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As NACWA members gear up for the Association’s 2013 National Environmental Policy Forum, April 21-24, in Washington, DC, this Member Update provides committee summaries from the Association’s 2013 Winter Conference in February that can serve as the building blocks for the Policy Forum’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 Winter Conference are available on NACWA’s 2013 Winter Conference website.  A current list of the committee leadership and members is available on NACWA’s website.  To join NACWA committees, please contact Kelly Brocato at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The registration information for the Policy Forum is available on NACWA’s website.  The hotel reservation deadline is Monday April 1, 2013 and you can reserve your hotel room today by contacting the Washington Marriott at 202/872-1500 to guarantee the special conference rate of $259 single/double, plus applicable taxes.  Be sure to mention that you are attending the Policy Forum.

Biosolids Management Committee

Chair, Dave Taylor, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wis.

The Biosolids Management Committee meeting started with a case study presentation from Vince Arrebola, Assistant Director for Wastewater at the Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department on its biosolids management program. Mr. Arrebola discussed the challenges facing Miami-Dade County including aging infrastructure and forthcoming nutrient-related restrictions that could further limit the County’s land application options.  As NACWA’s legal challenge of EPA’s Clean Air Act standards for sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs) goes to oral argument, the committee was briefed on the latest filings and next steps.  NACWA will be holding a series of conference calls to help its members with SSIs ensure compliance as the legal case continues.  The Committee also discussed a new Natural Resource Conservation Service standard that could impact biosolids land application operations.  Committee members were encouraged to engage their states as they work to incorporate the national NRCS 590 standard into their state-specific programs.  An ongoing discussion item for the Committee is the regulatory status of wastewater-derived products under the Part 503 rules.  NACWA will be following up with EPA to seek additional guidance on how such products are regulated.  Other updates were provided on a new Food and Drug Administration rule that addresses biosolids land application, activities of the National Biosolids Partnership and the Water Environment Federation, and several biosolids-related lawsuits.

Climate & Energy Committee

Chair, Antonio Quintanilla, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Ill.

The Climate and Energy Committee opened with a presentation by Chris Voell of BioCNG, LLC about the opportunities to use biogas for compressed natural gas (CNG). While most CNG comes from fossil sources, biogas can be used as well, and gasoline and diesel vehicles can be replaced with ones that run on CNG. The presentation generated many questions from Committee members about the cost savings and practicality of using this technology at their utilities and exemplified the importance of the energy-water nexus discussion and of issues that fall under the "Water Resources Utility of the Future" initiative. 

The Committee was then updated on NACWA’s advocacy work related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Oral arguments have been scheduled for a lawsuit against EPA, seeking an end to the deferral of biogenic GHGs from Clean Air Act regulations. NACWA filed an amicus curiae brief in the case, supporting EPA’s deferral and explaining the implications of biogenic GHG regulation for wastewater utilities. NACWA is also considering a coalition with other groups to ask EPA to make the biogenic GHG deferral permanent for wastewater treatment and crop processing operations that have a short-term carbon cycle.

An update was also provided on NACWA’s involvement with enforceable consent agreement (ECA) negotiations with siloxane manufacturers to evaluate the environmental impacts of two siloxanes, D4 and D5. Siloxanes are present in wastewater and create problems for utilities using biogas as a renewable fuel. NACWA wants to ensure that environmental risk assessment data that is conducted as part of the ECA is useful in studying this problem.

Facility & Collection System Committee

Co-Chair, Ben Horenstein, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Calif.
Co-Chair, Dax Blake, City of Columbus Department of Public Utilities, Ohio

The Facility and Collection System Committee meeting began with a presentation by Dax Blake on the Columbus Wet Weather Management Plan. Columbus had already completed most of the work required by its consent order for combined sewer overflows (CSOs), and decided to integrate it sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) and stormwater management using EPA’s Integrated Planning process. Columbus will be focusing on reducing SSOs by controlling infiltration and inflow (I/I), and will also be using more green infrastructure to absorb precipitation while also improving neighborhood aesthetics.

The Committee then discussed potential options for using a “No Feasible Alternatives” analysis to determine that blending is an acceptable practice. The No Feasible Alternative analysis was part of EPA's draft blending policy that was discussed in detail during the July 2011 SSO Workshop sponsored by EPA. Committee members shared their experiences with blending and expressed skepticism about allowing EPA authority over the processes used inside the treatment plant to meet permit limits.

The Committee then discussed NACWA’s Targeted Action Fund (TAF) project to update its financial capability guidance, as well as the efforts of other organizations to address financial capability issues. An update was also given on the efforts of NACWA, the Water Environment Federation (WEF), and the American Public Works Association (APWA) to address the problems created by flushable wipes and other non-dispersible products. These efforts have resulted in some improved labeling on Costco products and NACWA is seeking to build on this type of effort.

Legal Affairs Committee

Chair, Lisa Hollander, Sanitation District No. 1, Ky.
Vice Chair, Hilary Meltzer, NYC Department of Law, N.Y.

The Legal Affairs Committee met on Feb. 4 as part of NACWA’s 2013 Winter Conference and discussed a number of legal issues currently impacting clean water utilities. Among the topics addressed was EPA’s recent denial of a petition to include nutrient removal as part of secondary treatment, an update on current litigation involving nutrients in both the Mississippi River Basin and New England, and a review of developments in litigation on total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) and trading issues in the Chesapeake Bay. The committee also engaged in discussion about the possibility of a new enforcement approach as a result of EPA’s integrated planning framework and recent partnership agreements between EPA and clean water utilities, including implications for new and existing wet weather consent decrees. Information from the meeting is available here.

Legislative and Regulatory Policy Committee

During the first meeting of the newly formed Legislative & Regulatory Policy Committee, NACWA members were briefed on the outlook for 2013 in Congress and EPA and where NACWA’s advocacy efforts will likely be focused over the next year. Congress is expected to continue to focus on budget issues while identifying ways to boost the economy, including through water resources infrastructure investments.  We expect that several pieces of legislation of importance to NACWA’s members will be reintroduced, including the Clean Water Affordability Act, the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act, and the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act.  On the regulatory side, EPA’s stormwater rule is the most anticipated action in 2013, though the Agency will also continue work on integrated planning and related efforts.  Integrated planning implementation, including NACWA’s regional workshops and ongoing legislative efforts on pilot funding, combined with a new push to revise EPA’s financial capability assessment methodology, garnered significant attention from those in attendance.  John O’Neil, NACWA Board Member, Chair of NACWA's Wet Weather Task Force, and General Manager for Johnson County Wastewater in Olathe, Kansas, provided an overview of and led discussion on NACWA’s draft wet weather legislation.  NACWA will be sharing the draft language with key lawmakers over the coming months.  Jeff Lape, Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology in EPA’s Office of Water, described a new effort now underway at EPA to promote and foster innovation across the water program. NACWA plans to meet with Lape and the EPA staff to discuss this new effort as well as the new Water Resrouces Utility of the Future . . . Blueprint for Action document put together by NACWA, the Water Environment Research Foundation and the Water Environment Federation, in the coming weeks.

Stormwater Management Committee

Chair, Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio
Vice Chair, Jill E. Piatt Kemper, City of Aurora Water Department, Colo.

NACWA’s Stormwater Management Committee addressed a number of topics currently impacting the municipal stormwater utility community at the recent NACWA Winter Conference in Miami.  The committee meeting began with an update on regulatory developments, including EPA’s ongoing efforts to draft a new national stormwater rule for release and public comment in June 2013. Interested committee members were also invited to join a stormwater rule workgroup that would review the rule on the Committee’s behalf when it is released. Key recent legal developments were discussed, most importantly a recent federal court decision striking down EPA’s use of “flow TMDLs” for stormwater.  Committee members received an analysis of the decision, and its potential impacts on future stormwater regulation.  The meeting concluded with a presentation on an innovative new watershed permit from Wisconsin specifically for stormwater discharges, including how the permit was crafted, key elements in the permit, and how other stormwater utilities may be able to pursue similar watershed permitting approaches.

Utility Management Committee

Chair, Tom Sigmund, Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wis.
Vice Chair, Nancy E. Gallinaro, Palm Beach County Water Utilities, Florida

The Utility Management Committee continued its ongoing dialogue regarding sustainable utilities by exploring the efforts of Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer to increase its resiliency to natural disasters and longer-term impacts from climate change.  Howard Fallon, Chief of the Planning Division for Miami-Dade led a discussion based on the County’s experiences and lessons learned.  The Committee also received an early preview of the preliminary results from NACWA’s 2012 Index Survey on annual service charges. The increase in the average annual service charge eclipsed $400 in 2012 and again outpaced the rate of inflation. Committee members had a good discussion on asset management and the role it can play in influencing the outcome of consent decrees/negotiations with the government.  Concern was raised, however, that the Department of Justice and U.S. EPA may have differing views on asset management and tend to have more prescriptive provisions in decrees (such as sewer cleaning and inspection requirements).  Recently, some communities have been able to secure more performance-based agreements using the asset management program they have in place, but these efforts have been inconsistent. NACWA intends to focus more on this issue and will continue these discussions at the next Committee meeting.

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 focused on the issue of nutrients, which included a review of a Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) project (supported in part by NACWA’s Targeted Action Fund) that is developing a modeling toolbox to help in the development of site-specific nutrient criteria.  Dave Dilks, Vice President with LimnoTech and lead investigator for the project, highlighted how the toolbox, which will be available at no cost, will help clean water agencies. The committee also discussed NACWA’s recent success in EPA’s strong denial of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) petition to modify secondary treatment to include nutrients.  Members discussed some troubling trends regarding translation of narrative nutrient criteria to numeric permit limits and John Hall, President of Hall & Associates provided an update on utilities in Region 1 that are already being impacted.  This is an issue that NACWA will be engaged in and closely monitoring. The committee was also updated on several recently released and expected water quality criteria, the Farm Bill, and NACWA’s efforts on water quality trading.