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As NACWA members gear up for the Association’s National Clean Water Policy Forum, May 8-11, in Washington, DC,  this Member Update provides committee summaries from the Winter Conference that can serve as the building blocks for the Policy Forum’s strategic discussions.  Many of the Association’s standing committees met in February as part of the NACWA Winter Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to discuss the array of priority issues and offer guidance on NACWA’s strategic next steps.  NACWA’s committee structure forms the backbone of its advocacy efforts and the Association strongly encourages member agency participation.  A current list of the committee structure and leadership is available on the NACWA website.  To join NACWA committees, please contact Laura Cobb at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Also, for those members who have not yet registered or made hotel reservations for the Policy Forum, please visit our Conferences and Meetings webpage to do so. The hotel reservation deadline is Sunday, April 17, 2011 and you can reserve your hotel room today by contacting the Westin Washington DC City Center at 202/429-1700 to guarantee the special conference rate of $249 single/double. Be sure to mention that you are a participant in NACWA’s 2011 National Environmental Policy Forum.

Biosolids Management Committee

Co-Chair, Bob Dominak, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio
Co-Chair, Dave Taylor, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wis.

The Biosolids Management Committee meeting focused its discussions on the significant work over the past year to influence EPA’s regulatory approach to controlling air emissions from sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs).  NACWA has provided comments to EPA on two major rulemakings, including the proposed maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for SSIs, and has met with EPA staff at all levels, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, and members of Congress, in an effort to minimize the impacts of the air emission rules on the clean water community.  The Committee recommended that Targeted Action Funds be approved for ongoing work on EPA’s proposals and to better enable the Association to review the final MACT standards that have since been signed by the Agency on February 21.  The Committee also discussed the Association’s legislative advocacy on this issue and the work toward  a legal challenge to the final rule.

Subsequent to the Biosolids Management Committee meeting, the NACWA Board of Directors approved NACWA’s involvement in this legal challenge of the final MACT standards.  The Committee also discussed updates on several issues including EPA’s planned Clean Water Act-related biosolids activities for 2011, recent developments in the Kern County, California dispute over land application, and related research from the Water Environment  Research Foundation (WERF).  Based on information from EPA and the Agency’s ongoing work to evaluate data from the Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey, a decision will likely be made later this year on whether to pursue new regulatory controls for molybdenum levels in biosolids.  The Committee also discussed the outcomes from a recent meeting on the future of biosolids hosted by the National Biosolids Partnership.

Climate Change Committee

Chair, Edward Torres, Orange County Sanitation District, Calif.
Vice Chair, Antonio Quintanilla, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Ill.

EPA regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act (CAA) began this year, and the Climate Change Committee discussed the impacts of this regulation on clean water agencies.  Some utilities have already been asked by their state regulatory agencies to calculate their GHG emissions as part of their Title V permit renewals, but EPA has provided little guidance on how wastewater facilities should calculate emissions.  EPA recently announced that it would exempt biogenic emissions from CAA requirements for three years while it studies how to include or exclude them, and this will result in lower estimates for wastewater utilities.  EPA published a guidance report on calculating biogenic emissions last year, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimation Methodologies for Biogenic Emissions from Selected Source Categories: Solid Waste Disposal, Wastewater Treatment, Ethanol Fermentation , and NACWA will be sending comments to the Agency about problems with this report’s estimation methods.

Some utilities will also be required to report emissions under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule.  Since the wastewater treatment process is exempt from the Reporting Rule, only utilities that have significant emissions from stationary combustion sources are likely to need to report their emissions.  However, NACWA recommends that all members calculate their emissions to determine their status under the Reporting Rule.

EPA’s activities on climate change adaptation were also discussed by the Committee.  NACWA and its members have participated in the Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU) Workgroup of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) and in the workgroup that developed the Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT).  The CRWU Workgroup wrote a report with recommendations for EPA, which included integrating CRWU into existing EPA efforts, promoting watershed planning, and encouraging adoption of integrated water resources management.

Facility and Collection System Committee

Co-Chair, Martin Umberg, Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio
Co-Chair, Ben Horenstein, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Calif.

The Facility and Collection System Committee meeting began with a discussion of financial capability issues, including how the NACWA Money Matters campaign and the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ effort are working on a variety of fronts to raise awareness about municipal affordability and regulatory prioritization challenges.  More information about the Money Matters and Mayors’ efforts are available on NACWA’s website.

The Committee discussed NACWA’s comments to EPA about a potential path forward on a national sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) rule.  Although EPA has not made a formal announcement yet on their direction with an SSO rule, EPA staff have indicated to NACWA that the Agency are contemplating a facilitated session to discuss how moving forward with development of a rule may be possible.  The Committee discussed NACWA’s potential actions if EPA decided not to move forward in a sufficient manner, including filing the petition that the Association drafted last year before EPA announced that it would hold a series of listening sessions on a national rule.  NACWA will be further evaluating the options and will keep all members informed of new developments.

The Committee considered a Targeted Action Fun (TAF) request for $10,000 from the Oregon Association of Clean Water Agencies (OACWA) to develop a discharge permit provision to allow SSOs in limited circumstances.  The Committee unanimously approved this request, which was subsequently approved by the Regulatory Policy Committee and the Board of Directors.

Joint Legislative and Regulatory Policy Committee

Chair (Legislative Policy Committee), Julius Ciaccia, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio
Vice Chair (Legislative Policy Committee), Tatyana Arsh, City of Columbus Division of Sewerage & Drainage, Ohio

Chair (Regulatory Policy Committee), Steve Pearlman, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Colo.
Vice Chair (Regulatory Policy Committee), Norman LeBlanc, Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Va.

The Legislative and Regulatory Policy Committees met jointly to discuss several top policy issues for the Association.  Given NACWA’s active engagement with EPA and stakeholders over the coming months on several regulatory developments, the Committees discussed the latest on biosolids incineration, nutrients, and wet weather, including SSOs, stormwater, and EPA’s affordability approach.  On the legislative side, affordability concerns, funding, and energy/climate issues continue to be hot topics on Capitol Hill.  Updates on each of these issues were provided and the Committees discussed NACWA’s next steps in the waning days of the 111th Congress.  As a regular business item for the Regulatory Policy Committee, the Committees reviewed two Targeted Action Fund (TAF) requests that were subsequently approved by the NACWA Board of Directors.  The first request for $10,000 will ensure continued NACWA involvement in the ISO [International Organization of Standardization] efforts to develop standards for utility asset and crisis management.  The second request, also for $10,000, was for support of an initial, nutrient-focused component of the WERF Linking Receiving Water Impacts to Sources and to Water Quality Management Decisions research project.

Legal Affairs Committee

Chair, Lisa Hollander, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio
Vice Chair, Hilary Meltzer, NYC Department of Law, N.Y.

The Legal Affairs Committee started its meeting with a brief update on ongoing litigation and legal projects, including a report on the continuing litigation involving the land application of biosolids in Kern County, Calif., and a reminder to all committee members that the results from NACWA’s recent Consent Decree Implementation Survey are now available on NACWA’s website.  The committee then engaged in an in-depth discussion of two important upcoming litigation efforts that NACWA will be involved in, one involving a challenge to the recently issued nutrient criteria for the State of Florida, and another involving a legal challenge to EPA’s rule regulating air emissions from sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs).  The committee first heard a detailed presentation on current issues surrounding the Florida nutrient criteria, including a planned legal challenge that will be filed by a coalition of clean water utilities in Florida to the final regulations.  The committee discussed the legal merits of the challenge and also discussed NACWA’s plans to participate in the case as an amicus curiae supporting the efforts of the Florida utilities and presenting the national perspective on the important issues involved.

Following this, the committee received a presentation on legal issues regarding EPA’s forthcoming SSI rule, including the critical role NACWA is considering taking as the lead challenger to the final rule.  The committee held a closed-door discussion regarding the likely legal arguments NACWA would make in such a challenge, as well as the anticipated timeline for pursuing judicial review of EPA’s SSI regulations.  A legal challenge to the SSI rule represents NACWA’s most significant effort to date in suing EPA over a regulatory issue, but the committee expressed support for NACWA’s planned approach to file parallel administrative and legal petitions for review of the SSI rule.  Committee members will receive updates on both the Florida case and the SSI litigation at the next meeting in May.

Security & Emergency Preparedness Committee

Chair, Robert Steidel, City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities, Va.
Vice Chair, Talyon Sortor, Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District, Calif.

The Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee discussed the activities of the Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC), including the All-Hazards Consequence Management Planning for the Water Sector and the Roadmap to a Secure and Resilient Water Sector.   With these documents, the WSCC aims to improve the security and resiliency of all sizes of utilities through proper planning for utilities and guidance to EPA on what will be helpful to utilities.  The WSCC will be examining EPA’s security work plan to evaluate how well it lines up with the Roadmap.

