» Clean Water Current Archive

February 13, 2015

NACWA Weighs In With EPA Inspector General on Consent Decree Investigation

NACWA submitted  recommendations this week to EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) outlining how the Agency can improve the effectiveness of their municipal wet weather enforcement efforts via consent decrees. The Association’s comments, developed in consultation with a number of Member Agencies, were submitted as part of an ongoing investigation  being conducted by OIG.

NACWA recognizes that enforcement efforts are a powerful tool for EPA to ensure that precious resources are achieving the maximum environmental benefits. As such, the Association is hopeful that the OIG investigation – and resulting report – will embrace its recommendations and include them as key elements of all EPA enforcement actions moving forward. NACWA applauds the OIG for pursuing this investigation and interviewing a broad array of clean water agencies to determine whether EPA’s enforcement efforts are pursuing the most effective approaches – from both a cost and environmental standpoint – to address wet weather-related water quality impacts.

The Association believes that EPA can vastly improve its enforcement efforts to maximize environmental outcome and cost effectiveness. Clean water agencies and the federal government should enter into consent decrees as stewards of the environment and partners with a joint obligation to ensure the long-term effectiveness, viability and affordability of any given plan or program.

For additional background on OIG’s investigation, see the December 12 Clean Water Current and the October 2014 Regulatory Update. In coming months, OIG will issue a final report providing recommendations to EPA on how it can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of this enforcement initiative. NACWA thanks those members that assisted with development of the Association’s comments, and looks forward to distributing OIG’s report to membership as soon as it is released. If you have questions, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , General Counsel at 202-833-3692 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Deputy General Counsel at 202-530-2758.

NACWA Briefs EPA on Alternative Approaches for Nutrient Permit Limits

NACWA met Thursday with key EPA Office of Water staff to provide an in-depth briefing on several alternative concepts and approaches for use in nutrient permit limit derivation. The briefing was an outgrowth of a September 2014 meeting during which NACWA outlined the findings and recommendations from its June 2014 report, Review of USEPA Methods for Setting Water Quality-Based Effluent Limits for Nutrients . The report, developed using NACWA's Targeted Action Fund (TAF), detailed where the use of toxics-based methods for deriving permits limits are often inappropriate for use in the nutrient context. At the conclusion of the September 2014 meeting, EPA asked that the Association provide more detailed information on several recommendations in the report.

Using the TAF once again, NACWA, together with its project contractor Brown & Caldwell, developed more in-depth briefing materials , which were used at Thursday's meeting. NACWA's objective, using both the report and in-depth briefings, is to influence the content of EPA's nutrient permit writer training course. The Association's review of an earlier version of the training materials raised significant concerns, prompting the development of the report. Thursday's meeting explored ways that permit writers can better reflect the unique characteristics of nutrients – including the use of annual averaging periods, choosing appropriate probability bases, and using empirical alternatives to the approaches used in EPA's Technical Support Document – that provide additional flexibility while being equally protective of the environment. During the meeting, EPA flagged as a major concern, and a topic for future discussion, the poor quality of many of the total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) that are driving nutrient permit limits. Permit writers are limited in what they can do by the way a TMDL or water quality criterion has been structured. EPA's permitting office has been working to address this with its sister offices in Washington, and NACWA is planning at least two more meetings with the Agency over the next year to discuss these issues further. 

February 23 Webinar on Utility Resiliency to Feature NACWA Members

EPA will host a webinar  on sustainability and resiliency practices for water utilities on Monday, February 23. The Operational Resiliency webinar on is the second in the Agency’s Moving Toward Sustainability series. NACWA has joined with other groups to collaborate with EPA on the series to advance the goals of creating sustainable and resilient public water utilities, as a complement to its Water Resources Utility of the Future initiative. Two Member Agency representatives will be featured: Daryl Slulsher, Deputy Director of the Austin Water Utility and Kathryn Sorensen, Director of Water Services of the City of Phoenix. Both agencies have made significant strides in resilient utility practices. The webinar will be moderated by Jim Horne of EPA’s Office of Water from 1:00 – 2:30 pm Eastern Time. Registration is free.

EPA to Repeat Webinar on ‘Buy-American’ Requirements for SRFs

EPA will repeat its webinar  on the American Iron and Steel (AIS) requirements (a.k.a. the Buy-American requirements) for the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, February 17 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm Eastern Time. The target audiences are states, which are responsible for choosing the SRF projects, and SRF water and wastewater utility funding recipients. More information about the requirements can be found on EPA’s AIS website.

Trending on Engage:
New Groups Focus on Communications & Women in Water

NACWA’s online networking tool, NACWA Engage™ continues to grow. The community numbers over 6,000 clean water professional and the Daily Digest is delivered Monday through Friday when threads evolve or a new inquiry is posted. Two new groups were recently introduced – the Communication Professionals Forum and the Women’s Water Network. These groups are open to all. Recent Communication Forum discussions have focused on facility tour policies and procedures – and recommendations for outreach. The Women’s Water Network discussions of late have focused on mentorship in the workplace. If you are interested in joining these forums, or have questions on Engage, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director of Marketing & Digital Media. It’s time to get Engaged!