» Clean Water Current Archive

January 8, 2010

NACWA, Industry Groups Meet with White House Officials on Florida Nutrient Criteria

NACWA and representatives from the point and nonpoint source communities met with White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials this week to discuss the proposed water quality criteria for nutrients that EPA is developing for Florida.  OMB is under a tight timeframe for its review as EPA must propose the criteria by Jan. 14, under a settlement agreement with environmental plaintiffs in a Florida lawsuit.   The environmental activists alleged that EPA had failed to protect the state’s waters from nutrient impairment.  While NACWA and other stakeholders see the actions in Florida as having potential precedent for federal promulgation of criteria in other states, EPA continues to argue that Florida is unique in its need for federal action.  Environmental groups in Wisconsin, however, have already expressed their intent to follow the same path to force federal promulgation of nutrient standards in that state, and NACWA believes that it is only a matter of time before other states follow suit.

NACWA is most concerned with the methodology EPA is expected to use in developing the criteria.  Namely, the agency continues to rely on its “reference condition, percentile approach” that sets criteria for broad eco-regions based on a statistical analysis of existing nutrient concentrations.  NACWA has been highly critical of this approach because it does not factor in the actual condition of the water it is trying to protect.  While OMB is not expected to require any major changes in the draft proposal at this late date, participants in the meeting highlighted the major impacts the criteria will have and the key areas where public comment should be sought to ensure these impacts can be considered as final criteria are developed.

Three key areas were cited during the meeting:  1) EPA’s flawed methodology that does not provide a link between nutrient concentrations and actual aquatic impacts; 2) the costs to implement the new criteria, which would be substantial for both the municipal wastewater treatment and nonpoint source communities in Florida, coupled with the fact that EPA cannot ensure that the added costs will result in added environmental benefit; and, 3) the need for implementation flexibility.  Dischargers in Florida, including several NACWA members, have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to implement nutrient controls under EPA-approved total maximum daily loads (TMDLs).  These new federal criteria will require dischargers to meet more stringent nutrient levels and will require significant additional investment beyond that already made with no indication that such investment will result water quality improvements.  NACWA will comment on the proposed criteria when they are released next week.

NACWA Provides Comments on EPA Draft Strategy for Chesapeake Bay

In comments on EPA’s Draft Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay , NACWA expressed support for controlling all sources of nutrients to the Chesapeake Bay, but raised concerns with how the strategy would be enforced.  These comments reflected perspectives shared by the Association’s Strategic Watershed Task Force and member agencies located in the Chesapeake Bay states.  EPA published the Draft Strategy in response to Executive Order 13508 , in which President Obama directed EPA and other federal agencies to take responsibility for the clean-up of the bay.  The Draft Strategy outlines how the agencies intend to do this, and the associated report, The Next Generation of Tools and Actions to Restore Water Quality in the Chesapeake Bay, details how water quality improvements will be made, primarily based on the Chesapeake Bay TMDL that EPA plans to establish by December 2010.  The bay watershed states will be required to develop watershed implementation plans (WIPs) to identify how necessary load reductions will be made for both point and nonpoint sources.  NACWA’s comments state that the Association “supports the division of load reductions between point and nonpoint sources and allowing the states to determine the subdivision of needed reductions, to the extent these are accomplished in an equitable manner.”

NACWA is concerned, however, with EPA’s plans to enforce two-year milestones for the states.  These plans focus on point sources, including wastewater utilities, regardless of which sources are failing to perform nutrient load reductions.  “Instead of targeting consequences toward point sources, EPA should impose consequences on all specific sources that are not meeting their obligations to reduce nutrient loadings,” NACWA’s comments said.  NACWA also provided recommendation for improving plans contained in the Draft Strategy for reducing loads from nonpoint sources, atmospheric deposition, and stormwater runoff.

Clearly, the Chesapeake Bay effort offers a unique test case of planning and implementing a full-scale watershed approach which will both inform, and be informed by, NACWA’s effort to craft, and have Congress introduce and pass, a 21st Century Watershed Act.  NACWA will issue an Advocacy Alert next week with a detailed analysis of the EPA’s Draft Strategy and proposed Senate legislation for restoring the Chesapeake Bay, including how the Association’s initiative toward a  21st Century Watershed Act has impacted, compares to, and will interplay with, these proposals.

New Jobs Bill Is a Top Senate Priority as ARRA SRF Funding Deadline Approaches

As the jobless rate remains at 10 percent and the economy has shed an additional 85,000 jobs in December, the Senate has put a new job creation package, similar to the Jobs for Main Street Act (HR 2487) that was passed by the House last year, at the top of its priority list.   During meetings this week,  including with the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), NACWA received confirmation that the effort will be a top Senate priority once lawmakers return to the Capitol on Jan. 20 and they complete their work on health care reform.

With this in mind, NACWA continues to work with Senate leadership to increase the $1 billion provided by the U.S. House of Representatives in HR 2487 for clean water infrastructure.  NACWA is seeking a minimum of at least $4 billion - the level that clean water infrastructure funding received in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).   A recent survey  showing $21 billion in ready-to-go clean water projects would benefit from immediate financing was recently released by the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA) and the Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities (CIFA).  This figure takes into account funds already provided by the ARRA and the fiscal year 2010 appropriations process.

On a related front, the one-year anniversary of  the passage of the ARRA is fast approaching, which means that on February 17, 2010 any clean water state revolving fund (CWSRF) dollars from the ARRA that are not under contract  will be reallocated by EPA to states that have obligated all of their allotted funds.  During the last week of December, EPA released a memo  outlining the process that will be utilized for this re-allocation.  We recommend that agencies who have received funds or are interested in funding review this closely.  If you are receiving ARRA CWSRF funds it is imperative that these projects be under contract or under construction in the coming weeks.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Pat Sinicropi or John Krohn at 202/833-2672.

NACWA Recommends Changes to Proposed Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule

NACWA reiterated its objections to regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and made other recommendations in Dec. 28 comments  on EPA’s proposed GHG tailoring rule.  EPA proposed the rule in anticipation of its regulation of GHG emissions from light-duty motor vehicles, which will set in motion rules for controlling GHGs from stationary sources that emit more than 100 tons per year (tpy) of certain “criteria” pollutants specified in the CAA.  Because the universe of stationary sources that would be subject to the GHG regulations is so large, permitting authorities would be completely overwhelmed.  EPA has therefore proposed “tailoring” the CAA thresholds for GHGs, recommending a level of 25,000 tpy carbon dioxide equivalent.  While NACWA disagrees with regulation of GHGs under the CAA, it supports this tailoring approach.  NACWA believes, however, that the 25,000 tpy threshold is still too low, and stated in its comments that “it would be prudent for EPA to choose a higher initial threshold rather than have the permitting system overwhelmed by huge numbers of applications for GHG emissions.”

NACWA also urged EPA to provide better guidance for determining if a facility meets the threshold for GHG emissions.  The proposed tailoring rule states that EPA’s annual GHG inventory should be used to calculate a source’s emissions, but as NACWA explained, “the Inventory is meant to provide a national estimate of GHG emissions from various emitter categories, not to provide a method for calculating GHG emissions from individual sources.”  Discrepancies also exist between CAA requirements and the methods used in the inventory for calculating emissions.  It is not clear whether biogenic emissions are omitted from the tailoring rule, as they are in the inventory, or how fugitive emissions should be counted.  NACWA will continue to follow developments in the regulation of GHG emissions and inform members about how these regulations will affect wastewater utilities.

NACWA Weighs in with EPA on New National Drug Disposal Guidelines

NACWA sent a letter  to EPA this week, expressing concern about a new set of recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the disposal of unused pharmaceuticals.  The new FDA guidelines, which include a list of drugs recommended for flushing, will only complicate NACWA member efforts to educate their communities on the importance of source control and the availability of other, more environmentally-friendly alternatives for disposing of unused pharmaceuticals.  NACWA will write to the FDA directly about these concerns, but alerted EPA first because of FDA’s assertion in the guidelines that flushing these pharmaceuticals will have little or no human health or environmental impact.  NACWA believes EPA is the appropriate agency to make such a finding after consulting with other agencies, including FDA.

NACWA noted that while there is a very real potential for accidents or diversion of prescription medication for illicit use, making such broad statements of relative risk, and basing national guidelines on those statements, is problematic unless all of the necessary analyses have been done.  EPA’s water quality standards program generally does not consider relative risk.  NACWA is concerned about the potential for a situation where one federal agency recommends the flushing of pharmaceuticals while another mandates the installation of technology at clean water agencies to remove those same compounds from their wastewater or solids.  NACWA highlighted the need for a consistent message from the federal government regarding the disposal of pharmaceuticals.  If it is determined that a risk trade-off is truly needed whereby potential environmental impacts would be accepted in order to prevent accidental ingestion, then this decision needs to be made collectively by all federal agencies and the policy applied consistently.