EPA has recently released several tools that may be useful to utilities, including the updated Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool (VSAT), the Water Health and Economic Analysis Tool (WHEAT), and the Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT).  The Committee will be evaluating EPA’s tools and publications related to security and emergency preparedness and providing input to the Agency on how these tools satisfy the needs and priorities of the water sector.  Any NACWA members that use these tools are encouraged to provide their evaluation of the tool to the Committee.

The Committee also discussed the importance of security and emergency preparedness for utilities and possible ideas for how utilities can make the case that they need proper planning and sufficient funding of security measures.  The next meeting of the Committee will be by conference call in May, and this discussion will continue during that call.

Stormwater Management Committee

Chair, Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio

The Stormwater Management Committee focused on a discussion of two major regulatory developments regarding stormwater – the ongoing EPA effort to develop a new national stormwater rule, and the NACWA response to a recent memo issued by EPA in November 2010 regarding permitting and total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) in stormwater permits.  In terms of the stormwater rulemaking, the committee received an update on where EPA is in the rule development process, including EPA’s invitation to NACWA to participate in a federalism consultation in December regarding the rule.  During the consultation, EPA presented information on a number of key concepts the Agency is currently considering for inclusion in the rule.  NACWA submitted comments to EPA based on the December meeting, and committee members were briefed on the content of those comments and NACWA’s suggestions to the Agency for improving the rule, including a request that EPA take into consideration the severe economic concerns facing many communities right now in meeting their stormwater permit requirements.  The committee will receive its next update on the rulemaking process at its meeting in May.

With regard to EPA’s November stormwater memo, committee members discussed a number of NACWA’s concerns with the document, including its presumption in favor of numeric effluent limits for municipal stormwater permits.  Committee members also received a copy of a response letter sent in late January to EPA by NACWA, the National Association of Flood & Stormwater Management Agencies (NAFSMA), and the American Public Works Association (APWA) outlining many of the municipal community’s concerns with both the content of the memo and the process used to develop it.  NACWA’s response letter created quite a bit of attention from EPA at the Winter Conference and NACWA has met with Agency staff to further discuss the issues raised by the November memo and the municipal response.

The Stormwater Management Committee meeting ended with a presentation from Neil Weinstein of the Low Impact Development Center regarding how green infrastructure can effectively be used for stormwater management.  Green infrastructure and low impact development are expected to play a central role in EPA’s forthcoming stormwater rule proposal, and the committee will continue to explore these concepts from a stormwater management standpoint over the coming months.

Utility Management Committee

Chair, Kurt Egelhofer, Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, Alaska
Vice Chair, Thomas Sigmund, Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wis.

NACWA’s Utility Management Committee continued its ongoing dialogue on sustainable rates by discussing a recent proposal to tie federal clean water funding to improved water conservation.  While NACWA did not support the proposal, it has raised interesting questions about the impact of conservation efforts on wastewater revenues.  Current rate models largely are not compatible with water conservation efforts and the Committee discussed how more utilities are actually increasing the portion of their sewer service charge that is fixed, and not dependent on usage, to ensure revenues remain stable despite trends towards lower usage and conservation.  The Committee reviewed preliminary results from the 2010 NACWA Index Survey and discussed whether changes to the survey report could improve readability.  Recent updates were also provided on CleanWater Central and an effort to increase collaboration on data needs across the entire water sector as well as continued work on the Effective Utility Management initiative.

Water Quality Committee

Chair, Barbara Biggs, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Colo.
Vice Chair, James Pletl, Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Va.

The Water Quality Committee discussed a range of issues starting off with the numerous nutrient-related efforts currently underway, including work to wrap up an issue paper from the Association’s September 2010 Nutrient Summit and pending legal action over EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria for Florida.  Work on a WERF project examining the importance of establishing linkages between nutrients and in-stream impacts was recently completed and the Committee proposed a contribution of Targeted Action Funds to support the next phase of that work to develop specific recommended approaches for better establishing nutrient water quality criteria.  The NACWA Board of Directors later approved that request.  In December, NACWA provided comments on a series of proposed changes to EPA’s analytical methods, including the approval of a new test method for PCBs.  The Committee discussed NACWA’s ongoing concerns with the PCB method and the potential impacts for the clean water community.

EPA’s completion of its work on the studies it plans to use to develop new recreational water quality criteria also received significant attention.  Given the potential impact to NACWA’s members, the Committee highlighted the need to ramp up our advocacy in this area.  The Regulatory Policy Committee subsequently recommended the formation of a new task force to work on the issue.  The Committee also discussed several other water quality-related issues including a new policy on whole effluent toxicity in California.