» Clean Water Current Archive

November 12, 2010

NACWA Receives Key Groups’ Endorsements of Watershed Principles

The watershed approach to protecting and restoring the nation’s waters that has been promoted by NACWA’s Strategic Watershed Task Force is being formally supported by other organizations.  A document listing 12 principles to guide future legislation and policies, Principles for a Viable Watershed Approach , has received endorsement by the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), and the Environmental Law & Policy Center.  Endorsements from several other groups that participated in formulating the principles are expected soon.  The principles grew out of facilitated discussions with stakeholder groups on the NACWA- drafted 21st Century Watershed Act and constitute a consensus statement on the need to move forward with a new watershed approach.  The principles also form the basis for the groups to jointly seek hearings in Congress on a national watershed approach and then to ensure the introduction of legislation based on the 21st Century Watershed Act in the upcoming 112th Congress.

The Strategic Watershed Task Force held a conference call this week to discuss other groups that should be approached to endorse the principles and the path forward in using the principles to promote watershed legislation.  NACWA members are encouraged to share the principles document with other organizations and to contact Cynthia Finley at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with suggestions for other organizations whose endorsements would add strategic value.

NACWA Meets with EPA Officials on Stormwater Rule

NACWA met with key EPA staff on Nov. 8 to discuss the current status of the Agency’s efforts to develop a new national stormwater rule, and how NACWA can best provide additional information for consideration during the rulemaking process.   EPA staff indicated that they are currently in the process of reviewing the significant amount of data collected from the Information Collection Request (ICR) questionnaire distributed to municipal stormwater utilities over the summer, and will be using the information from the ICR responses to help guide the rule development.  Agency staff also stated that they are currently considering a wide range of potential requirements to include in the rule and are particularly focused on determining what kinds of new development and redevelopment performance standards would be appropriate for a national rule, as well as how to address the potential for retrofit requirements.   

No decisions have been made yet as to which components the rule will or will not include, and EPA expressed significant interest in hearing more from NACWA and the municipal stormwater community regarding suggestions and concerns about the rulemaking process.  NACWA will be reaching out soon to our members with specific questions on the potential rule based on requests from EPA for additional municipal input. The Association is committed to a continued dialogue with EPA over the coming months to ensure that the municipal stormwater perspective is strongly represented during the rulemaking process.   Additional information regarding the development of the rule is available on EPA’s website; further information on NACWA’s advocacy efforts regarding the rule is available on the Association’s Stormwater Management webpage.

EPA Directs Regions, States to Focus on Increased NPDES Program Integration & Oversight

EPA’s Office of Water and its Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA) have recently communicated with all EPA regions – as well as with the states – to encourage a greater integration of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program permitting and enforcement activities, as well as increased oversight of state enforcement programs where necessary.   A recent memorandum from EPA Headquarters to all regional offices emphasizes the need for additional integration of both permitting and enforcement activities in order to “more holistically identify and address significant state performance issues that might pose barriers to the protection of water quality.”  The memo discusses the need to write NPDES permits in a way that makes them more enforceable at the state level, and encourages EPA regional offices to exercise greater oversight of state NPDES programs where necessary to ensure that permitting and enforcement actions are being carried out appropriately.  The memo was then followed by a letter from EPA to the states inviting them to work with the Agency on better integration of “NPDES permitting and enforcement efforts at the federal and state levels in order to more effectively address pollution and noncompliance affecting water quality.”

These two documents are part of a continued emphasis from EPA over recent months to increase federal oversight of state permitting programs.  In particular, EPA appears concerned that the recent economic recession has lead many states to cut their budgets for environmental protection.  The Agency is stepping up its oversight of state programs in response to ensure that enforcement activities are not diminished.   These actions follow the release last year of EPA’s Clean Water Action Plan for enforcement, which also discussed the need for greater integration of permitting and enforcement activities at both the state and federal level.  NACWA submitted comments on the Action Plan and also published an Enforcement White Paper , which argued that a continued “business as usual” emphasis on enforcement actions against point source dischargers will not successfully address the nation’s growing water problems.  NACWA maintains that position and is opposed to EPA efforts to crack down on state enforcement programs unnecessarily.  NACWA will continue to convey its concern regarding enforcement issues to EPA, and will also discuss the issue with the Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), which has expressed reservations about EPA’s recent approach.  We will keep the membership updated on developments.

Work with Mayors Yields Vital Legal Report on Clean Water Act Affordability Concerns

One of the recent developments resulting from resources provided by NACWA’s Money Matters campaign is a critical position paper produced by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) on the need for EPA to interpret its wet weather affordability approach as flexibly as possible.  USCM’s 33-page report, Local Government Recommendations to Increase CSO/SSO Flexibility in Achieving Clean Water Goals , was released publicly this week and makes a persuasive legal case that EPA’s 1994 CSO Control Policy and the 1997 CSO Financial Capability Guidance were meant to produce a much more flexible approach on affordability that, unfortunately, has not generally materialized in the context of enforcement actions and negotiated settlements.  As the report states,

“The root problem is that for many cities the cost of long-term control plans to comply with the CWA [Clean Water Act] is at the limit of affordability, but the calculation of affordability is insensitive to many other demands on local government resources.  A growing information base shared by cities indicates that the costs are unnecessarily high because the EPA and DOJ [Department of Justice] are forcing prescriptive control plans.”

The report also seeks to ensure that EPA provides maximum flexibility to municipalities to use green infrastructure techniques and to balance treatment technologies and infrastructure fixes with potential carbon footprint impacts.  Additional details on this report and other Money Matters initiatives were made available to NACWA members via an Advocacy Alert earlier this week.

NACWA Meets with Key Congressional Staff with Sights on the 112th Congress

With the elections now over, focus is shifting toward preparing for the 112th Congress and a new Republican majority in the House.  As such, NACWA has begun to hold meetings with Hill staff to discuss legislative priorities, meeting with House Republican staff this week as a first step.  An array of legislative items were discussed, including requiring federal agencies to pay for local stormwater fees; urging EPA to examine how it approaches issues of financial capability and affordability; the need for legislation to ensure  a 21st century  watershed approach to solving water quality challenges; making progress toward encouraging innovative and alternative approaches to managing stormwater; and, identifying deficit-neutral approaches to funding water and wastewater infrastructure investments.  Although there will be pressure within the Republican caucus to trim spending and reduce the size the government, water quality issues will continue to demand their attention and NACWA’s advocacy on behalf of these important issues will become even more critical.   NACWA will continue to hold meetings with key staff throughout the next several weeks.

NACWA Continues to Urge Members to Provide Affordability Case Studies, Use Money Matters Messaging in Local Media Efforts

On a related note, NACWA’s Communications & Public Relations Committee held a conference call featuring Money Matters affordability case studies from three key municipalities: Akron, Ohio; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Fort Wright, Kentucky.  A document containing these and other municipal case studies is available on NACWA’s Money Matters webpage.   It is of great importance that NACWA’s members review these case studies and use them as templates to craft case studies of their own for inclusion in this key document.  These case studies, more than any other tool, demonstrate the need for EPA to take new approaches to regulatory priority-setting and affordability determinations.  Please send your case studies to NACWA’s Thea Graybill at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact her if you have any questions.  

Also, as an excellent example of the type of media outreach that the Money Matters campaign can help support, Karen Pallansch, a NACWA Board Member and General Manager of the Alexandria Sanitation Authority in Virginia, published an opinion piece in the Alexandria Gazette titled “Because Money Matters”.  The article discusses potentially enormous new costs associated with the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, stating that “[i]f the EPA overrides Virginia’s current and future plans, it could create a ripple effect costing citizens and businesses an additional $2 billion on top of the costly upgrades already in place.  This is precisely why initiatives like NACWA’s Money Matters campaign have evolved.”  
Again, NACWA encourages its members to read the Money Matters materials and, as in the case of Alexandria, use the compelling messages in your own local media outreach efforts.

NACWA Comments on Proposed Chesapeake Bay TMDL

NACWA submitted comments this week on EPA’s draft total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay that expressed concerns about the science underlying the TMDL, EPA’s requirements for load reductions from publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) – as well as municipal separate stormwater sewer systems (MS4s), and the regulatory instability created by threats of future load reductions.  The TMDL is based on complex models of the Bay and its sources of nutrient and sediment loadings.  NACWA asserted in its comments that “EPA has not provided the public with a thorough explanation of how the models work, the degree of reliability associated with the model output, and how the model’s limitations impact the TMDL.” The 45-day comment period was also not enough time for public review of the models and draft TMDL.  

The TMDL requires that states provide EPA with “reasonable assurance” in their Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) that nonpoint source loading reductions will be achieved.  NACWA argued that “reasonable assurance” is not a concept from the Clean Water Act (CWA) or EPA regulations, and EPA must acknowledge that the states have the lead on TMDL implementation.  To achieve “reasonable assurance,” EPA has reduced load allocations for point sources and threatens to continue reducing load allocations if states do not implement their WIPs or meet two-year milestones, creating regulatory instability for POTWs and MS4s.  NACWA argued that controlling nonpoint sources would be much more cost-effective, and that “neglecting proportionate controls on nonpoint sources while requiring continued reductions from POTWs and MS4s will place an unfair burden on municipal dischargers and result in a major waste of increasingly limited municipal resources.”  EPA is expected to finalize the Bay TMDL by the end of this year, and NACWA will inform members about new developments.

NACWA Provides Input on Unused Pharmaceutical Practices

NACWA submitted comments this week on EPA’s draft Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Unused Pharmaceuticals at Health Care Facilities.  EPA developed the BMPs after beginning a detailed study of the health services industry for its Effluent Guidelines Program and finding widespread support – including from NACWA – for BMPs rather than effluent guidelines.  The BMPs describe methods that health care facilities can use to reduce the amount of pharmaceutical waste and the appropriate methods of disposal for various types of drugs.  NACWA recommended that EPA “take a stronger position in the BMPs to eliminate down-the-drain disposal of unused pharmaceuticals” and provided a list of recommended revisions to the text of the BMPs to achieve this.  NACWA also recommended that EPA indicate in the BMPs that incineration is the preferred disposal method for unused pharmaceuticals, rather than disposal in a solid waste landfill. Such an indication would help ensure a reduction in pharmaceuticals that have been found in landfill leachate, which   is often sent to wastewater treatment plants.  NACWA suggested that EPA make the BMPs as user-friendly as possible, and that the Agency provide the BMPs and outreach materials to wastewater utilities to enable them to work with health care facilities in their service areas on establishing proper unused pharmaceutical disposal practices.

NACWA, Regional Members Discuss Regulatory Challenges at Kansas City Summit

NACWA staff participated this week in the second annual Clean Water Summit in Kansas City, Missouri.  Clean water agencies from Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri gathered to discuss critical clean water issues facing their utilities.  Among their top concerns were challenges associated with wet weather management, including consent decrees and an uncertain permitting environment on the issue of peak flows blending.  NACWA provided updates on key legislative and regulatory issues from the past year, as well as a glimpse at what the 112th Congress and EPA will likely focus on in the coming year.  EPA’s forthcoming decision on whether to pursue a new sanitary sewer overflow rule, its work to revamp the national regulatory framework for stormwater, pending rules on sewage sludge incinerator emissions, and numerous activities on nutrients suggest that the regulatory arena will continue to be very active into 2011.

Summit participants consistently reported that their utilities are being pressed to the limits of affordability for wet weather-related programs – and challenges like nutrient controls, new disinfection requirements, and impacts on sewage sludge incineration will further strain their budgets.  EPA Region 7, which encompasses all of the states that participated in the Summit, has been the focus of significant attention on the wet weather front.  NACWA renewed its commitment to challenge EPA’s actions on the blending issue at the appropriate time and noted that other regulatory issues, including the new Clean Air Act standards for sewage sludge incinerators and the EPA-developed nutrient criteria for Florida, would also likely require NACWA legal involvement.  As Clean Water Act-related decisions are increasingly being made at the state and local level, as opposed to in Washington, DC, NACWA also stressed that regional meetings like the Clean Water Summit as well as broader collaboration among state, regional and national organizations, will continue to play an important role in ensuring that the clean water community speaks with one voice on priority issues.