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To: Members & Affiliates; Regulatory Policy Committee
From: National Office
Date: April 9, 2009

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is pleased to provide you with the April 2009 Regulatory Update. This Update provides a narrative summary of relevant regulatory issues and actions current to April 9, 2009. 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 or Cynthia Finley at 202/296-9836 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions or information on the Update topics..

Top Story

NACWA Evaluates EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule

EPA’s proposed rule to establish a massive new reporting regime for greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sectors is expected to be published in the Federal Register on April 10. EPA is providing a 60-day comment period, which will start as soon as the proposal is published. During a public hearing on the rule April 6-7 in Arlington, Virginia, a request was made to extend the comment deadline. EPA, however, continues to express its intent to finalize the rule by the end of the calendar year so that data collection can begin in 2010 for reporting in 2011. The proposed reporting rule excludes the wastewater treatment process because the estimated emissions from the treatment process, as detailed in a technical support document accompanying the proposal, are generally not expected to exceed the reporting threshold of 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalents annually at any plant.

The rule will apply to electricity generating units, boilers, and sewage sludge incinerators that clean water agencies operate, but utilities will need to estimate whether their burning of fossil fuels in these units trips the reporting threshold. These “stationary fuel combustion sources” that produce electricity or heat, or that reduce waste volume by burning, among other things, fossil fuels, biogas, and sewage sludge, are a specific category targeted by the reporting rule. Emergency generation and backup equipment is not included in the proposal. The key to whether these specific practices may be subject to reporting is the threshold of 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalents annually. The rule provides a series of equations and assumptions that must be used to determine whether emissions need to be reported. NACWA is evaluating the applicability of the rule to determine its scope and impact on the clean water community and will be working with its Climate Change and Air Quality Committee and Biosolids Management Committee to provide members with more information.

In a related matter, EPA announced the release of the public review draft Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2007 (Inventory) in a March 10 Federal Register notice . In January, NACWA submitted comments on the expert review draft of the Inventory, outlining how to more accurately estimate emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from municipal wastewater treatment. NACWA’s Critical Issues Action Initiative (CIAI) has provided the funding for these comments and for NACWA’s continued work on the Inventory. NACWA met with EPA on April 3 to discuss the Association’s expert review comments and will submit comments about the public review draft today.

Air Quality

EPA Amends Performance Standards for Stationary Turbines Burning Biogas

In a March 20 Federal Register notice , EPA announced revisions to the new source performance standards for stationary combustion turbines burning biogas, eliminating the requirement for additional sulfur dioxide emissions controls. The performance standards in subpart KKKK of 40 CFR part 60, issued in 2006, currently requires operators of biogas-burning turbines to pretreat the biogas in order to remove the sulfur before combustion or to use post-combustion emissions controls for sulfur dioxide. The cost of these controls outweighs the environmental benefits, however, and EPA does not want to discourage combustion of biogas to generate electricity, since this Agency prefers that biogas be captured and reused rather than vented or flared. The amendment to the performance standards will take effect on May 19, unless EPA receives relevant adverse comment by April 20.

Emerging Contaminants

NACWA Briefed on EPA Study of Emerging Contaminants at POTWs

NACWA met March 18 with EPA officials who are working to finalize a report on a multi-year sampling effort at nine POTWs examining influent and effluent concentrations of emerging contaminants (including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, steroids/hormones, flame retardants, pesticides, and alkylphenol ethoxylates). EPA’s report, which will be released early this summer, will contain all of the analytical results and detailed information on each of the nine plants, including full treatment diagrams. EPA indicated during the meeting that it will report on its observations from the study effort, but not draw any conclusions based on the analytical results due to the small number of POTWs and limited number of samples at each plant. Nevertheless, the report is expected to garner significant interest when it is released and has already captured the attention of the Associated Press, which is currently working on another national story on pharmaceuticals in water.

EPA’s selection of the POTWs for sampling was not random and will not represent the characteristics of a typical secondary treatment plant. In fact, EPA sought out POTWs with a range of treatment levels, including plants with advanced treatment and a variety of disinfection processes. EPA also evaluated different sludge ages to determine whether longer detention times would affect removal of the contaminants. When the EPA sampling study began several years ago, the Agency focused on POTWs with a large industrial component. The original intent of the study was to collect data on more than emerging contaminants, including priority pollutants, in an effort to provide new information that might update the decades-old ‘50 POTW’ study that has been used as the basis for pretreatment standards development. Midway through the study, however, EPA noted that it was not finding many of the emerging contaminants, either because the high industrial flows were diluting the influent or because their analytical methods were not performing well. At that point, EPA worked to refine its analytical methods and began to focus solely on emerging contaminants and to target treatment plants with more residential flows, specifically targeting areas such as retirement communities where prescription drug use may be higher.

EPA has not decided whether it will conduct an external peer review of the report before it is released, but NACWA has indicated that it would like the opportunity to review the report before it is finalized. EPA also noted that it will soon release an online database comprised of information from a search of current literature on influent/effluent concentrations and removals of emerging contaminants using various wastewater treatment technologies. The database will be publicly accessible and should be available later this spring.

NACWA Comments on Nanosilver Petition, Meets with Silver Institute

NACWA submitted comments to EPA on March 20 in response to a petition filed by the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) and other groups requesting that the Agency regulate nanoscale silver (“nanosilver”) as a new pesticide. The petition was filed in May 2008, and EPA requested public comment on it in a November 19, 2008, Federal Register notice . As stated in the comments, “NACWA supports the petition’s request that EPA further assess the potential impacts of nanoscale silver and strengthen how the Agency addresses products with clear pesticidal properties in the registration process.”

