Clean Water Current Archive

July 25, 2008

NACWA Continues Work on Senate Sewer Overflow Notification Bill

Although the tentative markup in the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee scheduled for this week on the Senate’s Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act (S. 2080) has been postponed, NACWA and American Rivers continue to work together, along with EPW Committee staff, to seek mutually acceptable changes to the legislation.  The legislation would establish national standards for monitoring, reporting, and notifying the public of sewer overflows.

The House recently passed its version of the legislation (H.R. 2452) based on negotiations between American Rivers and NACWA.   Upon review of H.R. 2452, NACWA’s Board of Directors had several remaining concerns which were detailed in a letter (PDF) sent last week to key EPW Senators and staff and shared with American Rivers.  The Senate EPW Committee expects to use this House-passed version of the legislation (H.R. 2452) as a starting point for the markup of its bill, which could occur as early as next week.  This potential markup, however, is contingent on NACWA and American Rivers reaching agreement on how to move forward.  Of primary importance to NACWA is the need to add language to the bill’s definition of what constitutes a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) to ensure that clean water agency liability concerns are addressed.  Other issues set out in NACWA’s letter include improving the bill’s provisions to ensure needed flexibility in developing monitoring programs and a funding provision to implement the program’s new requirements.   NACWA is optimistic that the Association’s concerns with the House-passed legislation can be addressed in a Senate substitute bill should it go to markup before the end of the 110th Congress.

NACWA, Water Sector Meet with USDA to Discuss Farm Bill Partnership Program

NACWA and other water sector organizations, including the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), and the American Water Works Association (AWWA), met this week with key officials from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) tasked with implementing the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), created in the recently enacted 2008 Farm Bill.  NRCS is currently drafting implementing regulations for the AWEP program, which was the focus of this week’s meeting.

The water sector groups urged NRCS to include public wastewater utilities as partners eligible to enter into agreements with farmers/producers on AWEP projects.  Although the legislative language in the Farm Bill lists “a unit of state or local government” and a “water district or water agency” as eligible — and public wastewater agencies are likely included under both of these eligibilities — the water sector groups felt it critical that NRCS list wastewater utilities directly in order to avoid any potential uncertainty.  NRCS staff also noted during the meeting that the statutory language in the bill is very clear that all funding must be distributed directly to farmers/producers and that the program should not be seen as an opportunity for other non-agricultural groups to receive funding directly from USDA.  That being said, wastewater utilities that partner with producers would be the beneficiaries of upstream water quality programs paid for with AWEP funding and the program would also help spur improved relationships between municipal utilities and the agricultural community.

The water sector groups also asked NRCS to provide at least $60 million annually for partnership-based water quality and conservation programs under AWEP, and to ensure a broad list of eligible activities under the program including priority water quality projects, such as nutrient control initiatives, of importance to the clean water community.

Last week NACWA signed onto two letters — one from the water sector coalition and one from a broader coalition of conservation groups — expressing support for, and outlining concerns with, the AWEP program.  These letters are posted on the Legislative Correspondence & Outreach section of NACWA’s website.  NRCS expects to release the proposed regulations this fall and NACWA will provide reports to the membership on this issue as developments occur.

DHS, HHS Release Key Pandemic Vaccination Policy Guidance

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released its Guidance on Allocating and Targeting Pandemic Influenza Vaccine (PDF).  The guidance classifies vaccination target groups through four broad categories: 1) homeland and national security; 2) health-care and community support services; 3) critical infrastructure; and 4) the general population.  Across categories, pandemic vaccine will be allocated and administered according to tiers where all groups designated within a tier have equal priority for vaccination.  The groups included within each tier changes based on the severity of the pandemic.  Water sector personnel have been designated as Tier 2 (out of 5 Tiers with Tier 1 being the highest priority and Tier 5 the lowest) of the critical infrastructure category for severe and moderate pandemics.  Tier 2 groups are those that provide “just in time services” (i.e., products like electricity and natural gas that cannot be easily stored), are relied on by all other infrastructure sectors for their essential operations, and contribute to public health and safety.  NACWA and other water sector groups worked with DHS and HHS to ensure their full understanding of the critical public health functions that clean water agencies perform on a daily basis as well as the reliance of other infrastructure sectors on these services and this was reflected in this guidance.  NACWA will be providing additional details on the guidance in upcoming publications.

NACWA Meets with EPA, Continues Green Infrastructure Advocacy

NACWA, EPA and other organization representatives met this week to discuss recent efforts to promote the use of green infrastructure and to review progress on implementing EPA’s Green Infrastructure Action Strategy (PDF), which was released in January.  NACWA has been actively working with EPA on a variety of projects outlined in the Strategy over the past six months, including drafts of a “guidebook” for municipalities looking for more information on how to implement green infrastructure techniques to reduce stormwater runoff.  Participants in the meeting also discussed green infrastructure-related efforts for the coming months, including plans to draft legislation authorizing additional funding for green infrastructure projects that would be ready for introduction in the new Congress in January.  Other members of the green infrastructure partnership attending the meeting included the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and American Rivers.  NACWA will continue to work with its partners on green infrastructure issues and report to the membership on any developments.

NACWA, Key Groups Meet with Rep. Blumenauer to Discuss Infrastructure Investment

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) held an infrastructure forum this week at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.   The forum brought together key leaders from across infrastructure sectors — highways, mass transit, aviation, and water — to engage in a dialogue focused on how to ensure that the issue of infrastructure is front and center in the upcoming elections.  Despite the breadth of groups and interests in attendance, Rep. Blumenauer focused on water infrastructure and emphasized his continued commitment to introducing a clean and safe water trust fund bill this summer.  Rep. Blumenauer stated that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) remains committed to making infrastructure a legislative priority in the next Congress and Blumenauer has had several discussions with Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) about the importance of making infrastructure investment a campaign issue.  While focused on the water trust fund bill, Blumenauer also noted that a suite of options would need to be considered in addressing the water infrastructure funding gap, including climate change legislation, an infrastructure funding bank, and a potential new stimulus package, among others.  NACWA and other organizations expressed appreciation for Rep. Blumenauer’s leadership on this issue and urged him to continue to move forward with his trust fund legislation.

In related news, NACWA has learned that the Senate EPW Committee is poised to mark up its state revolving fund (SRF) reauthorization legislation before the August recess.  The legislation has been closely guarded in the EPW Committee but it is expected to be introduced as a bipartisan “Big Four” bill by EPW Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-Okla.), EPW Subcommittee on Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security, and Water Quality Chair Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Ranking Member David Vitter (R-La.).  NACWA and the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) expect to see a draft of the bill soon and Senate staff has indicated that the bill would contain a five year authorization of approximately $38 billion for the drinking water and clean water SRFs combined.  NACWA will provide additional details on these efforts as the process moves forward.