EPA to Hold Listening Sessions on Proposed Stormwater Rulemaking

EPA announced in a Dec. 28  Federal Register notice  that it will conduct a series of public listening sessions and seek written comments to guide its development of a new national stormwater rule.  NACWA will speak at the Washington, D.C., listening session and will submit comments to advocate on behalf of the Association’s stormwater and clean water utilities during this important rulemaking process.  EPA is seeking input from the public regarding existing stormwater control practices and as well as comment on some of EPA’s preliminary considerations for modifying and supplementing the existing federal stormwater regulations.  The agency will be accepting public comment at listening sessions at the following locations:

• January 19, 2010 – Chicago, Ill.
• January 20, 2010 – San Francisco, Calif.
• January 25, 2010 – Denver, Colo.
• January 26, 2010 – Dallas, Texas
• January 28, 2010 – Washington, D.C.

While NACWA will be participating in the Washington, D.C. listening session, member agencies are encouraged to participate in sessions nearest them to ensure their specific concerns are heard.  EPA will also be accepting written comments until Feb. 26.  NACWA’s Stormwater Management Committee will meet Feb. 5 at the Winter Conference in Austin, Texas, to discuss the content of the Association’s comments.  NACWA’s January Wet Weather Advocacy Outlook also provides additional information on EPA’s request for public comments on the stormwater rule proposal.

Those wishing to participate in any of the listening sessions must register with EPA by Jan. 15.  More information on registering for the listening sessions and on EPA’s proposed stormwater rulemaking process can be found on the Agency’s stormwater website.

Register Today for NACWA Flow Series & 2010 Winter Conference in Austin

Join your clean water colleagues for the following offerings – additional information and registration is available on NACWA’s website:

• NACWA’s Flow Series of web seminars begins Jan. 13!  Join us Wednesday for our first web seminar - Stormwater Management: What Really Works? at 2:00 pm (EST) with an engaging presentation looking at the latest trends in stormwater management and providing important information for both stormwater and clean water utilities.  Melissa Keeley, an expert on stormwater management and a professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., will be the featured speaker and will examine both the challenge of billing for stormwater services and the potential for stormwater billing techniques to be used to encourage on-site stormwater management.  This web seminar, along with the other seminars in the FLOW Series, will provide timely and relevant information for all of NACWA’s members.  Register for all four seminars for only $800 and engage all the key members of your staff in this unique offering.   Can’t make all four?  Don’t worry — you can pick and choose which seminars to attend for only $250/each.  Visit NACWA’s website for registration information.

• Time is running out to register for NACWA’s 2010 Winter Conference: Transcending Tradition… The Expanding Roles & Relationships of the Clean Water Utility, Feb. 2-5 in Austin, Texas.  This year’s program will examine the new roles clean water agencies are assuming while putting those roles into context as utilities continue to deal with an aging workforce, tough economic times, and growing capital program challenges.  Make your hotel reservation by Jan. 13 by calling the Four Seasons Austin at 512/478-4500. After that deadline, NACWA must release all unreserved rooms, and reservations will be accepted only if space is available.   A discounted registration rate is available for public utilities that send multiple employees.  Registrants wishing to take advantage of this offer must submit a paper registration form and submit their registration forms together.  To make sure you are included on the Winter Conference participants' list, NACWA must receive your registration by Wednesday, Jan. 20.  To register, click here for the online registration form, or here  for a PDF version of the form.  Visit NACWA’s website today for a detailed conference agenda and additional information on the 2010 Winter Conference.

Nomination Process for NACWA’s Peak Performance Awards Underway

NACWA member agencies are encouraged to submit their nominations for the 2009 Peak Performance Awards as soon as possible.  As announced in this week’s Member Update 10-01 , the Peak Performance Awards program acknowledges member agency facilities for excellence in wastewater treatment as measured by their compliance with their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements.  The deadline for submissions is April 9.  More information on the Peak Performance Award program, including its standards and how to apply, can be found at www.nacwa.org/peakperformance.

NACWA Continues to Seek Information on Satellite Collection Agencies

In a Dec. 2 Special Edition Current, NACWA asked Member Agencies to facilitate the Association’s outreach to the collection system community by providing contact information for the systems for which they provide wastewater services.  We are appreciative of the many agencies that have submitted this information – and continue to encourage all Members to compile and submit this information to the Association.  The information (names, titles and contact info.) may be provided in a Microsoft Word or Excel spreadsheet file to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  NACWA has broadened its membership to include public satellite collection systems, as well as stormwater management agencies, and the addition of these communities to our potential member outreach will ensure the Association is in the best position to move forward consistent with its strategic objectives – placing holistic, watershed-based approaches to water quality improvements at the top of our priorities.  Thank you again for your assistance.