» Member Updates Archive

As NACWA members gear up for the Association’s Summer Conference & 42nd Annual Meeting, Transformational Leadership…Changing the Game for the Next 40 Years of Clean Water, July 15-18, in Philadelphia, Pa., this Member Update provides committee summaries from the Association’s 2012 National Environmental Policy Forum in April that can 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.  Committee handouts and presentations from the Policy Forum are available on NACWA’s Policy Forum website.  A current list of the committee leadership and members is available on NACWA’s 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 .

You can reserve your hotel room in Philadelphia today by contacting the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing at 888/421-1442 by Monday, June 25 to guarantee the special conference rate of $179 single/double, plus applicable taxes.  Be sure to mention that you are a NACWA attendee.  The registration information for the Summer Conference will be available soon.

Joint Facility & Collection System Committee & Stormwater Management Committee Meeting

• 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
• Vice Chair, Stormwater Management Committee, Jill Piatt Kemper, City of Aurora Water Department, Colo.

NACWA’s Stormwater Management Committee and Facility & Collection System (FACS) Committee held a joint meeting to discuss a number of key wet weather advocacy issues currently impacting the municipal clean water community.  The Stormwater Management Committee kicked things off with an update on EPA’s efforts to develop a new national stormwater rule.  The Agency continues to struggle with completing the cost/benefit analysis for the rule, and publication of a draft proposal is not expected until early 2013.  The committee also discussed EPA’s controversial 2010 stormwater memorandum and its implications for both municipal and industrial stormwater dischargers.  A revised version of the memo is currently at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.  Stormwater fees continue to be a hot topic as well for some municipal utilities, and the committee received updates on current litigation involving stormwater charges in which NACWA is involved from Missouri, Washington State, and Georgia.  Additionally, newly passed legislation from Maryland requiring some utilities to establish stormwater charges was reviewed and analyzed.

The meeting then transitioned to a discussion of FACS Committee issues, beginning with an update on lawsuits related to wet weather.  The Iowa League of Cities has filed a lawsuit against EPA regarding the Agency's refusal to allow blending during wet weather events.  EPA lost its motion to dismiss the case and briefing is expected to be finished by the end of May, with a decision soon after that.  In another case, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) will have to pay fines for ten separate spill events that occurred during major storms because the court ruled that although force majeure could apply to any of these events, HRSD should have foreseen these events.  The meeting concluded with a discussion of the various ways that utilities are controlling inflow and infiltration, in both the sewer lines and private laterals.

Joint Legal Affairs, Legislative Policy & Regulatory Policy Committee Meeting

• Chair, Legal Affairs Committee, Lisa Hollander, Sanitation District No. 1, Ky.
• Vice Chair, Legal Affairs Committee, Hilary Meltzer, NYC Department of Law, N.Y.
• Chair, Legislative Policy Committee, Karen Pallansch, Alexandria Sanitation Authority, Va.
• Chair, Regulatory Policy Committee, Steve Pearlman, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Colo.

The Regulatory Policy, Legislative Policy and Legal Affairs Committees met jointly during the Policy Forum to discuss two cross-cutting issues at the top of NACWA’s advocacy agenda.  EPA’s final integrated planning framework, expected to be released in May, has become a major focus for the Agency’s water office and committee members were updated on the latest developments and EPA’s planned next steps.  Several communities that are considering or already implementing integrated planning provided overviews of their ongoing efforts and the Association of Clean Water Administrators provided a brief update from the state perspective.  NACWA’s Money Matters Task Force will meet following the release of the final EPA framework to discuss the Association’s next steps.  Nutrient pollution, including work with EPA and on Capitol Hill, remains a top priority for the Association and Committee members discussed the latest developments relating to NACWA’s efforts to influence the Farm Bill in order to better address nutrient pollution from agriculture.  Committee members were also briefed on NACWA’s planned intervention in two key nutrient-related lawsuits that could have tremendous impacts on the clean water community.  The two cases were filed last month by environmental activist groups, and NACWA’s Board of Directors moved quickly to unanimously approve the Association’s intervention in both ligation matters to ensure that the perspective of the municipal clean water community is represented.

Water Quality Committee

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

The Water Quality Committee meeting began with a presentation from Pixie Hamilton, head of the US Geological Survey's Cooperative Water Program (CWP), on a number of monitoring efforts including several related to nutrient pollution.  Many of those in attendance indicated their familiarity with the CWP and highlighted past collaboration with the USGS.  A major criticism of the CWP has been the delay in getting monitoring results and Hamilton indicated that the CWP is working to provide quicker, near real-time access to the data, especially for its partners.  Prior to the Committee meeting NACWA's Board adopted a resolution  stressing the importance of robust nutrient monitoring and the support of the clean water community for monitoring efforts.  The Committee reviewed the final resolution and discussed several related nutrient issues, including an ongoing dialogue with state regulators on the role of technology-based approaches to nutrient control.

The Committee was also updated on several water quality criteria issues.  EPA is now reviewing the comments it received on the December 2011 draft of its revised recreational water quality criteria.  The draft criteria, which must be finalized by October 2012, have been criticized by the environmental NGO community for being too lenient and NACWA is carefully tracking the issue to ensure any changes to the criteria are supported by the underlying scientific studies EPA conducted.  EPA is also working on implementation guidance for the criteria, which NACWA has recommended be released concurrently with the final criteria, rather than after the criteria are published.  The revisions to the ammonia water quality criteria are essentially complete, but EPA is now working on a communication piece and finalizing implementation materials.  While the criteria were expected to be released this Spring, NACWA understands that concerns over implementing the stringent criteria have delayed their release.  No target date for release has been set.  The Committee meeting concluded with an announcement on the formation of a new working group on water quality trading.  David Taylor with the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District is heading up that group’s work and interested members should contact Hannah Mellman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .