» Clean Water Current Archive

October 15, 2010

NACWA Member Agency Leaders Meet with EPA Deputy Administrator to Discuss Future Funding, Money Matters Campaign

Key members of NACWA’s Executive Committee and leadership met today with EPA’s Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe and other key EPA officials to discuss several key funding and financial issues.  Perciasepe was interested in discussing the appropriate ongoing level of federal funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).  Perciasepe noted that under the Clean Water Act (CWA) the federal government was required to provide funds for the construction of wastewater treatment plants and sought NACWA’s input on what the appropriate federal percentage should be for overall national sewer-related investment.  The discussion was wide-ranging and included the need for a better estimate of national wastewater-specific construction spending and a workable economic matrix to determine the appropriate mix of rate increases, debt burden, and federal contribution.  Perciasepe noted that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was seeking an across-the-board cut of 11% to EPA’s budget and said it would be critical to develop a strong recommendation on behalf of SRF funding.  NACWA’s members noted that the EPA-estimated clean water needs were great and growing, that EPA’s share of this investment would only need to expand as local rate increases in urban centers become too large to be sustainable, and that the Agency should urge the White House to support a clean water trust fund to ensure a long-term funding source for the SRF.

Perciasepe also expressed significant interest in NACWA’s Money Matters — Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water campaign. Perciasepe’s attention was caught by the bipartisan Congressional letter urging EPA to update its affordability approach and NACWA made it clear that if EPA did not act on a revised affordability approach soon, the next Congress would be poised to step into the vacuum in a manner that the Agency would likely cause the Agency significant concern.  NACWA invited Perciasepe to the March 1st Money Matters Summit and Rally in Washington, DC, which the organization has begun to organize.  NACWA also met earlier in the week with Assistant Administrator for Water Pete Silva and other key Office of Water staff as part of a broader municipal water sector meeting and provided them with information on the Money Matters campaign as well.

Further details on this Summit and the Money Matters effort will be made available to the membership via an Advocacy Alert soon as well as on the Money Matters campaign webpage.

EPA Publishes Proposed Clean Air Act Standards for Sewage Sludge Incinerators

On Thursday, EPA published proposed standards under Section 129 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs).  The new standards will require the vast majority of clean water agencies with existing SSIs to install additional pollution control devices at a capital cost of over $200 million dollars and an annual increase in costs of approximately $100 million, according to EPA.  The proposed standards are based on a maximum achievable control technology (MACT) level of performance.  For mercury, however, EPA has gone a step further and has proposed a more stringent control level that goes ‘beyond the MACT Floor’ at an estimated cost of $12 million dollars per ton of mercury removed.  Based on its initial review, NACWA believes that EPA has vastly overestimated the contribution of mercury from SSIs.

In a press release issued in response to the proposal, NACWA noted that the proposed new source performance standards could effectively eliminate the construction of new SSIs, and the standards for existing SSIs could force many communities to abandon incineration as early as 2016.  EPA asserts that some of the costs to upgrade existing units will be avoided since many public wastewater utilities will simply abandon incineration and send their sludge to a landfill instead.  NACWA, however, believes that EPA’s analysis has understated the true costs utilities will incur to enable them to send their sludge to a landfill and has largely overlooked the negative environmental impacts that could result from abandoning incineration in favor of using landfills.

NACWA has already requested a public hearing on the rule, which is scheduled for October 29 in Research Triangle Park, N.C., which will automatically result in an extension of the public comment period to November 29, 2010.  NACWA is also working to draft a comprehensive set of legal and technical comments on the proposal and is convening a conference call with its incinerator members October 22 to discuss the rule further.

NACWA Meets with EPA to Discuss Path Forward on Nutrients

Immediately following the Association’s meeting with EPA Deputy Administrator Perciasepe (see related story),  key NACWA Executive Committee members and staff met Friday with top EPA Office of Science and Technology (OST) officials to explore ways NACWA and EPA can work more collaboratively on a path forward to addressing nutrient over-enrichment impacts.  OST Director Ephraim King and Deputy Director Jeff Lape sought the meeting with NACWA following discussions at the Association’s Nutrient Summit in September.  During the meeting, King noted that he was interested in exploring potential ‘interim steps or measures’ with NACWA that could be taken to show progress on the nutrient issue.   King underscored that in those states where sufficient progress is not being made, EPA may be required to take action from the federal level, as it did in Florida.

He pointed to recent legal activity in several states and the pending petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), as evidence of the continued pressure being placed on EPA to address this issue.  While EPA does not seem inclined at this point to grant the NRDC petition, which would require nutrient removal as an element of secondary treatment, EPA does seem to be focused on the potential benefits of a more targeted technology-based approach for wastewater treatment plants.  King pointed to Kansas and its technology-based approach, which is paired with a program to pursue nonpoint source reductions, as a potential model.  Above all else, EPA is interested in engaging the clean water community to help develop a workable path forward both on the national and state levels.

