» Clean Water Current Archive

January 10, 2014

Substantive Comments Filed on EPA’s Draft FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan

NACWA commended EPA for its continued focus on nonpoint sources in January 3 comments  on the Agency’s Draft Fiscal Year 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, but raised a number of concerns, including the Plan’s lack of consideration for cross-cutting and cross-media impacts. While reiterating the Agency’s focus on controlling pollution from nonpoint sources, the Draft Plan fails to acknowledge that as EPA’s clean water programs are implemented, point sources remain under constant pressure from state and EPA regulatory and enforcement actions – and are often the only sources required to do anything substantive to improve water quality. This ongoing pressure is coming at an ever-increasing cost for consistently decreasing water quality benefits.

The Draft Plan promises a new era in partnerships, including with local governments, and acknowledges that local governments “can be both co-implementers and regulated entities under national and state environmental laws” and that these entities are “dealing with significant resource constraints.” EPA has taken an important first step toward restoring a partnership with local government through development of the Integrated Planning Framework, but NACWA’s comments highlight that the Draft Plan’s water goal should more expressly recognize the role local government plays in implementing the Clean Water Act (CWA) – and the importance of the final Integrated Planning Framework and the corresponding Affordability Framework that is still under development.

On the climate front, the Draft Plan highlights the importance of evaluating the impacts of climate change when implementing the Agency’s air and water programs – but lacks any consideration of the greenhouse gas impacts associated with certain clean water mandates. NACWA’s comments highlighted the need for the Agency to evaluate “how actions under one EPA goal area may run counter to objectives under another goal.” For example, limit of technology controls that are being imposed on clean water agencies to address nutrient discharges under the CWA require large amounts of energy and/or chemical use. NACWA also highlighted that clean water agencies are now facing the potential for regulations designed to limit the discharge of substances, such as triclosan, that EPA’s toxic substance and pesticide office continues to approve and allow in products. The Association’s comments stressed that “EPA’s chemical safety and pollution prevention goals should acknowledge this growing problem and identify actions to help prevent” these conflicts between its regulatory programs.

NACWA also highlighted the work under way at clean water agencies across the country to improve their operations, reduce energy consumption – in some cases producing green energy to supply to the grid, recover resources, and generally improve the sustainability of their operations. EPA’s increasingly stringent water quality mandates, however, can run counter to these efforts and NACWA urged EPA to look for ways to address these hurdles to facilitate more innovation.

NACWA Files Briefs, Advocates Municipal Clean Water Position

NACWA recently submitted briefs in two clean water litigation matters with national implications, one involving the Clean Water Act (CWA) “permit shield” and the other involving nutrient limits in discharge permits, providing an important municipal clean water perspective. 

On January 7, NACWA joined an amicus curiae brief  in an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit of a July 22 federal district court ruling. The ruling held that a permittee must have actually disclosed a pollutant in its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit application in order to avail itself of the protection afforded by Section 402(k) of the CWA, commonly referred to as the “permit shield.” The permit shield defense is a critical one for permittees under the CWA and holds that compliance with a permit is compliance with the CWA.

Although the facts of the district court decision in Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. A&G Coal Corp. deal with a mining permit, a ruling from the Fourth Circuit will have implications on all point source dischargers holding NPDES permits, including municipal wastewater and stormwater utilities. Given the importance of the permit shield to NACWA members for protection from citizen suits, the Association is participating in this case to help preserve the permit shield as a strong and robust defense for NPDES permit holders to enforcement actions. NACWA’s participation in this case is part of a broad coalition of diverse groups, including industrial and agricultural point source dischargers, who share a common interest in defending the permit shield defense.

On December 23, 2013, NACWA joined the Wet Weather Partnership and a coalition of six state municipal wastewater associations in filing a joint amicus brief in a U.S. EPA Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) administrative appeal involving nutrient limits in a public owned treatment works (POTW) discharge permit. The case, City of Homedale Wastewater Treatment Plant, involves a challenge by an environmental activist group to an NPDES permit issued by EPA to an Idaho municipal wastewater treatment facility that allows discharges of total phosphorus (TP) at levels that exceed the number of pounds per day allowable under the applicable total maximum daily load (TMDL). The major issue presented in the case is whether the permit must include true daily maximum limits for nutrients rather than weekly/monthly average limits, a question that has significant national implications regarding how nutrient limits may be expressed in permits.

Existing EPA guidance states that all TMDLs and associated load and waste load allocations be expressed in terms of daily time increments but reserves flexibility for how the time increments are expressed in individual discharge permits when implementing TMDLs. NACWA supports this flexibility. A key argument presented in the brief is that permitting authorities have discretion to translate TMDL daily targets into more flexible and appropriate average limits in specific permits, especially for nutrients. The Association’s participation in this case provides a critical national perspective on this issue and is especially important because rulings from the EAB have a significant impact on EPA policy nationwide. More details on these cases is available on NACWA’s website.

EPA Urged to Consult with Utilities on Adaptation Implementation Plan

NACWA sent comments to EPA on January 3 about the Agency’s Draft Office of Water Climate Change Implementation Plan, which was written in response to Executive Order (EO) 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. The Implementation Plan draws on and helps implement the National Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change that was published in December 2012. The Strategy contains 19 goals and 53 strategic actions that provide a long-term approach to deal with the challenges that climate change will present to the nation’s water resources and to utilities in particular.

In addition to providing recommendations to more closely align the Implementation Plan and the 2012 Strategy, NACWA urged EPA to engage local utilities in climate adaptation work. Although the Implementation Plan includes a ‘priority action’ to “Engage key stakeholders in climate change adaptation work by continuing to support the State and Tribal Climate Change Council that advises the National Water Program,” but, as stated in NACWA’s comments, “there is no similar action for engaging local utilities or the associations that represent them – a serious omission since these utilities will be the most significantly impacted.” NACWA also expressed concerns about the Office of Water’s (OW) goal to include climate change science or trend information in a major rulemaking prior to 2015. NACWA stated that “utilities should consider all relevant site-specific data in their planning and decisions, but local-level climate science and trend data varies considerably across utilities and model projections, and it will be difficult for OW to incorporate this type of information into a national rule.” NACWA will continue to discuss these issues with EPA and encourage them to seek utility input into the Plan.

NACWA Comments on EPA’s Proposed WQS Regulation Revisions

NACWA filed comments January 2 on EPA’s proposed Water Quality Standards Regulatory Clarifications, providing input on the six areas that the Agency focused on: 1) administrator’s determination; 2) designated uses; 3) trienneial reviews; 4) antidegradation; 5) variances; and, 6) compliance schedules. The Association also suggested, to the extent EPA finalizes the rule revisions, that the Agency take the opportunity to include language that reinforces the value and appropriateness of water quality trading as a regulatory tool to facilitate implementation of water quality standards.

NACWA has actively tracked efforts in this area since EPA first contemplated WQS regulation changes in a July 1998 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. NACWA provided extensive comments on that proposal and weighed in on the Agency’s July 30, 2010 notice soliciting initial stakeholder input on the issues addressed in the current proposal. Consistent with its September 22, 2010 comments (on the July 2010 notice) NACWA does not see an urgent need for regulatory changes to address the issues EPA has laid out in the proposal. The Association understands that many of the changes are intended to facilitate more consistent implementation among the states, but EPA should instead work to address such issues directly with its state partners rather than attempting to achieve more consistency through additional regulatory requirements. NACWA’s Water Quality Committee will discuss the rule and the Association’s comments in more detail at its upcoming meeting during NACWA’s 2014 Winter Conference in Santa Fe.

NACWA Collaborates on Update to Key Green Infrastructure Statement

NACWA, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and EPA are developing a new draft national green infrastructure (GI) partnership document as a continuation of the 2007 GI Statement of Intent. The draft document will reflect the relatively new emphasis on resiliency and re-emphasize the national organizations’ support for GI implementation. The complete group of GI partner organizations: NACWA, EPA, NRDC, American Rivers, the Low Impact Development Center, the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA), the U.S. Water Alliance, and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), will then modify and finalize the draft, with the intention of releasing a final statement document by the spring of 2014. A GI event to spotlight this new initiative is likely to take place during Water Week 2014 in April.

It’s Not Too Late! NACWA Needs Your 2013 NACWA Index Survey by January 15

NACWA has extended the deadline for its public agency members to complete the 2013 NACWA Index Survey until Wednesday, January 15, 2014. NACWA has published the Index annually since 1992 to track increases in the average annual single-family residential service charge measured against the rate of inflation. The Index has been a cornerstone of the Association’s advocacy efforts ever since, and has proven to be invaluable to utilities as they evaluate the rates they charge their customers. The power of the survey results depends on getting a consistent level of response year after year, and we need your responses to make this year’s survey a success.

Data collection for the 2013 Index began in November, and the results of the survey will be distributed to the membership in April 2014. Member Agencies are urged to participate and complete the survey by Wednesday, January 15. An individualized one-page questionnaire was e-mailed to each NACWA public agency member’s primary contact. The survey can be completed online at (http://www.cleanwatercentral.org/logon.asp) or via hard copy. For more information on the survey and directions for submitting your response, contact Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

2013 Peak Performance Award Application Now Available

NACWA member agencies are encouraged to submit their nominations for the 2013 Peak Performance Awards. As announced this week in Member Update 14-01, the Peak Performance Awards program acknowledges member agency facilities for excellence in wastewater treatment as measured by compliance with their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements. This program has honored thousands of NACWA member agency facilities since its inception in 1987, and the Association anticipates that this year will be marked by a record number of honorees. The deadline for submissions is April 4, 2014. More information on the Peak Performance Award program, including the award categories, criteria, and how to apply, is available on the Awards Page of the NACWA website.

NACWA Issues December Healthy Waters Update

NACWA forwarded the December 2013 Healthy Waters Update this week to members of the Healthy Waters Coalition, a diverse group of municipal and state water and wastewater organizations, as well as conservation and sustainable agriculture. The Coalition is focused on strengthening links between working agricultural lands and the quality of our Nation’s waters – with specific emphasis on agricultural nutrient run-off. The Update provides an overview of press coverage on key studies and research, and significant federal/state/local activities related to nutrient issues. A full archive of past monthly Healthy Waters Updates, can be found here. NACWA members interested in receiving the Updates are invited to email the Healthy Waters Coalition at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

NACWA Blog of the Week:
Some Interesting Facts on Flushables

Clean water agencies across the country are experiencing problems with products that are flushed but do not break apart easily in the sewer system. NACWA launched its Toilets Are Not Trashcans campaign last year to protect our sewers from wipes, paper towels, FOG (fats, oils, and greases), and other products that should not be flushed. The blog, through an engaging infographic, identifies the ways these products affect clean water agencies and the community. With a new blog every week, why not make it your new year’s resolution to subscribe to The Voice of Water?

Additional Hotel Rooms Added for 2014 Winter Conference

We have received a strong and enthusiastic response for NACWA’s Winter Conference, Compliance, Collaboration & Cost . . . Critical Drivers for Clean Water, February 2 – 5, 2014 in Santa Fe, NM. So much so, that our conference hotel, La Fonda on the Plaza is sold out! NACWA has secured an additional block of rooms at the Inn at Loretto, just steps away, at the same room rate of $129 per night (single/double), plus applicable taxes. Reservations must be made by Monday, January 20, 2014. To ensure a hotel room, contact the Inn at Loretto at 866.582.1646 or reserve your room online. Be sure to identify yourself as a NACWA attendee. An agenda, registration and destination information is available on our website. To be included in the conference participant’s list, please register with NACWA before Wednesday, January 22.