Clean Water Current - February 8, 2008

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NACWA’s 2008 Winter Conference Addresses Keys to Utility Management

More than 220 people attended NACWA’s 2008 Winter Conference, Creating Tomorrow’s Utility Today … Keys to Management Success, where they heard valuable presentations on management structures that will help attract and retain the next generation of utility leaders and rank-and-file employees. An aging workforce and how to capture and store critical institutional knowledge are ongoing challenges. One of the highlights of the conference was the Elected and Appointed Officials Roundtable, which featured utility board members discussing the recruitment and retention of employees, rate increases, and the challenge of mounting federal regulations. Interestingly, all but one of the officials said they were raising rates with increases ranging from 5-9 percent annually for the next several years to cover the costs of operations and maintenance and increasing federal mandates. "We need to put the heat on in Washington and come up with a federal revenue sharing plan because this [the current situation of rate increases coupled with growing unfunded mandates] will bankrupt communities,” Mayor Tom Longo, of Garfield Heights, near Cleveland, said.

Other sessions at the conference focused on innovative ways to address management challenges, including the potential loss of institutional knowledge as workers retire, and approaches for sustainable utility management. One panel, “Organizational Flexibility --- Building and Maintaining a Productive Workforce,” Presentations addressed utility approaches to leadership development and management structures that incorporate systems for measuring progress. Two cities, Las Vegas and Charlotte, N.C., both employ skill-based training programs that include a matrix of skill sets to train employees in a range of technical applications. Detroit is developing its own methodology for a “sustainable workforce.”

NACWA’s Board of Directors also met and took action on several critical issues of importance to its members. Details will be made available in future communications and Updates. Details from NACWA’s committee meetings, which also featured lively discussions and set strategy for the Association’s advocacy on legal, regulatory, and legislative issues, will also be made available in an upcoming Member Update. All presentations from the Winter Conference will be posted on NACWA’s website next week.

Water Sector Discusses Chemical Security Bill as Jurisdictional Battle Looms

Representatives from key water sector groups met this week to discuss a “committee print” of chemical security legislation that was approved by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection and would remove the wastewater and drinking water utility exemption from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) security regulations. Under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008 (PDF), DHS, not EPA, would have jurisdiction over the implementation of security requirements at clean water and drinking water agencies. Without the exemption, DHS has the discretion to require clean water agencies to submit vulnerability assessments, implement facility security plans, take steps to harden facilities, including potentially switching from chlorine to other treatment alternatives. A summary of the bill and other information is available on the committee’s website.

NACWA and others in the water sector coalition explained to committee staff that drinking water and wastewater treatment agencies should not be regulated under the same regime as private chemical manufacturers and suppliers. The draft legislation places too much discretion in the hands of the DHS Secretary and decisions made under the bill’s “inherently safer technology” (IST) provisions could interfere with the utilities’ federally mandated obligations to protect the public health and environment pursuant to the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. Staff members on the House Homeland Security Committee have expressed a willingness to explore some type of provision or alternate title within the bill to exclude utilities altogether from the IST provisions. However, they are seeking support from the water sector in the developing jurisdictional battle between the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, which has jurisdiction over wastewater infrastructure and the Clean Water Act, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over drinking water utilities and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Staff on these committees have let it be known that they will be asserting jurisdiction over water and wastewater facility security.

The security legislation was discussed in depth at NACWA’s Winter Conference by both the Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee and the Legislative Policy Committee. Members generally expressed concern about the bill’s provisions, while others questioned whether they would really pose a problem since many utilities have already done vulnerability assessments and made the decision to switch to safer alternatives. The key, however, is that these utility initiatives were done on a voluntary basis, and NACWA member utilities continue to be leaders in the public sector in ensuring their facilities are secure. Based on the committee discussion, NACWA will continue to push for the exemption and provide information to lawmakers about the importance of ensuring that jurisdiction over security concerns remain with EPA, which has worked with the sector and DHS to develop effective voluntary security measures.

House Homeland Security Committee staff said they plan to introduce the bill for markup by the full committee in early March. NACWA is also contacting members in key congressional districts to have them notify their representatives about the clean water community’s concerns with this bill. The Senate has not yet taken up the security issue and has not indicated plans to do so in the near future.

Proposed FY 2009 EPA Budget Slashes Funding for CWSRF to $555 Million

The Bush Administration released its fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal for EPA Feb. 4 seeking a funding cut for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) to $555 million, the lowest level in the program’s 20-year history and $134 million below the current year’s funding. The total proposed budget for EPA is $7.1 billion, down from about $7.5 billion in FY 2008. The administration justified its proposed cut to the CWSRF by saying the funding level will allow it to meet its commitment to have the loan program revolve at $6.8 billion by 2011. The CWSRF has never been reauthorized since it was first implemented in the late 1980s. NACWA continues to aggressively advocate for legislation in the Senate to reauthorize the CWSRF at $14 billion over four years, similar to the Water Quality Financing Act of 2007 (H.R. 720) passed by the House in March. In addition, the continued cuts to the CWSRF further bolster NACWA’s argument for a federal recommitment to clean water in the form of a trust fund to provide a long-term, sustainable funding source.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment held a hearing on the budget request Feb. 7, and Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the full committee, said the proposal was not “fiscally responsible” and significantly underfunds the CWSRF. “The irony of the president’s request is that as the SRF budget evaporates year after year, the stench of neglect will become more and more apparent to the American people, until the effects of a collapsed system will be clear to the eyes and noses of all.” Oberstar, Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), chair of the T&I Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, sent a letter (PDF) Jan. 30 to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) seeking a study on viable revenue sources for a trust fund. Several NACWA committees at the Winter Conference this week met and discussed the importance of providing input into this GAO study and using the time leading up to the study’s completion deadline of Jan. 25, 2009, to ensure broad-based congressional support for a trust fund. Further details on NACWA’s advocacy for increased clean water funding and EPA’s budget will be provided in NACWA’s next Legislative Update.