NACWA highlighted that EPA must also be more open to new and innovative ways to express and implement nutrient water quality criteria if meaningful progress is to be made.  This was an important element of the discussions at the NACWA Nutrient Summit and EPA indicated its willingness to discuss the issue further.  While no formal documents have yet been released summarizing the Nutrient Summit, NACWA noted during the meeting that the discussions at the Sept. 16 and 17 dialogue in Chicago would ultimately lead to an issue paper that could serve as the foundation for future conversations with EPA.

EPA Requests Public Input on Stormwater Rulemaking Specific to Chesapeake Bay

EPA announced on Oct. 8 in a Federal Register notice that it is considering creating a special set of stormwater requirements as part of its national rulemaking efforts for municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and is soliciting public input on this proposal via written comments and public listening sessions.   This notice marks the next step in EPA’s development process for a new national post-construction stormwater rule and will have a specific impact on those NACWA members within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  Among the actions under consideration by EPA is further expanding the scope of stormwater discharges regulated in the Chesapeake Bay watershed beyond those that would be regulated as part of the national rulemaking efforts, including requirements to implement the Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load (TMDL).   The Agency is also looking at creating additional Chesapeake Bay-only MS4 provisions such as controls related to turf management and fertilizer usage, heightened retrofit requirements for existing structural stormwater controls, and Chesapeake Bay watershed-specific performance standards for new development and redevelopment that would differ from the national standards.  Additionally, EPA is reviewing environmental justice (EJ) considerations as part of its efforts to develop Bay-specific MS4 requirements and is requesting public comment on potential EJ impacts.

NACWA will be submitting written comments in response to this Federal Register notice and will also be participating in the public listening session process.  All written comments must be submitted by December 7, 2010, and a list of the dates and locations of the public listening sessions, which will be held throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, is available in the Federal Register notice.  NACWA encourages all of its members located in the Chesapeake Bay region to review the notice and to provide input to EPA through participation in the listening sessions or submission of written comments.  NACWA members are also encouraged to share any thoughts or comments in response to the notice with Nathan Gardner-Andrews, NACWA’s General Counsel, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

EPA Releases VSAT 5.0 and Water Health & Economic Analysis Tool (WHEAT)

The Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool (VSAT) provides a comprehensive, intuitive system for water, wastewater, and combined utilities seeking to analyze their vulnerability to both intentional threats and natural disasters.  Funded by EPA, and developed in 2002 by NACWA – in collaboration with PA Consulting Group and SCIENTECH, Inc. – VSAT has supported water and wastewater utility vulnerability assessments using a qualitative risk assessment methodology for nearly a decade.

Recently, EPA – in collaboration with water sector partners – updated VSAT to be consistent with other water sector risk assessment methodologies.  The upgraded tool includes a new user-interface, an enhanced natural disaster threat assessment process, and a revised risk assessment approach. VSAT 5.0 software will provide the following benefits:

• An intuitive process with improved navigation and enhanced work tracking features;
• An improved analytical approach that will make consequence, vulnerability, and probability of occurrence assessments of threats more transparent; and,
• A natural disaster assessment process supported by historical information to enable likelihood determinations.
  

Also released at the same time was a new consequence analysis tool – the Water Health & Economic Analysis Tool (WHEAT).  WHEAT is an intuitive desktop software tool that assists drinking water utility owners and operators in quantifying public health impacts, utility financial costs, and regional economic impacts of an accidental or adverse event.  Currently, WHEAT generates consequence results based on two scenarios for drinking water utilities: 1) release of a hazardous gas and 2) loss of operating assets.  There are future plans to develop similar wastewater utility modules.  The release of VSAT and WHEAT provide drinking water, wastewater, and combined utilities of all sizes with the capability to assess, plan for, and better respond to man-made threats and natural disasters.

VSAT 5.0 is available for download, free of charge, through EPA’s website at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ow/SReg.nsf/description/VSAT

WHEAT is available for download, free of charge, through EPA’s website at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ow/SReg.nsf/description/WHEAT

For more information on either tool, contact John DeGour of EPA at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Hotel Registration Deadline for NACWA’s Law Seminar Is Rapidly Approaching

The October 25 deadline to secure a discounted hotel rate for NACWA’s 2010 Developments in Clean Water Law Seminar is just around the corner – hurry and make your plans today to join your clean water colleagues for this exciting and educational event!  This year’s Law Seminar will take place November 17-19 in Santa Fe, N.M., and promises to deliver an informative and engaging program.   The topics that will be discussed include affordability concerns and how clean water utilities are using wet weather consent decrees to address them; an analysis of potential impacts of EPA regulations on nutrients, stormwater, and sanitary sewer collection systems on clean water utilities; a look at the current relationship between federal, state, and local governments under the Clean Water Act; and a review of the most important clean water legal cases of this past year.  There will also be discussion of regional developments regarding clean water issues from the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, California, and the Southwest with a focus on how these developments could impact utilities nationally, as well as an overview of recent clean water enforcement trends.

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits will be available to Seminar participants and NACWA has already received CLE approval from a number of states, with additional approvals expected in the coming weeks.  More information on CLEs, as well as hotel information, registration information and a Seminar agenda, is available on NACWA’s website.  We hope you will join us in Santa Fe!