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A Clear Commitment to America’s Waters
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ACWA’s active engagement on regulatory issues provides
clean water utilities across the country with an impor-
tant voice in emerging and evolving federal initiatives.
EPA Developing Response to NRDC Petition on Nutrients
Federal litigation over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
(EPA) failure to respond to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s
(NRDC) petition to modify secondary treatment to include nutrient
removal is now on hold. Although the parties did not settle the case,
EPA and NRDC did agree to put the lawsuit on hold to allow time for
the Agency to develop a response to the petition. EPA has commit-
ted to issuing a response by December 14, 2012. NACWA’s Board of
Directors approved intervention in the lawsuit earlier this year, but
with the case in abeyance intervention at this point is not necessary.
Attention now turns to the technical staff at EPA who must work to
craft a response to the petition together with EPA’s attorneys. In early
September, NACWAmet with EPA staff
to reiterate that the Association’s previ-
ous positions, including the legal and
technical rationale for the Agency to
deny the petition, remain valid today –
nearly five years after the petition was
filed in November 2007. NACWA also
offered to provide EPA information,
including cost estimates, information
on the performance of secondary treat-
ment, and any nutrient data, to assist
the Agency in developing a response
to the petition. The Agency is provid-
ing few details on its next steps, but
the Association will continue to work
through its Water Quality Committee
to track the Agency’s efforts and weigh in as necessary with additional
information.
NACWA Pushes for Valid Science in
Effort to Revise Recreational Water Quality Criteria
In an effort to meet an upcoming court-ordered deadline to publish
the final criteria, EPA is working to address comments received in
response to its December 2011 proposed revisions to the existing rec-
reational water quality criteria. NACWA has met with the Agency on
several occasions to learn EPA’s progress and assess how the large num-
ber of comments received may impact the final criteria. The December
2011 proposed revisions maintained the current criteria values, last
updated in 1986, which raised the ire of many environmental and pub-
lic health groups who wanted to see the criteria made more stringent.
In response to comments received, EPA is taking another look at data
collected over the past five years to determine if it could support a cri-
teria value lower than what was proposed in December 2011. NACWA
supports EPA’s December 2011 proposal and is seeking additional
information on the statistical analyses being used to re-evaluate the
epidemiological data. Under a newly re-negotiated deadline, EPA will
now have until November 30, 2012 to publish the final criteria.
NACWA, EPA Discuss Next Steps for
Post-Construction Stormwater Rule
EPA recently announced a revised date of June 2013 for release of its
draft post-construction stromwater rule, and NACWAmet with key
EPA staff in September to get an update on the Agency’s progress.
From a substantive standpoint, the major elements of the rule have not
changed. Most notably, the rule proposal is still expected to include
an expansion of current federal stormwater jurisdiction; new perfor-
mance standards for new development and redevelopment projects to
require on-site retention of stormwater; and a potential urban retrofit
requirement to reduce areas of existing impervious surface. EPA con-
tinues to work on cost/benefit analyses for the new development/rede-
velopment performance standards and retrofit components. Agency
officials have indicated that these analyses have been difficult given the
nature of the rule – particularly for ret-
rofits – and suggested that the outcome
of the analyses could impact whether
some planned elements are ultimately
included in the rule proposal. Agency
staff indicated that EPA will need to
complete its final “options selection”
process for the rule by late this year in
order to meet its June 2013 deadline.
NACWA will continue to track EPA’s
work to develop the proposed rule.
NACWA Comments on
Registration Reviews for Root
Control Chemical, Nanosilver
NACWA’s advocacy efforts relating to
emerging contaminants in wastewater
continue to focus on pollution prevention and leveraging EPA’s exist-
ing statutory authority to better evaluate the aquatic impacts of chem-
icals before they are approved for use in commercial or consumer prod-
ucts. EPA’s pesticide program provides regular opportunities to review
the impacts of chemicals approved under authority of the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). NACWA comment-
ed on two FIFRA registration reviews in September. The Association’s
comments on dichlobenil, which is used in wastewater collection
systems for root control, urged EPA to strike an appropriate balance
between identifying risk management strategies that will allow for its
continued use – and ensuring the protection of collection systemwork-
ers, wastewater treatment operations, and the nation’s receiving waters.
NACWA’s comments on the registration review for nanosilver under-
scored the lack of data regarding nanosilver’s impacts in the environ-
ment, and on the wastewater treatment process. NACWA urged EPA to
use the registration review process to fill these gaps before approving
additional uses of nanosilver.
The NACWA Regulatory Roundup
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