» Clean Water Current Archive

June 3, 2011

NACWA Hosts Water Sector Meeting to Support Vital USGS Water Quality Assessment Program

NACWA hosted a meeting this week to develop strategies to support the U.S. Geological Service’s National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA).  NAWQA seeks to provide long-term, nationally consistent information on water quality conditions and ecosystem health – and also houses the Cooperative Water Program through which a significant number of NACWA members partner with USGS on key water quality and quantity assessment and monitoring projects. The NAWQA program is doing very important work gathering nutrient-related data and other key information that helps to ensure a basis of valid science for federal regulatory efforts.  As with many key environmental programs, however, significant budget cuts are threatening these programs’ ongoing viability.

Joining NACWA at this meeting were representatives from the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), and the American Geological Institute (AGI).  The meeting follows earlier efforts in May where NACWA joined 26 other organizations in sending correspondence to key appropriators urging increased funding for the program in the FY 2012 budget cycle.  To help reverse this trend the coalition will work to ensure the program receives the highest funding levels possible in this and future budget cycles by conducting targeted outreach to develop bipartisan support for the program with key Members of Congress.  The joint effort is also being carried out in line with the Association’s July 2009 memorandum of understanding (MOU) with USGS to exchange key information and ensure a robust NAWQA program.

NACWA Receives Invitation to EPA’s SSO Workshop

NACWA received a formal invitation to EPA’s Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) and Peak Wet Weather Discharge Workshop on July 14-15 in the Washington, DC area.  EPA is holding this Workshop as a follow-up to the listening sessions that it held in June and July of 2010 to collect public input on the need for a comprehensive SSO rule and on the possible components of such a rule.  The Workshop will consist of invited participants engaging in a facilitated discussion of the issues that came up during last year’s listening sessions.  An upcoming Federal Register notice will also invite all interested stakeholders to observe the meeting and participate in a public comment session.  A draft agenda is expected in the coming weeks.

In preparation for the Workshop, NACWA’s SSO workgroup will be refining the Association’s positions on the various issues that are likely to be discussed during the meeting.  NACWA will also be talking with representatives from other stakeholder groups about these issues in advance of the Workshop to gauge the positions of these groups, their responses to NACWA’s positions, and the potential for a consensus approach to key SSO-related issues.

NACWA Farm Bill Efforts Gets Funding Boost from Key Foundation

This week, NACWA officially learned that it was awarded a grant by the Turner Foundation in support of its outreach and advocacy efforts on the Farm Bill.  Turner is awarding NACWA $50,000 to complete a white paper examining the nutrient control issue from an urban ratepayer perspective, as well as to create a broader plan setting out a communications, messaging, outreach and advocacy strategy focused on reducing nutrient run-off from agricultural lands in the context of the next Farm Bill and beyond.  The white paper is currently being drafted and examines the costs of nutrient removal at water and wastewater treatment utilities versus the cost of reducing nutrient run-off at the farm.  Public agency members serving on NACWA’s Farm Bill Workgroup are also serving on a review team for the white paper, which is expected to be completed by September 1.  NACWA will distribute it at that time to the full membership for use in their nutrient-control advocacy efforts.

The Turner Foundation became interested in this project in large part because of a desire to have the municipal community, including water and wastewater leaders, play an integral role in the debate over nutrient reductions from farms.  The objective of organizing the voices of municipal elected and appointed officials will play a central role in the broader plan being developed pursuant to the initial grant. NACWA is seeking to ensure that the Turner Foundation grant marks only the beginning of a broader effort that can be supported by additional Foundations interested in ensuring that sustainable farm policy and water quality concerns are addressed in the next Farm Bill.

EPA Releases Final Clean Water Act Action Plan for Permitting, Enforcement Issues

EPA recently released its final Clean Water Act (CWA) Action Plan , outlining a series of new approaches for revamping permitting, compliance, and enforcement actions under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program.  NACWA previously submitted comments and a white paper to EPA to provide input on issues being considered for the Action Plan.  A number of the Agency’s approaches in the final plan reflect NACWA’s suggestions, including a move towards electronic reporting and efforts to better coordinate federal and state permitting and enforcement actions under the NPDES program.

The most significant change that NACWA members will see under the Action Plan is a move to switch existing paper reporting to electronic reporting in an effort to increase the speed, quality, and scope of information that EPA and states receive from regulated facilitates.  To implement this change, EPA is expected to propose an NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule by the fall of 2011, with a final rule in the fall of 2012.  This rule will likely require all discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) to be submitted electronically, and will also require existing paper program reports, such as combined sewer overflow (CSO), sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), pretreatment, biosolids, and municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) reports to be converted to electronic form.  Many NACWA members had expressed an interested in moving toward an electronic reporting system to improve the accuracy of the data collected by states and EPA, and NACWA will be an active participant in the rulemaking process when the rule is proposed later this year to ensure it is appropriately crafted.

Another key element of the Action Plan will be an effort to better coordinate the permitting, compliance, and enforcement programs among the states and EPA to ensure consistency in carrying out the NPDES program.  This will include the development of annual joint NPDES work plans between EPA Regions and the states, better oversight of state programs by EPA, and streamlining of NPDES enforcement and permitting oversight activities.  NACWA’s previous comments emphasized a need to increase coordination between the states and EPA on this issue, and the final Action Plan reflects an effort on the part of EPA to accomplish this goal.

Other components of the Action Plan include the potential for additional self-monitoring requirements for regulated facilities and the development of improved analytical tools to identify significant water quality problems.  NACWA will closely monitor EPA’s actions going forward to implement the Action Plan and engage with the Agency as necessary to ensure the interests of NACWA members are protected.  Additional information on the Action Plan is also available on EPA’s website.

NACWA Is Coming to Region 2, Other Key State and Regional Venues

As municipalities continue to face the impacts of the economic downturn and travel limitations, NACWA is seeking to ensure that public agencies are given the opportunity to hear from NACWA and exchange ideas on the national and regional advocacy issues shaping the clean water landscape.  In line with this mission, NACWA is traveling to Newark, N.J., on July 7 to meet with its members in the region to discuss priority legislative, regulatory and legal issues including wet weather/stormwater, nutrients, affordability, biosolids management, and infrastructure funding/financing, among others. The meeting is exclusive to Region 2 public utilities and complimentary registration is available for public agency representatives on NACWA’s website.

NACWA staff will also be heading to other key state and regional venues in the upcoming weeks and months in New York, New England, Kansas, Oregon, as well as to the Western Coalition of Arid States (WESTCAS) meeting in California.  These meetings offer unique opportunities to bolster the important relationship between NACWA and key state and regional organizations representing the interests of clean water agencies and to ensure a more effective, unified voice on key advocacy issues.

Don’t Miss Important Committee Meetings at NACWA’s 2011 Summer Conference

Join us July 19-22, 2011 at the Westin Chicago River North in Chicago, Illinois for NACWA’s 2011 Summer Conference, Engineered for Success. . .Creating a First Class Public Utility.  This year’s cutting-edge agenda will explore efforts underway at utilities to evaluate and enhance the sustainability of management practices and overall operations.

For the first time at the Summer Conference, NACWA’s Standing Committee meetings will be consecutive instead of concurrent sessions.  Join your clean water colleagues on Tuesday, July 19 for the Utility Management, Climate Change, and joint Biosolids Management/Legal Affairs Committee meetings.  NACWA’s Regulatory Policy, Water Quality, Facility & Collection System, and Stormwater Management Committees will meet on Wednesday, July 20.  Registration is open and the preliminary agenda now includes complete descriptions of the issues before each of NACWA’s committees.

The Association is also offering a discounted registration to Gen X/Gen Y staff (defined for this purpose as individuals born 1970–1990) attending with their NACWA Member Agency or Affiliate representative.  Don’t delay in contacting the Westin Chicago River North to secure your hotel accommodations.  Reservations must be made by June 27 to receive the special group rate of $189/night.  Register today!