients and in-stream impacts, there was also significant discussion of a technology-based “ceiling” where local water quality conditions indicate that point source nutrient reductions are needed.  The need for states to set rigorous requirements for nonpoint sources was also at the front-and-center of the discussion.

The facilitated session was very productive and will help provide the foundation for NACWA’s advocacy on this issue going forward.   One of the key outcomes of the Summit is a set of building blocks essential to controlling nutrients.  Over the coming weeks, NACWA will be working to finalize the building blocks drafted during the Summit and to develop an issue paper outlining additional details.  NACWA will forward these to the full membership via an Advocacy Alert.  NACWA is also planning an aggressive set of next steps to build on the momentum generated by the Summit, beginning with meetings with key stakeholders like EPA and the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), and potentially convening a broader dialogue meeting will all of the key interests, including the environmental NGO and nonpoint source communities.

NACWA Money Matters Task Force Holds Initial Strategic Discussion

NACWA’s Money Matters Task Force held an initial conference call this week with a focus on ensuring the right messaging is used to make the campaign as effective as possible.  The discussion, led by George Hawkins —the Task Force’s Chair and General Manager of DC Water —  made it clear that utility investment in clean water through rate increases will only continue and that this was a critical point to make clear in the Task Force’s messaging documents.  At the same time, with this increased revenue from rates in mind, it becomes even more important that the federal and state agencies provide local utilities with the flexibility to prioritize projects on a site-specific basis to maximize water quality improvement and show ratepayers that these hard-earned dollars are being invested wisely. This can be accomplished as a first, highly targeted step by obtaining a commitment from EPA to update its outdated 1997 affordability guidance document, but also through greater congressional and federal agency support for priority NACWA issues, such as green infrastructure legislation and support for a meaningful watershed approach, among others.

Task Force members are providing NACWA with comments on an initial draft of a leave-behind document that will be the focus of a follow-up task force call next week.  The Association plans to share this leave-behind with its members before the end of the month and then to have it distributed to all Members of Congress, key EPA officials and to local, state and national leaders broadly.  NACWA is also planning a conference call with state organizations representing clean water agencies in an effort to rally their support for this campaign. The issue of affordability was also front-and-center at this week’s Nutrient Summit (see related story) and will be featured at NACWA’s Clean Water Advocacy Center booth at WEFTEC in October (see related story).

EPA Inspector General Releases Report Critical of Inconsistent State Enforcement Programs

EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a final report Sept. 14 criticizing the Agency for inconsistent and outdated Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) between EPA and state enforcement agencies under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, which often leads to uneven enforcement actions across the country involving Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements.  This finding echoes the position taken by NACWA in a number of recent documents, including the Association’s CWA Enforcement White Paper , which pointed out that the current EPA enforcement program suffers from a lack of uniformity and consistency across the country, unfairly subjecting clean water utilities to different requirements in different states and regions.  The OIG report notes that MOAs between EPA and states are critical because they represent “a common denominator for state-authorized programs and should represent a common baseline.”  However, the report found that inconsistent and outdated MOAs between states and EPA have undermined the Agency’s ability to maintain uniform programs across the states and ensure consistent oversight of state programs.

In order to address these concerns, the OIG report recommends that EPA “ensure that all NPDES MOAs contain essential elements for a nationally consistent enforcement program.”   As part of this effort, EPA is encouraged to create a national template or model MOA; direct the EPA regions to revise outdated or inconsistent MOAs to meet the national template; establish a process for periodic review of MOAs to ensure consistency; and develop a national clearinghouse of all MOAs so that states and the public have access to the documents.  The report further indicates that EPA has expressed a willingness to pursue many of these recommendations to create a more consistent and predictable enforcement environment for regulated entities.  EPA has 90 days to respond to the report and provide a corrective action plan for implementing the agreed-upon recommendations, including milestone dates by which the recommendations will be completed.  NACWA will monitor EPA’s response to the report and inform the membership of any developments.

Mark Your Calendars & Join NACWA at WEFTEC ‘10

NACWA will be the primary advocacy presence on the exhibit floor at WEFTEC ’10 in New Orleans, La., October 2-6, 2010, with the Association’s Clean Water Advocacy Center (CWAC). Stop by the CWAC (Booth 7055) to learn more about NACWA’s advocacy initiatives including the Association’s new Money Matters campaign and discuss key developments on national regulatory, legislative and legal issues with National Office staff.

Also during WEFTEC, NACWA will be hosting its annual Hot Topics Breakfast on Tuesday, October 5, from 8:00 – 10:00 am at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Joining us will be staff from EPA headquarters to discuss issues including nutrient controls, effluent guidelines, wet weather, and biosolids, to name a few. The breakfast is an informal session and provides ample opportunity to ask key EPA staff questions that matter both nationally and to your community. There is no fee for the breakfast, and registration is not required.

We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans!