The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is pleased to provide you with the December 2007 Regulatory Update.  This Update provides a narrative summary of relevant regulatory issues and actions current to December 11, 2007.  Please contact NACWA’s Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Cynthia Finley at 202/296-9836 or cfinley@nacwa.org This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions or information on the Update topics.

Top Story

NACWA Comments on Dental Amalgam Discharge Reductions

In a November 21 letter to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), NACWA discussed the efforts clean water agencies have undertaken to reduce levels of mercury in wastewater effluent and biosolids.  Kucinich chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, which held a hearing on November 14 entitled “Environmental Risks of Regulatory Response to Dental Mercury Amalgam.”  While NACWA did not testify at the hearing, the issue of mercury discharged to wastewater treatment plants remains a major focus for the Association.  “Preventing mercury from reaching our nation’s precious waterways is a top priority for NACWA member agencies,” NACWA’s letter said. “While NACWA members themselves are not the sources of mercury contamination, they take seriously their role as environmental stewards to ensure the removal of as much mercury as is feasible from wastewater discharged to them by residential, commercial, and industrial sources.”

NACWA emphasized source control as the most effective method for reducing mercury levels because of the technical challenges and expense of removing mercury from wastewater.  Many member agencies have successfully worked with their local dentists on strategies to curb mercury discharges to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs), ranging from voluntary best management practices (BMPs) to mandatory installation of amalgam separators.  NACWA pointed out that other sources of mercury, such as air deposition, continue to contribute to mercury levels in the nation’s waters and these sources must also be addressed for significant reduction of mercury levels in water.  NACWA and its Mercury Workgroup will continue to track this important issue.

Air Quality and Climate Change

NACWA Releases Climate Change White Paper; Climate Change Issues Discussed at Forum

A new NACWA white paper, Climate Change:  Emerging Issues for Clean Water Agencies, provides information on how climate change may affect the operations of clean water agencies through new regulations and changing environmental conditions.  The paper describes EPA’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions estimates for wastewater treatment agencies, components of proposed national legislation for “cap-and-trade” programs to limit emissions, and ongoing as well as the need for further research on how water resources might be affected by climate change.  Local and state activities to mitigate climate change are already occurring, and federal legislation is appearing more likely.  The NACWA white paper gives the background information necessary for NACWA and its members to engage in climate change discussions and advocate for the interests of clean water agencies.  More information about the white paper is contained in Member Update 07-20.

The white paper served as the background document for the 2007 Water Sector Forum on Climate Change held in Albuquerque on December 4-5 and sponsored by NACWA, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the Water Environment Federation (WEF), and the Western Coalition of Arid States (WESTCAS).  Over 45 utility and national organization representatives attended the forum to discuss how climate change will impact both drinking water and wastewater utilities.  The discussions focused on how water quantity and quality issues will be the major challenge stemming from climate change, rather than air quality or energy concerns.  Participants agreed that “water is water” and that drinking water and wastewater utilities and associations need to work together more closely on water issues to ensure the sustainability of water resources.  Other aspects of the climate change issue, such as the possibility of tighter controls on greenhouse gas emissions from utilities and requirements for broader use of renewable energy sources, were also topics of discussion at the Forum.  A summary of the discussions at the meeting will be made available next month.  NACWA’s Air Quality and Climate Change Committee will continue to address climate change issues and will work closely with NACWA’s Legislative Policy Committee as legislation advances in Congress.  NACWA will keep members informed of regulatory and legislative developments in this area.

Biosolids

NACWA Weighs in on Biosolids Issues Raised by California Senator

NACWA sent a letter (PDF) on November 14 to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee, supporting municipal biosolids management practices and addressing concerns the Senator has raised regarding the safety of biosolids.  Boxer’s concerns were detailed in a letter (PDF) she sent to EPA stating that the EPW Committee “has a long-standing interest in ensuring health and environmental protections from potential threats posed by biosolids.”  Her letter specifically cites concerns with a September 14 EPA rule approving biosolids application on public lands — a policy NACWA supported.  The letter also generally uses the term “sludge” instead of biosolids and points to unnamed studies since 2002 raising “potential concerns” with reproductive impacts of land-applied biosolids and other health effects caused by potentially “radioactive sludge.”  The letter asks EPA to provide the EPW Committee with information on the actions that the agency has planned, initiated, or completed to investigate or address potential threats from biosolids since fiscal year (FY) 2002; the number of employees devoted to these activities; and copies of any proposed, draft, or completed studies on biosolids, including any studies of potential exposures to biosolids and possible risks.  Boxer also seeks information on funding and staffing for EPA enforcement activities related to biosolids, including the type, number, location and status of inspections and enforcement actions that EPA has planned, initiated, or completed since FY 2002.

In its draft response to Senator Boxer, EPA provides detailed responses to each of the Senator’s requests, providing key information on the safety of EPA’s biosolids program.  NACWA has contacted Boxer's office to gather further information on what prompted the Senator’s letter and also whether any follow-up actions, such as a hearing on this issue, are anticipated.  NACWA will provide members with additional information as it becomes available.

Conferences and Meetings

Online Registration Available for NACWA’s 2008 Winter Conference

Utility efforts to prepare for the growing gap in the availability of qualified municipal wastewater workers will be featured during NACWA’s 2008 Winter Conference, Creating Tomorrow’s Utility Today…Keys to Management Success, February 5-8, 2008, at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix, Arizona.  Along with strong leadership, strategic business planning, measurement of management success, and a continual management framework, maintaining a healthy workforce that is engaged, empowered, and ready to embrace change is critical to successfully managing any organization.  These keys to management effectiveness, which factor prominently in the recently released attributes of effective utility management, will be the focus of NACWA’s 2008 Winter Conference.

The conference agenda, online registration, and hotel information is available on NACWA’s conference website.  Don’t wait to make your reservations at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix.  The reservation deadline to guarantee the conference rate is January 14, 2008.  Call 602/866.7500 to guarantee the special conference rate of $209 single/double, and mention that you are a participant in NACWA’s Winter Conference.

Emerging Contaminants

EPA to Launch Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative

EPA has announced plans to formally launch its Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative in spring 2008 to encourage the development and use of detergents that do not contain nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), which along with their breakdown products have been shown to have toxic effects on aquatic life.  Public comments are being accepted until December 13 on the information request describing EPA’s planned program.  NACWA supports better source control of NPEs, rather than relying on removal at wastewater treatment facilities, and submitted comments to that effect earlier this year when the Sierra Club petitioned EPA to better regulate NPEs under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  NACWA and its Emerging Contaminants Workgroup will continue to inform the membership about EPA’s new initiative and similar source control efforts.

Workshop Scheduled for EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program
EPA has scheduled a public workshop on December 17 to discuss the Agency's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP).  Chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors are increasingly being found in the nation’s waters and may cause biological problems such as feminization of male fish.  The EPA workshop will focus on the draft administrative policies and procedures for completing initial screening and testing under the EDSP and the burden and cost estimates for the related information collection activities.  EPA plans to seek comments on two Federal Register notices announcing these draft policies and a draft Information Collection Request.  NACWA will attend the workshop and provide the membership with any relevant information about EPA’s ongoing efforts to screen existing chemicals for endocrine disrupting capability.

Facility and Collection Systems

EPA Releases Interim Significant Noncompliance Policy

EPA recently issued its Interim Significant Noncompliance (SNC) Policy to the Agency’s regional offices for implementation in fiscal year 2009.  The Interim SNC Policy is very similar to earlier drafts which NACWA reviewed and provided extensive comments on in November 2006 and June 2007, recommending a number of changes to EPA.  NACWA continues to have strong concerns with the interim policy because it does not provide permitting authorities with enough discretion to avoid designating an overflow as SNC in the case of mitigating circumstances.   In addition, NACWA does not believe the policy should include sewer backups into buildings in the definition of “significant overflow,” particularly when they do not reach “waters of the United States.”  

The Interim SNC Policy has currently been forwarded only to the EPA regional offices for implementation because the data collection guidance necessary for implementation by the states is not completed yet.  Thus, the policy will only apply in states that have not received delegated authority to run their own Clean Water Act programs.  However, the EPA memorandum  accompanying the interim policy indicates that “given the States’ interest and overall support of the approach in the policy, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) anticipates that some States will voluntarily join the Regions in utilizing the policy in fiscal year 2009.”  NACWA will continue to work with EPA to ensure that the new policy is implemented in an appropriate manner and will keep the membership updated on any developments.

EPA Issues Report on Sewer Overflows in the Lake Michigan Basin

EPA released a Report to Congress that describes the occurrence of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in the Lake Michigan drainage basin, the enforcement of existing regulations of CSOs, and EPA’s plans to minimize CSOs in the future.  The report concludes that the current regulatory program has led to significant reduction of CSOs and will lead to full control of CSOs in the future, but also emphasizes that other sources of pollution must be controlled to improve water quality.  These other sources include sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), storm water runoff, and nonpoint sources.  EPA states that flexibility is needed in establishing CSO control measure schedules due to the cost and complexity of these measures, and that financial, technical, environmental, and public health considerations must be considered in the scheduling.

EPA Lists Peak Wet Weather Flows Policy as Expected Action in Regulatory Plan

EPA released its Regulatory Plan and Semiannual Regulatory Agenda on December 10.  The Plan describes the most significant regulations that EPA expects to issue by October 2008, while the Agenda describes over 300 actions under development or review.  In the Plan, EPA lists the peak wet weather flows policy as a planned publication for this fiscal year.  The other actions expected from the Office of Water are:  Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) for concentrated animal feeding operations; a rule to address the question of whether NPDES permits are required for water control facilities that convey or connect navigable waters; and development of a NPDES permitting framework for discharges from vessels.  For more information about the Plan and Agenda, click here.

Utility Management

Deadline for Submitting 2007 NACWA Index Survey is December 14

NACWA public agency members received their 2007 NACWA Index survey in the mail via Member Update 07-19 last month.  Members are asked to complete the one-page Index survey by December 14 either online or via the individualized hard copy survey form that accompanied the Member Update.  The survey responses will allow NACWA to produce a population-weighted nationwide average annual single-family residential service charge.  The results, which will be distributed to the membership in March 2008, include a useful chart that compares national service charge changes on an annual basis since the mid 1980s and information on service charges according to geographic region.

Water Quality

Task Force Revises Plan to Reduce Nutrients from 31 States to Mississippi River

On November 9, the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force issued its revised Draft Gulf Hypoxia 2008 Action Plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico and improving water quality in the Mississippi River Basin.  The Task Force was formed in 1997 by a coalition of federal, state, and tribal agencies and is chaired by EPA.  The Draft Action Plan identifies efforts to track progress, update the science, and adapt actions to improve the nutrient reduction efforts in the 31 states that drain into the Mississippi River.  The Plan outlines specific steps and describes the Task Force’s commitment to using an adaptive management approach for reducing the size of the hypoxic zone.

The Draft Action Plan states that significant reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus discharges to the Gulf of Mexico are needed, but it also recognizes that factors other than nutrient discharges contribute to hypoxia, including the loss of freshwater and coastal wetlands that remove nutrients and the channelization of the Mississippi river.  Although the report estimates that 22 percent of nitrogen and 34 percent of phosphorus loads come from point sources, it does not make specific recommendations for achieving reductions in these loads, instead calling for the states to take the lead in implementing programs that will achieve the goals of the Action Plan, since “the states are uniquely qualified to identify the key stakeholders who can influence opinion and support needed changes in practices and program.  State agencies have established relationships with their constituents, whether agricultural producers or regulated entities such as wastewater facilities.”

The Action Plan is open for public comment until January 4.  NACWA has been closely monitoring Gulf hypoxia reduction efforts and submitted comments in July 2007 on a report issued by the EPA Science Advisory Board Hypoxia Advisory Panel.  The Panel’s report was considered by the Task Force prior to issuance of its revised Action Plan.  NACWA and the Water Quality Committee will review the Action Plan and NACWA will keep members informed on Gulf hypoxia issues.