ICTA filed the petition in response to the growing number of products using nanosilver as an antimicrobial, asking EPA to analyze the environmental and human health risks of nanosilver and take regulatory actions against existing nanosilver products under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

While pretreatment programs can control the silver discharged from industrial and commercial sources, POTWs have no control over nanosilver released from consumer products. Since little is known about how nanosilver affects the environment or the wastewater treatment process, NACWA recommended that EPA study these effects.

NACWA has long been concerned about silver released into the sewer system, and in 2006, NACWA asked EPA to require pesticide registration for consumer products, such as washing machines, that release silver ions into the sewer system. In response, EPA clarified its position in a September 21, 2007, Federal Register notice , stating that this silver ion-generating equipment is regulated as a pesticide and requires registration. Manufacturers may still avoid registration, however, if they eliminate explicit antimicrobial claims from product information. “NACWA agrees with the ICTA petition’s request that EPA close this regulatory gap for nanoscale silver and silver ion-generating products,” the comments stated. NACWA will keep members informed about EPA’s response to the petition and public comments.

NACWA staff met March 31 with representatives of the Silver Institute, an industry group representing all facets of silver’s production and use. The Institute believes that concern over silver nanoparticles is being overstated due to the unknown impacts of nanoparticles in general. The Institute plans to share with NACWA results from recent studies showing that nanosilver does not behave differently than other forms of silver. NACWA noted that its concerns are not focused only on nanosilver, but on the use of silver generally in consumer products and the inability of clean water agencies to control these sources of silver. NACWA will maintain a dialogue with the Institute as the issue develops further.

NACWA Comments on Antimicrobial Pesticide Data Requirements

NACWA submitted comments April 3 to EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs on a suite of new and revised data requirements for antimicrobial pesticides. NACWA’s comments supported EPA’s proposal to require additional data on the impacts of antimicrobial pesticides on the wastewater treatment process and the environment when a pesticide is first registered for use with the Agency or during the registration review process. The comments noted that POTWs are not designed to remove pesticides and that treatment plant effluent and biosolids have been found to contain pesticide residues. NACWA highlighted the importance of source control for discharges of harmful substances as the best option for ensuring that adverse environmental impacts are avoided, stating that effective evaluation of the true impacts of pesticides during the registration process is necessary to assess whether the manufacture and use of these substances will negatively affect the environment and the wastewater treatment process at POTWs. NACWA’s letter also provided more detailed comments on the proposed tiered assessment methodology and highlighted where additional testing and consideration of impacts (including in land-applied biosolids) may be warranted. The proposed data requirements will only impact a small quantity of the antimicrobials in use and NACWA will continue to press for more aggressive assessments of water quality impacts associated with EPA-approved chemicals and pesticides.

Meetings and Conferences

National Clean Water Policy Forum to Feature New Policy Leaders

Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality who advises President Obama on environmental policy, has confirmed that she will speak at the 2009 National Clean Water Policy Forum on May 5. Sponsored by NACWA and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Policy Forum will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, May 3-6, and will feature other top-notch speakers including Joseph Romm, editor of climateprogress.org and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who was named by U.S. News and World Report as one of the eight “most influential energy and environment policymakers in the Obama era.” An agenda and registration information for the Policy Forum are available on NACWA’s website. The Forum provides a unique opportunity to hear the latest federal legislative, regulatory, and legal developments straight from those who influence and craft national policy. In addition to the program of invited speakers, Forum attendees will have the opportunity to discuss specific clean water issues with staff from EPA and other federal agencies during the Technical Roundtable Breakfast. Contact the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel directly at 202/347-3000 to reserve your hotel room by April 14 at the special conference rate of $285 single/double.

NPDES Permitting

NACWA Advocacy Helps Lead to Repeal of EPA Permit Fee Rule

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced March 23 that the Agency will rescind its controversial permit fee rule, consistent with NACWA’s advocacy against the measure. The rule, first proposed in late 2006 and issued in final form in late 2008, would have provided a financial incentive to states that funded at least 75 percent of their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program through permit fees charged to regulated entities. NACWA joined with a variety of municipal, industry, and state associations to fight the proposal, filing comments in opposition to the rule and arguing that a shift to a fee-based approach would place a significant economic burden on clean water utilities. In response to these efforts, Congress inserted report language in EPA’s FY 2008 budget specifically blocking implementation of the proposal. However, EPA officials under the Bush administration disregarded this language and signaled their intention to go ahead with the rule by publishing it in the Federal Register in September 2008. Jackson’s decision to repeal the rule suggests the Obama administration will take a more pragmatic approach regarding funding for the NPDES program and reflects the effectiveness of the important advocacy work of NACWA and other stakeholder groups on this critical issue. NACWA will continue to report on any future developments.

Security and Emergency Preparedness

EPA to Host Risk Management Plan Webinar

EPA has scheduled a webinar for facilities that must submit Risk Management Plans (RMPs) to explain RMP*eSubmit, a new web-based, electronic system that allows facilities to submit, correct, and access their RMPs online. The webinar will be held on April 13 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm Eastern time and will include a presentation on the RMP*eSubmit process and will allow time for questions and answers. Utilities interested in joining the webinar should visit the webinar website at least ten minutes before it begins. Questions about the webinar should be directed to Dayna Gibbons at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or to Dana Robinson at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .