» Member Updates Archive

As NACWA members gear up for the Association’s 2011 Summer Conference & 41st Annual Meeting, July 19-22, in Chicago, Ill., this Member Update provides committee summaries from the Association’s May National Environmental Policy Forum.  The committee discussions that took place this spring will undoubtedly serve as the building blocks for the Summer Conference’s strategic discussions.  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 leadership and members 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 Summer Conference, please visit our Conferences and Professional Development webpage to do so. The hotel reservation deadline is Monday, June 27, 2011 and you can reserve your hotel room today by contacting the Westin Chicago River North at 314/744-1900 to guarantee the special conference rate of $189 single/double.  Be sure to mention that you are a participant in NACWA’s 2011 Summer Conference.

Joint Facility & Collection System and Stormwater Management Committee Meeting

Co-Chair (Facility & Collection System Committee), Martin Umberg, Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio
Co-Chair (Facility & Collection System Committee), Ben Horenstein, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Calif.
Chair (Stormwater Management Committee), Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio

NACWA’s Facility & Collection Systems and Stormwater Management Committees held a joint meeting to discuss a number of high priority issues.  The meeting led off with Connie Bosma, Chief of the Municipal Branch with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), providing an update on the both the Agency’s ongoing efforts to develop a new national stormwater rule, as well as the current status of sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) issues.  Following this presentation and a brief questions & answer period, the committees turned to a detailed discussion of current stormwater issues.   Of particular importance was discussion on the stormwater rulemaking process and EPA’s controversial stormwater memo from November 2010.  Committee members reviewed NACWA’s participation in these issues and potential impacts on Association members that might result.  Next, the committees engaged in a discussion of SSO issues, including NACWA’s continued push for a comprehensive national SSO policy addressing a variety of concerns including collection system issues and peak wet weather flow blending.  Committee members also received an update on the progress and deliberations of NACWA’s SSO workgroup.  The meeting concluded with a presentation on the challenges facing the Washington, DC municipal stormwater program as a result of EPA’s recent proposed permit for the city and how the permit may serve as a model for other municipal stormwater regulations nationwide.  Both committees will both meet again at the upcoming NACWA Summer Conference in July.

Legal Affairs Committee

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

The NACWA Legal Affairs Committee meeting kicked off with a detailed update on NACWA’s legal challenge to the recent EPA rules impacting biosolids and sewage sludge incineration, including the recent filing of NACWA’s legal challenge to the final sewage sludge incineration (SSI) rule.  The Committee then received an update on the Association’s efforts to challenge nutrient criteria developed by EPA for Florida.  Following this, committee members discussed a number of new litigation matters approved by the NACWA Board of Directors, including participation in a legal case over the finalized total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay, as well as support for NACWA member the City of Akron, Ohio in appealing the rejection of their proposed wet weather consent decree.  Alex Dunn, Executive Director & General Counsel, Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA) then provided the Committee with an engaging presentation on the expanding definition of what constitutes a point source discharger under the Clean Water Act and the implications of this expansion for both state regulators and regulated entities.  The meeting then wrapped up with a discussion of EPA’s planned regulatory review process and the potential impacts on NACWA members.  The next Legal Affairs Committee meeting will be held in July as part of NACWA’s Summer Conference – we hope you will be able to join us!

Water Quality Committee

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

NACWA’s Water Quality Committee meeting began with a presentation from Tom Wall, Acting Director, Assessment & Watershed Protection Division, EPA, on the Agency’s March 16 memorandum on the management of nutrient pollution.  Mr. Wall provided an overview of the memorandum and EPA’s motivation for developing the new framework for nutrient management and underscored the need for states to show continued progress toward addressing nutrient-related water quality impacts.  Since holding its Nutrient Summit last fall, and developing an issue paper outlining the need for a more rational approach to addressing nutrients, NACWA has engaged in several discussions with EPA and state regulators on opportunities to work together to identify potential solutions.  The Committee was updated on these ongoing discussions, as well as several related developments from Florida and other states.  A new workgroup was formed earlier this year to address EPA’s efforts to revise its recreational water quality criteria.  The Water Quality Committee was updated on the progress of the workgroup and a letter to EPA prepared by the workgroup outlining its concerns with the recently completed epidemiological studies and EPA’s approach to revising the existing recreational criteria.  Utility members from Texas and California also updated the Committee on developments in those states regarding whole effluent toxicity and the imposition of permit limits for chronic endpoints and the use of new test evaluation procedures, including the Test of Significant Toxicity.  The lack of guidance on WET testing from U.S. EPA, as well as the latest on nutrients, recreational criteria and more, will be discussed at the Committee’s next meeting during the Association’s 2011 Summer Conference, July 19-22, in Chicago.