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The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is pleased to provide you with the December – January 2012 Regulatory Update.  This Update provides a narrative summary of relevant regulatory issues and actions current to the end of January 2012.  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 202/533-1836 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 Participates in First EPA Integrated Planning Workshop

The first of five workshops on EPA’s integrated planning framework took place January 31 in Atlanta, Georgia.  Representatives from NACWA, the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the states, and several environmental groups participated in the meeting, along with more than 50 observers.  Following presentations from EPA, the stakeholder representatives participated in facilitated discussions on the framework principles and elements as well as implementation issues.  All of the stakeholders during the workshop generally supported the objective of EPA’s framework  – to provide communities with greater flexibility to plan and prioritize their Clean Water Act investments – but most of the comments raised concerns and questions about how it would all work.  EPA stressed its desire to keep the framework short to avoid being overly prescriptive, but most stakeholders agreed that it would benefit from additional detail in certain areas and that additional guidance, particularly on the metrics for comparing the costs and benefits of different clean water projects, might be needed.

There was significant discussion around the issue of financial capability and how that would be determined through the integrated planning process.  EPA stressed that there is “no single answer” on the affordability issue and that EPA is trying to get away from the idea that there is a minimum amount that must be spent or a threshold that must be met.  A top concern for NACWA has been ensuring that any integrated planning effort begins with an evaluation of the underlying water quality standard to determine whether it is attainable.  During the workshop, EPA raised this issue and noted the important role of use attainability analyses and other existing Clean Water Act tools.  EPA indicated during the Atlanta workshop that it hopes to finalize the integrated planning framework by the end of March, which would provide communities who choose to do so with a green light to begin to develop their integrated plans.

The next workshop will take place on Monday, February 6 in New York City, followed by workshops in Seattle (February 13), Kansas City, Kansas (February 15), and Chicago (February 17).  NACWA will be participating in each of the workshops and will send EPA written comments by the February 29 deadline.  A working draft of NACWA’s comments on EPA’s draft integrated planning framework is available for use by those members planning to participate in the upcoming Agency workshops.  EPA is asking all observers to pre-register via their website to ensure they have sufficient space for everyone.  NACWA encourages its members to register and attend these workshops.

Air Quality

EPA Proposes Rule and Reconsideration of Boiler Emission Standards

EPA published two proposals in the December 23 Federal Register on the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for area source and major source boilers that would reconsider and clarify aspects of the final rules that were published on March 21, 2011.  After publication of the final rules, EPA announced its intention to reconsider parts of the rules, and later also postponed the effective dates of the final rule for major source boilers until either the Agency’s reconsideration or judicial review was completed.  The December 23 proposals ask for public comment on specific portions of the final rules for area and major source boilers, and also propose amendments and technical corrections to clarify the final rules.  NACWA and its Air Quality Workgroup are currently reviewing the proposals and will submit comments, if needed, by the February 21 deadline.  NACWA members should send any input on the proposals to Cynthia Finley at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Biosolids Management

NACWA Meets with EPA Deputy Administrator, Urges Agency to Reconsider Incineration Rule

NACWA staff and member representatives met December 20 with EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe to urge the Agency to reconsider its rule imposing stringent new air emission standards on sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs).  Arguing that the Agency developed the rule based on a flawed interpretation of the Clean Air Act (CAA), NACWA outlined its arguments as to why reconsideration is warranted.  The Deputy Administrator was joined by other key EPA staff including Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air & Radiation, as well as representatives from the Office of Water, Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Recovery, and Office of General Counsel.  The rule, Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources and Emission Guidelines for Existing Sources: Sewage Sludge Incineration Units, was finalized in March.  NACWA petitioned EPA for reconsideration of the rule in May and filed a petition for judicial review in June.  EPA has not formally responded to the Association’s petition for reconsideration.

Bringing the issue to the Deputy Administrator level was critical so that the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act issues raised by the rulemaking could be considered by Perciasepe, who can assert authority over all EPA offices and programs.  As a follow-up to the meeting, NACWA sent a December 22 letter to Mr. Perciasepe thanking him for his time and consideration of the Association’s petition.  While NACWA expects to hear back from Perciasepe soon, the Association is preparing to file in February the initial brief in its legal challenge to the EPA rule.  EPA is not required to respond to NACWA’s administrative petition for reconsideration, but the Agency will be forced to lay out its reasoning for not making changes to the rule as the legal case proceeds.

Conferences and Meetings

Join NACWA in L.A. for the 2012 Winter Conference

Join your clean water colleagues February 12 – 15, 2012 at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza, for Watershed Moment in the Making...Conquering the Challenges of the New Regulatory Frontier.  This year’s Winter Conference program will focus on the increasing regulatory requirements clean water utilities are facing and the emerging suite of creative and ahead-of-the-curve solutions and strategies being employed to address these regulatory pressures.  Registration for NACWA’s Conference, the agenda , and a registered participants list are available for download.  Be sure to call or make reservations online with the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza at 213.617.3300.  Visit www.nacwa.org/12winter for more details.

