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July 23, 2010
NACWA Summer Conference Highlights Past, Focuses on FutureNACWA’s 2010 Summer Conference & 40th Anniversary Annual Meeting, Sustainable Resource Management - Lessons from Clean Water’s Past and Present, took place this week in San Francisco, Calif., with over 200 attendees. The meeting kicked off with opening remarks from the Honorable Sophie Maxwell, Supervisor for District 10 in the City and County of San Francisco. She fully captured the overall theme of the meeting by noting that decades ago "sewage was meant to simply be unseen but now we want full resource recovery," adding that "we’ve come a long way." The conference keynote speaker, Peter Gleick, President and Co-Founder of the Pacific Institute, provided insightful remarks noting that he was optimistic that because of sound water management, technological advances, and a stronger sense of stewardship, water use in the U.S. has remained constant despite massive population, economic, industrial, and agricultural expansion. He cautioned, however, that certain trends could imperil this positive pattern, including population expansion to dry/arid areas, the growing reliance on bottled water, and the impacts of climate change. He called on utility leaders to use all available methods to keep educating the public about the importance of clean and safe water and urged them to look at existing, and develop innovative, rate structure designs that can ensure sustainable investment in their systems. Other issues that received significant focus during the meeting were the growing reliance on reuse technologies and the increasing role the energy-water nexus will play in terms of both future water and energy policies and practices.
Board Takes Key Actions to Help Ensure NACWA Efforts AdvanceThe Board of Directors took several key actions during its meeting on Wednesday that will ensure the Association is on a solid financial and programmatic path going forward. The Board voted to approve the fiscal year (FY) 2011 Association Business Plan which sets out the goals, objectives, strategies and actions for the upcoming fiscal year starting October 1, 2011. The Board also approved the FY 2011 General Fund budget, as well as the Targeted Action Fund (TAF) budget. Two specific TAF requests were also approved. The first is NACWA’s continued engagement in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) work on asset and crisis management standard development. The second project will provide NACWA support for a Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) nutrient-related project, Linking Receiving Water Impacts to Sources and to Water Quality Management Decisions. Perhaps of most importance, however, the Board took action to approve the slate of NACWA officers for the 2010- 2011 term. Jeff Theerman, Executive Director of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Mo., will serve as NACWA President; David R. Williams, Director of Wastewater, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Oakland, Calif., will serve as Vice President; Suzanne Goss, Legislative Affairs Specialist with JEA Jacksonville, Fla., will serve as Treasurer; and Julius Ciaccia, Executive Director, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland, Ohio, will serve as Secretary. NACWA would also like to thank outgoing President, Kevin Shafer, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wis., for his dedicated service as NACWA President over this past year. The membership also voted to elect seven new and returning Board Members for election to vacant and new term re-election seats. The names of these Board Members will be featured in the upcoming edition of the Clean Water Advocate.
Hall of Fame and Awards Ceremonies, New NACWA Video Highlight ConferenceHighlighting the 40th anniversary celebration for NACWA was the induction of the inaugural Hall of Fame class consisting of forty individuals who, through their actions and commitment to the organization, made a significant positive impact on either the evolution of the Association and/or its ability to represent the interest of the clean water community. Many individuals from NACWA’s past and present came together for the ceremony in San Francisco, marking an historic and memorable moment for the Association. Also highlighting the conference was the National Environmental Achievement Awards & Peak Performance Awards ceremony, featuring member agencies’ outstanding contributions to environmental protection. Additional details regarding both these ceremonies will be made available in the upcoming Clean Water Advocate. The meeting also featured the unveiling of NACWA’s One Voice for Clean Water video, with statements from NACWA leaders expressing the important role the Association plays on national advocacy issues. The video will soon be available soon on NACWA’s website (www.nacwa.org) and explains the Association’s role through the eyes of its members.
Committee Meetings Focus on Wet Weather, Affordability and Legal IssuesNACWA’s committee meetings were well-attended and featured discussions on a host of technical regulatory, legislative, and legal issues. NACWA’s discussions focused on EPA’s development of a sanitary sewer system rule and the important role NACWA and its public agency members must play in ensuring a flexible, site-specific approach to collections system and utility capacity and management approaches. NACWA’s Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Workgroup met during the meeting to review and edit draft comments to EPA on its request for input on how to proceed with a rule. These comments are due August 2. Committee discussions also focused on affordability-related issues and NACWA’s recently kicked-off Money Matters public affairs campaign that seeks to ensure that EPA and Congress support moving forward with a more flexible approach to making affordability determinations. NACWA heard significant support for this effort as members expressed their frustration with the rising costs to comply with Clean Water Act requirements, especially in the context of the ongoing economic downturn. Also receiving significant attention was a July 16 legal victory for NACWA in a whole effluent toxicity (WET) case. The U.S. Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) released an opinion in the San Jacinto River Authority Permit Appeal. The Appeals Board remanded the permit back to EPA Region 6 and echoed concerns raised by NACWA about the inclusion of WET limits. The appeal focused on a permit issued by Region 6 to NACWA member agency the San Jacinto River Authority in Texas with WET limits, despite the fact that the State of Texas had previously issued a permit without WET limits. In its July 16 ruling, the EAB concluded that the permit’s administrative record lacked a complete analysis of how Region 6 applied the Texas water quality WET limitations to their permitting decision, and therefore remanded the permit provisions imposing the WET limits for further clarification. In particular, the EAB directed the Region to provide further analysis of the statutory and legal basis for the WET limits. The EAB’s decision is consistent with concerns raised by NACWA both in its brief in the case and at oral argument on June 7 that EPA had improperly federalized the permit and included WET limits in a manner inconsistent with both Texas’s approved water quality standards and the federal Clean Water Act. NACWA will continue to track additional developments regarding the permit during the remand and stands ready to assist SJRA in a future challenge to a reissued permit if necessary. Additional information on the permit appeal can be found on the Litigation Tracking page of NACWA’s website. NACWA will provide members with additional details on the discussions from the committee meetings via an upcoming Advocacy Alert. NACWA thanks all the attendees, speakers, and panelists who helped make this Summer Conference a success. PowerPoints from the conference will be made available on the NACWA website early next week.
House Interior Panel Approves FY11 EPA Spending Bill, Discussion Focuses on Affordability ProvisionOn Thursday, the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee approved their Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 appropriations bill. During consideration, Representative Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) offered an amendment that sought to require the EPA to update its outdated 1997 "Combined Sewer Overflow-Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Determinations". The amendment garnered significant discussion among all Members including strong case studies of affordability concerns in Ohio and Kentucky. After lengthy consideration, the subcommittee rejected the amendment due to a procedural objection from Representative James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who wants to keep jurisdiction over this important issue. Chairman Oberstar asked Members of Congress to bring their "affordability concerns" to him directly indicating positive momentum for continued legislative efforts in the next Congress and the increasing importance of NACWA”s Money Matters efforts.
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