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The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is pleased to provide you with the April 2015 Regulatory Update. This Update provides a summary of relevant regulatory issues and actions from April 2015.

Top Stories

Top Water Officials Explore Financing, Water Quality Criteria & Environmental Justice

NACWA and representatives from the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and other water sector groups met with Ken Kopocis, Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water and other key staff on April 9 during the sector’s bi-monthly conversation with the Agency. Water finance topped the agenda and EPA provided updates on its work relating to the new finance center and the WIFIA program. Involvement of the private sector was discussed and EPA noted that one of the three main focuses of the finance center will be on providing assistance and information to those communities interested in entering public-private partnerships.

Work to stand up the WIFIA program is going well, even if there is no funding to finance projects. EPA staff hope to present a framework for implementing the program to senior management later this spring. The Agency provided a range of updates on its criteria development efforts: a literature review on the bacteriophage criteria was released for public comment; revisions to the human health criteria will be out in late May; and, a second round of public review on the selenium criteria revisions will begin in May. NACWA thanked the Agency for including $13 million for work on integrated planning in the Administration’s FY 2016 budget request. While Kopocis made it clear that Congress will have the final say on whether those funds are included in the Agency’s budget, he stressed that EPA remains committed to the concept of integrated planning – with or without the funding.

To wrap up the discussion, Charles Lee, Deputy Associate Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice, provided a brief overview of the Agency’s Draft EJ 2020 Action Agenda Framework , which was released on April 15 for a 60 day comment period (see article below).

Contact: Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Biosolids

EPA Releases Federal Implementation Plan for SSI Rule

On April 27, EPA published the proposed Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for the sewage sludge incinerator (SSI) rule (published in 2011). The FIP, when final, will be the implementation mechanism for the emission limits for existing SSI units in those states that chose not to develop a State Implementation Plan (SIP). NACWA and its SSI members are reviewing the proposed FIP and plan to submit comments by the June 11 deadline. The Association’s comments will include a list of implementation issues that SSI members have already identified in the hopes that EPA can address some of them through the FIP.

Contact: Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Conferences & Meetings

National Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Workshop

May 12 – 15, 2015, Hyatt Regency Greenville, Greenville, SC

NACWA’s 2015 Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Workshop will focus on topics that will only become increasingly important for pretreatment programs in the future, as well as issues that are currently affecting these programs. The agenda includes presentations on EPA’s proposed dental amalgam separator rule; the Ebola virus and other health issues; emerging contaminants; pretreatment program management; and, best management practices for industrial users. The Workshop will also include the popular EPA Regional and Pretreatment Issues Roundtable discussion sessions, allowing participants to network in smaller groups.

Two different full-day, optional training sessions – an introductory course on the pretreatment program and an advanced course on local limits – will be offered on May 12 in conjunction with the Workshop. Agendas for these training sessions, the agenda for the Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Workshop, registration, and hotel and travel information are now available on NACWA’s website.

Contact: Cynthia Finley at 202/533-1836 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

NACWA Partners on American Water Summit, Encourages Members to Attend

NACWA is an official ‘partner’ of the American Water Summit: Scalable Solutions, taking place October 20-21 in Denver. As part of its partner status, the Association has had significant input into the agenda, which will focus on creating a dialogue between private and public interests on array of issues related to private financing of public infrastructure. A benefit of NACWA’s partnership is a discounted registration fee of $595 for NACWA Member Agencies, and non-member public agency representatives. The registration fee is less than half the cost for private sector attendees and $100 below other government and non-profit registrants. The Association encourages Member Agency General Managers to attend along with their CFOs, CIOs, COOs or other key agency officials interested in the arena of public-private partnerships (P3s).

Contact: Adam Krantz at 202/833-4651 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

EPA to Host Extreme Events Workshops & Training

NACWA has assisted EPA’s Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative in developing a series of seven training workshops for the water utility sector around the country. The two-day Coastal Resilience Trainings  for water sector technical assistance providers and Extreme Events & Climate Adaptation Planning Workshops  will focus on how new EPA tools can increase the resilience of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities. Seating for the sessions is limited. Draft agendas will be posted soon. The workshops and training will take place in Florida, Texas, Alabama, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, and Iowa.

Contact: Brenna Mannion at 202/533-1839 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Energy

NACWA Participates in Energy Workshop with Federal Agencies

NACWA and several its member agencies participated in the Energy Positive Water Resource Recovery Workshop hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), and EPA. The purpose of the Workshop was to identify specific technical and non-technical barriers that are hindering development and deployment of the water resource recovery facilities of the future, with a focus on how to create facilities that will produce more energy than they use. Discussions addressed the following topics:

• Research, development, demonstration, and deployment of new or improved technologies;
• The role of the federal government;
• Non-technical considerations, such as financing, policy, and regulatory issues; and
• System sustainability, to incorporate environmental, social, and economic elements in decisions.

NSF, EPA, and DOE will be using the discussions at the Workshop to guide their research and technology development efforts and their strategic planning. NACWA is planning further discussions with EPA and DOE to determine how the Association can best work with these agencies to enable utilities to further develop their energy resources.

Contact: Cynthia Finley at 202/533-1836 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Environmental Justice

EPA Releases Draft Environmental Justice Framework, NACWA to Comment

On April 15, EPA released a draft of its most recent environmental justice (EJ) plan for public comment. The document, entitled the EJ 2020 Action Agenda Framework , outlines EPA’s plans over the next five years to incorporate environmental justice considerations in its programs, policies, and activities. EPA is accepting comment until June 15. Although EPA has emphasized the EJ 2020 Framework is a strategy for advancing EJ initiatives and is not a formal rule or guidance, it is likely to influence EPA permitting, rulemaking, and enforcement decisions in the future. Accordingly, it is important that municipal clean water utilities review the document and consider how EJ considerations could impact their agencies and communities.

NACWA will be submitting comments on the draft framework and requests that any member with thoughts, questions, or reactions to the document please provide input to NACWA to help inform the Association’s comment effort. Comments should be send to Amanda Waters at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by May 29, 2015. Members are also strongly encouraged to submit their own comments directly to EPA via the instructions provided on the Framework document. See Advocacy Alert 15-06 for more information.

Contact: Amanda Waters at 202/530-2758 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Upcoming EJSCREEN Tool Webinars

EPA will be hosting three webinars on EJSCREEN, the Agency’s new environmental justice screening tool. The tool offers powerful data and mapping capabilities that display environmental and demographic information at a high geographic resolution across the entire country. EJSCREEN is intended to be an informational tool for use by EPA, states, the regulated community, particularly GIS staff, and the public to screen for a variety of environmental, demographic, and economic factors that could be helpful to understand when making environmental compliance decisions. Each webinar will offer the same information. The webinars will be held on May 12, May 28, and June 3. Registration  is required.

Contact: Brenna Mannion at 202/533-1839 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

EPA

EPA Undertakes Periodic Regulatory Review, NACWA Submits Comments

In comments  filed by the Association on April 8, NACWA urged EPA to follow through on its promise to identify and revise regulations and other policies that may be ineffective or excessively burdensome to clean water utilities. In March, EPA proposed a review of regulations under Executive Order (E.O.) 13563 and E.O. 13610 with a focus on “how the agency can promote regulatory modernization through business-process streamlining facilitated by improved technology” (see Advocacy Alert 15-03). To that end, NACWA encouraged the Agency to consider implications of the NPDES e-Reporting rule currently under development; to withdraw the proposed Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Dental Category; and, to reconsider the Sewage Sludge Incineration Rule. NACWA stressed that any thorough regulatory review effort must not only evaluate each regulation or policy on its own, but must also consider the inter-relationship among rules and policies and the need for prioritization. And that the review process must be applied not only to rulemakings, but also to the array of policies that serve as de facto rules, including guidance and criteria.

Contact: Brenna Mannion at 202/533-1839 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

EPA Sends Clean Water Rule for Interagency Review

The ‘Clean Water Rule’, formerly referred to as ‘Waters of the United States’, or WOTUS, was sent to the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for interagency review on April 3. In addition to the rebranding, EPA has made clear that the revised rule maintains the status of waters within Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) and encourages the use of green infrastructure (GI) and low-impact development. NACWA has advocated  strongly that EPA not change how MS4s waters are treated under the Clean Water Act and that GI and other innovative wet weather management strategies not be discouraged. The Association is pleased that the Agency has clarified the rule language accordingly – and is optimistic that its other recommendations will be incorporated into the final rule. A final rule could be published as soon as next month, depending on the length of OMB review.

Contact: Brenna Mannion at 202/533-1839 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Green Infrastructure

Groups Request IRS Ruling: Green Infrastructure on Private Property is not Taxable

In a meeting with the U.S. Department of the Treasury on April 22, NACWA joined the U.S. Water Alliance (USWA), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Montgomery County, Maryland, and Seattle Public Utilities to request that rebates – from regional water utilities and municipal water departments to private property owners – for green infrastructure (GI) installed to control stormwater, not be taxable. Though communities have invested in private property rebate programs for years, in recent months concerns were raised that any rebate could be taxable, thus disincentivizing the proliferation of critical stormwater retention projects.

NACWA and the other groups present at the meeting maintain that GI rebates should not be taxable because the rebates should be treated as a purchase price reduction (and therefore not taxable) and they do not confer a net benefit on the property owner (and therefore do not constitute a taxable accretion to wealth). The groups asked the IRS to confirm this conclusion in a revenue ruling. If the IRS were to issue such a ruling, water utilities would not need to issue Forms 1099 in connection with the rebates (a practice some utilities now regularly follow), resulting in increased willingness among property owners to participate in GI programs. A memo  outlining the issue in detail was provided to the attorney advisors at Treasury. This initial meeting was the first in what will likely be an ongoing dialogue.

Contact: Brenna Mannion at 202/533-1839 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Pretreatment

NACWA Discusses Dental Amalgam Separator Rule with EPA

NACWA discussed its comments  on EPA’s proposed Dental Amalgam Separator rule  on April 16 with EPA staff, including Betsy Southerland, Director of the Office of Water’s Office of Science & Technology. The Association summarized its comments on the rule, and its request that the Agency withdraw the rule because it is unnecessary and its costs are not justified by its environmental benefits. Two representatives from NACWA member agencies – Martie Groome, Laboratory & Industrial Waste Supervisor for the City of Greensboro Water Resources Department, and Tim Potter, Environmental Compliance Supervisor for the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District – described how the rule would create an unreasonable burden for their utilities. EPA has requested additional data from utilities that completed NACWA’s Mercury & Dental Amalgam Survey, which was used to provide the Association with information for its comments on the proposed rule. NACWA will be working with the relevant utilities to gather the data requested.

Contact: Cynthia Finley at 202/533-1836 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

NACWA Talks to Metal Finishers about Potential Effluent Guideline Changes

NACWA provided input to the National Association of Surface Finishers (NASF) on April 15 on EPA’s new effort to conduct a study of the metal finishing industry and challenges the clean water community is having with the existing effluent guidelines. Metal finishing has been identified by EPA for additional study based on information suggesting that high metal concentrations (in particular for chromium, nickel, and zinc) are being discharged to POTWs. Based on initial feedback from NACWA’s Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Committee, Association members see some benefit to exploring whether the categorical standards for metal finishing (433) and electroplating (413) need to be revised and/or combined. Most of the concerns expressed by Member Agencies is focused on the administrative burden of implementing these two categories and confusion over what processes are or are not included – not on environmental compliance issues. In presenting to NASF, NACWA stressed that the Association will look at EPA’s efforts to study the industry with an open mind, but will carefully track the Agency’s work. EPA’s last effort to make changes to these categories – the Metal Products and Machinery (MP&M) rule – was met with wide opposition from NACWA’s members. As a result, the Association worked with NASF and others to convince EPA that the rule was not necessary. NACWA will provide more details, including a timeline for EPA’s study, soon.

Contact: Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Utility of the Future

NACWA Member UOTF Efforts Featured at EPA Workshop

NACWA provided opening remarks on April 20 at a workshop on utilities of the future (UOTF), featuring the work of its Member Agencies across the country. The workshop, hosted by EPA, was held as a part of the International Water Association's 2015 International Conference, Water Efficiency and Performance Assessment of Water Services, in Cincinnati, Ohio. NACWA Member Agency, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), represented by Paula Kehoe, Director of Water Resources, was the highlight of the workshop. Kehoe provided an overview of SFPUC's work to encourage increased non-potable water reuse in the urban environment. The PUC is leading the way in San Francisco with a Living Machine® at its new headquarters that treats and recycles 'black water' waste back to the building for use in building toilets and urinals. The workshop also featured presentations on water quality trading and an economic analysis comparing drinking water treatment costs to upstream, source water protection efforts.

Contact: Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .