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August 22, 2014 NACWA Meets with EPA on New Clean Water SRF RequirementsNACWA met this week with key EPA staff to discuss their recently released Draft Interpretive Guidance EPA’s overall position was that the Draft Guidance seeks to defer much of the implementation of the new requirements to states in an effort to ensure that it does not impose any undue burdens that would slow the loan approval process down. Overall, the meeting was very positive. In line with the requirements in WRRDA, EPA is working on an updated CWSRF formula report due out by the end of 2015 that could form the basis for determining updated state-by-state CWSRF funding allotments. EPA is very concerned, however, that an excessive reliance on the most recent Clean Water Needs Survey would be unfair because some states did not fully participate in the survey and the results, therefore, could skew the fairness of a new state-by-state funding formula. EPA also raised the potential of doing a broader CWSRF implementation rulemaking in 2016 but this is still at an initial discussion phase at EPA. Discussion also focused on WRRDA’s provision allowing public agencies to work with their states to restructure existing SRF loans – or structure new ones - as 30 year loans, which could be a major boon for utilities. Several participants at the meeting thought this could result in tens of billions of dollars of existing CWSRF debt being refinanced. NACWA will share the comments it is developing for EPA with the membership next week. The comment deadline is Tuesday, August 26 and members are encouraged to send comments to EPA and to Hannah Mellman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . EPA’s Sufficiently Sensitive Test Methods Rule Becomes Effective on September 18EPA’s final Sufficiently Sensitive Test Methods Rule NACWA provided comments NACWA Participates in the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information’s Annual MeetingThe Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) held its annual meeting in Virginia this week to discuss progress made over the year and gain consensus on new initiatives. These initiatives include the Open Water Data Initiative ACWI is chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act and is composed of about 30 major organizations representing the states, municipalities, federal government, private sector, technical societies, universities, public interest groups, and others. ACWI ensures that vital information about water management and environmental protection is made available to fully inform federal decision-making. Jim Pletl, the Director of Water Quality at the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, is NACWA’s designated representative to ACWI and participated in this week’s meeting. Water Quality Trading Alliance, NACWA Meet with Top EPA Office of Water OfficialsNACWA, as part of the U.S. Water Quality Trading Alliance (USWQTA), met with EPA staff on Thursday to discuss recent developments in water quality trading (WQT) and how the Agency can help advance WQT efforts. Ken Kopocis, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water, attended along with other EPA staff from the Office of Water. The meeting introduced the USWQTA and its members to EPA, reaffirmed the importance of the Agency’s support of trading as a watershed-based approach – and determined action items EPA and the Alliance can work on together over the next year. NACWA provided an overview of a soon-to-be finalized Memorandum of Understanding the Association is signing in September with the National Milk Producers Federation. This innovative partnership approach will serve as the foundation for collaboration in making watershed-level water quality improvements - a concept that received enthusiastic support from the Agency on Thursday. US Water Alliance Issues Report on Collaboration Between Ag and Water SectorThis week, the US Water Alliance (USWA) issued a report highlighting common ground and innovative strategies between agriculture and water and wastewater utilities to reduce nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin. Coming Together to Protect Mississippi River Watersheds: Agriculture and Water Sector Collaboration for Nutrient Progress (August 2014) embodies the discussions and recommendations of agriculture, wastewater, and drinking water leaders, with participation from environmental, academic and scientific, business, local, state, and federal agency interests. Several NACWA members participated in the dialogues including NACWA Board member David St. Pierre who heads the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, David Taylor with the Madison Metropolitan Sanitation District, and Steven Hershner with the City of Cedar Rapids. NACWA was instrumental in launching the effort that resulted in this report when it undertook the Healthy Waters Initiative (HWI) spotlighting the need to work with the agricultural sector to do more to control nutrient run-off from agricultural lands. Through this initiative, NACWA helped the USWA solicit support from the McKnight Foundation, the Johnson Foundation and the AGree Initiative to convene a series of dialogues between the municipal water/wastewater sector and the agricultural community to discuss the water quality challenge posed by excessive nutrients in surface waters in the ten border states along the Mississippi River. The initiative, most importantly, focused on collaborative solutions to address this daunting challenge. Blog of the Week: With Crisis Comes Opportunity – a Focus on ToledoToledo’s algae incident has already sparked a national dialogue on the undeniable value of water and the need to effectively address the remaining and evolving challenges to our nation’s water quality. From this crisis we must seize this unique opportunity, because such moments are fleeting: the tap water is already flowing again and there are a great many things competing for the attention of the American public and their elected officials. What can you do to ensure clean water remains at the top of the agenda? Read on or better yet – subscribe! Jazz it Up at WEFTEC!Join NACWA and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) on Tuesday, September 30 for the Utility Leaders Morning at WEFTEC ’14 in New Orleans, La. Start your day with NACWA’s Hot Topics Breakfast (8:00 am – 9:45 am in the Morial Convention Center - Rooms 275 – 277) featuring discussions of the latest water issues including sustainable rates and water utility resilience. In addition, top EPA Office of Water officials will be on hand to provide updates on the recent revisions to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the new Water Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Authority (WIFIA) loan guaranty program, as well as the latest developments on integrated planning and affordability, the Waters of the U.S. rulemaking, and new water quality criteria expected to have an impact on the clean water community. RSVP today at www.nacwa.org/14htb. In addition, following the success of previous years, the Hot Topics Breakfast will be followed by WEF’s Utility Executives Forum (10:00 am – 12:00 pm, Morial Convention Center Rooms 275 – 277). This year’s Forum will discuss rebranding water utilities as resource recovery facilities. Harlan Kelly, Jr, General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and Tom Sigmund, Executive Director of NEW Water, will share their personal perspectives and experiences applying similar ideas to branding their utilities. RSVP today at Register Today for NACWA’s Upcoming Web Seminars:
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on the suite of changes made to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program through the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA). DC-area NACWA members, led by Karen Pallansch, Chief Executive Officer of Alexandria Renew Enterprises and NACWA President, as well as representatives from DC Water and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, generally applauded the changes but focused on a number of concerns with the new requirements. Discussion focused on the new “fiscal sustainability plans” that must now be developed as part of the loan application process which, depending on how EPA and the states implement the requirement, could be an intensive process for utilities, especially medium and small utilities. Other requirements regarding energy and water efficiency planning were also called out by the public utility representatives.