» Clean Water Current Archive

August 1, 2014

Key EPA Officials – Perciasepe and Stoner - Move on to New Endeavors

Two of EPA’s top officials, and long-time partners of NACWA on clean water issues, will be leaving the Agency this month.  EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe will soon become the president of the Center for Climate & Energy Solutions (C2ES).  Acting Assistant Administrator Nancy Stoner, after leading the water office in this capacity since 2011, announced this week that she will be leaving to take a leadership position with the Pisces Foundation.

Association members benefitted directly from the support of Perciasepe and Stoner on priority issues like watershed permitting, integrated planning, and affordability — all efforts that NACWA will continue to aggressively pursue with Agency staff.  NACWA congratulates each on their new endeavors and looks forward to continued collaboration with them in their new capacities.

NACWA Weighs In on EPA Financial Capability Framework

NACWA, this week, provided comments on EPA’s Draft Financial Capability Assessment Framework letter.  This set of Association comment built on previous input and comments provided on the draft Framework through the U.S. Conference of Mayors earlier this year.  In this case, however, EPA reached out directly to NACWA seeking its input.  The Association focused its comments on the need for better clarity in implementation once the Framework is finalized.  While the Framework is an important step in the right direction, NACWA’s letter stressed that it will only succeed if it is implemented consistently across EPA’s ten Regional Offices. 

While EPA is still not willing to move away from, or revise, its 1997 guidance on financial capability, NACWA urged the Agency to position the Framework as its current thinking on the subject, with the 1997 guidance simply providing additional detail on the assessment.  As currently drafted, the Framework is described as a supplement to the 1997 guidance.  NACWA also recommended that EPA further revise the Framework to make it clearer that utilities can use alternative financial capability assessment approaches.  It is anticipated that EPA and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), together with the National League of Cities (NLC) and the National Association of Counties (NACo), will be scheduling a meeting to discuss the latest draft in the coming weeks with the hope of the finalizing the Framework later this year. 

Reps. Latta, Walz Urge House Members to Co-Sponsor Affordability Bill

Following last week’s hearing in the House Subcommittee on Water Resource and the Environment on clean water affordability and EPA’s integrated planning framework, Representatives Bob Latta (R-OH) and Tim Walz (D-MN) circulated this Dear Colleague letter on Tuesday to urge Members of the House to co-sponsor their legislation, The Clean Water Affordability Act. 

The bill would provide much-needed relief to municipal clean water agencies facing unprecedented financial challenges by: 1) codifying EPA’s integrated planning framework and incentivizing its adoption by extending NPDES permit terms for communities with an approved integrated plan; 2) requiring EPA to revise and broaden its guidance for determining a community’s financial capability to more accurately reflect a community’s financial challenges; and, 3) helping small rural communities more affordably finance their clean water obligations by ensuring at least 15% of all State Revolving Fund monies are set-aside for them. Thus far, the bill has been co-sponsored by Reps. David Joyce (R-OH), Keith Rothfus (R-PA), and Collin Peterson (D-MN).  NACWA sent its own letter up to Capitol Hill on Thursday echoing the need for this legislation and encouraging all Members to sign onto the Latta-Walz Dear Colleague letter and co-sponsor the bill.  The Association encourages its members to contact their Members of Congress and co-sponsor the legislation and will provide its members with updates on this legislation as it advances.

NACWA Focuses on Energy Issues with DOE, Atlantic Council

NACWA met this week with the Department of Energy (DOE) to discuss ongoing efforts to promote energy efficiency and production at wastewater utilities – and potential areas of collaboration between NACWA and DOE.  The discussion focused on DOE’s recently released report, The Water-Energy Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities, that frames the interdependencies between energy and water and lays the foundation for future DOE efforts to pursue research & development, as well as deployment key technologies; share datasets; integrate models to inform decision-making; and, harmonize policies where warranted.  The report recognizes the water Resources Utility of the Future concept of turning wastewater utilities into resource recovery centers, with a goal of net-zero energy consumption and, even beyond this, energy production.  Although DOE’s roll has yet to be determined, the report cites “near-term opportunities to stimulate deployment of key technologies . . . to increase the on-the-ground impact of research.”  It also discusses the enhancement of DOE’s existing technical assistance programs.  NACWA and DOE intend to work together to assist utilities to improve energy efficiency and production. 

NACWA also participated in an Energy-Water Nexus Roundtable hosted by the Atlantic Council.  The Roundtable featured presentations from the Water in the West program at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment.  The program’s recent report, A Water-Energy Research Agenda: Building California’s Policy Foundation for the 21st Century , outlines how policymakers in California can effectively use current knowledge to improve water and energy planning, while considering cross-sector benefits, and the continuing research needed to optimize water and energy management.  The Roundtable then explored how to extend these ideas into national policies. 

EPA, NACWA Discuss CSO Policy Issues

NACWA met with EPA on July 28 to discuss concerns over recent Agency actions regarding the 1994 Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Policy, following up on a letter the Association sent the Agency last month.  During the meeting, which was attended by Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Nancy Stoner and other top Office of Water officials, NACWA reiterated its concerns that a recent statement from EPA Region II calls into question the Agency’s application and interpretation of the CSO Policy.

NACWA requested that EPA unequivocally reaffirm in writing the Agency’s commitment to honor the Policy as written, including its language on the appropriate economic analysis and water quality targets to be used when developing long-term control plans to address CSOs.  The Association further emphasized that the Policy clearly adopts a “knee of the curve” cost/performance analysis when evaluating appropriate expenditures for CSO projects, and also sets existing water quality standards as the appropriate water quality target – not potentially higher attainable uses.  

In response EPA staff clarified that there is no new Agency interpretation of the CSO Policy and affirmed their commitment to the Policy, as written.  They also indicated they will be providing additional information in writing to address NACWA’s concerns.  The Association looks forward to receiving EPA’s written response and will share it with the members when it is available.

Brief Filed in Key Stormwater Litigation

NACWA joined with a number of other municipal organizations July 30 to file a brief in a potentially precedent-setting case over the appropriate regulatory requirements in municipal stormwater permits.  The municipal brief filed in Maryland Department of the Environment v. Anacostia Riverkeeper, pending before a Maryland state appellate court, argues that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not require that municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permits provide for strict compliance with water quality standards or numeric effluent limits.

NACWA’s brief argues the CWA creates a distinct standard for MS4s that only requires control of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable (MEP).  The brief further outlines the significant prior case law supporting this interpretation and establishing the MEP standard as the governing regulatory requirement for MS4s.   NACWA and its municipal partners also explain the significant economic burdens that strict compliance with water quality standards – including the possibility of numeric effluent limits – would place on MS4 utilities.

The case originated when a group of environmental activist groups challenged a local MS4 permit in Maryland, arguing that it was in violation of the CWA for failure to require compliance with water quality standards.  The trial court agreed, and the state appealed.  The outcome of this case has potentially significant implications not just for Maryland MS4s but for other state courts and MS4s elsewhere in the nation.  NACWA has a long litigation history of defending the MEP standard against similar lawsuits and joined in this appeal to advocate on behalf of the national municipal clean water community.   Other groups joining the municipal brief with NACWA include the Wet Weather Partnership, the Maryland Municipal Stormwater Association, and the Maryland Association of Counties.

NACWA Members Encouraged to Complete WERF Energy Survey

The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) is expanding research efforts into energy efficiency at wastewater utilities and has requested the help of NACWA members in completing an online survey that will help the Foundation identify barriers and propose proven solutions to the challenges facilities are facing across the nation.  The comprehensive survey is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9CLFFBV and will take about 25 minutes to complete.  Responses are requested by Wednesday, August 13.  NACWA urges Member Agency participation in this survey, as the results may help to inform the Association’s Water Resources Utility of the Future advocacy efforts – and collaborative work with the Department of Energy (see related story) on energy efficiency and production

NACWA Requests Republication of Biosolids Legal Opinion

NACWA submitted a letter this week to the Supreme Court of California requesting republication of a very strong legal opinion striking down a discriminatory ban on the land application of biosolids.  The Court earlier this month reversed a lower court’s decision in long-running litigation over a land application ban instituted by Kern County, Calif.  The state Supreme Court’s ruling, however, was based on an unrelated procedural issue and did not address the lower court’s finding that the Kern Ban was illegal.  NACWA’s letter encouraged the Supreme Court to republish and reinstate the aspects of the lower court ruling that dealt with the merits of the biosolids ban, arguing that the decision serves as strong legal precedent against discriminatory local land application bans.  NACWA has been a significant participant in the litigation over the years to support its Southern California utility members in opposing the Kern County ban and is pleased to continue its involvement. 

Have You Registered for the U.S. Water Alliance’s OWL Summit?

Join the U.S. Water Alliance for its One Water Leadership (OWL) Summit, September 15–17, in Kansas City, Mo.  As water leaders, sustainability directors, transportation, parks and recreation officials – as well as business leaders, non-profit organizations, and U.S. EPA regulators – meet to re-think and prepare their communities for water sustainability. This year’s Summit continues to drive the notion of water as an integrating strategy for the urban environment by showcasing the best models of community collaboration and how to connect the dots among water, land use, parks, forests, transportation, energy, and other sectors to achieve multi-benefit projects that produce triple bottom-line results.  Registration information and an agenda are available, so make your plans today.

NACWA Blog of the Week:
Springfield’s Integrated Planning Story

Guest blogger, Steve Meyer, Director of Environmental Services for the City of Springfield, Missouri discusses his municipality and his recent testimony before Congress on Clean Water Act integrated planning.  Like many others across the nation, the City of Springfield-Greene County region is deployng innovative approaches to address the challenge of increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Visit The Water Voice for more from Steve, or better yet, subscribe and never miss a post!

Register for a Three-Part Web Seminar Series; Chart a Path to the Utility of the Future!

Join us right from your desk for three consecutive weeks in September (on the 9th, 16th, and 23rd ) for a series of 90- minute web seminars as we chart the exciting path toward becoming a utility of the future.  With new and exciting presentations, we will highlight how utilities, NGOs, the private sector and the federal government are providing leadership that is changing the clean water paradigm.  The initiatives featured can be emulated by utilities, large and small, and will inspire new ways of solving increasingly complex utility management challenges.  As a key element of the award-wining Water Resources Utility of the Future initiative, this series allows unlimited individuals from each registered site to participate in the web seminar for one low registration fee so register today!