Save the Date for NACWA’s Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Workshop

Start making your plans now for the only conference designed exclusively for pretreatment professionals, NACWA’s National Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Workshop, May 9-11, in Pensacola, Florida.  The Workshop will feature presentations by EPA staff, case studies on emerging issues for pretreatment programs, and several networking sessions.  The group rate of $139 per night at the Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front Hotel is available for reservations made by Tuesday, April 17.  More information, including a draft agenda, will be posted soon on NACWA’s website.

NACWA Brings Clean Water Message to the Regions

NACWA shared its perspectives on the top national water issues with members and other clean water community stakeholders in January at the New England Water Environment Association’s (NEWEA) meeting in Boston, and at the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA) meeting in San Leandro, California.  Though each of these regions face unique challenges, the mounting regulatory burden – combined with the current economic situation – is highlighting the need for new ways to ensure water quality throughout the country.  One of the top discussion items at both meetings was EPA’s new integrated municipal planning initiative, which the Agency hopes will provide an alternative, more common-sense approach to meeting the goals of the CWA.

The combined efforts of NACWA’s Money Matters…Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water™ campaign and coordinated advocacy from communities and regional wastewater groups across the country spurred the development of EPA’s integrated planning framework.  While many details regarding EPA’s new initiative remain unclear, this action by EPA underscores the importance of continued collaboration at the national, regional and state levels.  Recognizing the economic challenges facing the clean water community, and the importance of speaking with one voice on key issues, NACWA will continue its efforts to reach out to state and regional groups and broaden its access to public agency perspectives from across the country.

Energy-Water Nexus

NACWA Joins Groups Urging Funding Boost to WaterSense Program

More than 100 organizations from a wide array of interests, including NACWA, sent a January 5 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging the Agency to “provide a small but meaningful increase in funding for the WaterSense Program” as the Agency makes allocation decisions under its Fiscal Year 2012 budget.  The letter focuses on the benefits of the program in underscoring and incentivizing water and energy-efficient products and points to how much the program has accomplished despite being modestly funded.  The letter calls for additional funding of $500,000, which would be a 20 percent increase to the program’s FY 2011 level.  Even such a modest increase, the letter states, would allow “additional product specifications, market research, partner collaboration, and program documentation.”  NACWA has been a WaterSense partner since the program’s inception in 2006.

NPDES Permitting

EPA Releases DMR Pollutant Loading Tool for Accessing Wastewater Pollutant Discharge Information

EPA has just released a new tool that allows the public to find important information about the pollutants that are released into local waterways.  The Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) Pollutant Loading Tool compiles millions of sampling records and allows for easy searching of annual pollutant discharges by local area, watershed, company, industry sector, and pollutant. The DMR Pollutant Loading Tool is a new tool designed to provide information about dischargers, the type and quantity of pollutants discharged, and the location of discharge.  The tool calculates loadings as pounds and toxic-weighted pounds from permit and DMR data in EPA's data systems (PCS and ICIS-NPDES).  EPA has designed the new tool for two main audiences: 1) members of the general public (concerned citizens, researchers), and 2) technical users (permit writers, watershed modelers, and regulatory agencies).  The DMR Pollutant Loading tool and instructions on how to navigate the tool can be found on EPA’s website.  NACWA members with comments or concerns about the new tool should contact Cynthia Finley at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Nutrients

NACWA Urges EPA to Collect Comprehensive CAFO Information

NACWA submitted comments January 19 on a proposal by EPA to collect information about concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).  EPA stated in the proposal –  which stems from a settlement with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Waterkeeper Alliance, and the Sierra Club –  that “complete and accurate information [from CAFOs] allows governments, regulated communities, interest groups, and the public to make more informed decisions regarding ways to protect the environment.”  EPA proposed two options for collecting information:  1) require reporting of information from all CAFOs in the U.S., or 2) identify specific watersheds where CAFO discharges may be causing water quality concerns and obtain information only from CAFOs in these areas.  NACWA recommended in its comments that EPA use the first option to obtain “a complete cross-section of data that will provide for comparisons of CAFO operations across the country.”

NACWA also urged EPA to collect the complete list of 14 information items listed in the settlement agreement.  In the proposal, EPA recommends asking for only five items, which would exclude important information regarding the quantity of manure, process wastewater, and litter generated by CAFOs; the nutrient management and record-keeping practices used by the CAFO if it land-applies its waste; and alternate uses of CAFO waste.  As NACWA stated, “compared to the information required from POTWs and other point sources, these 14 items in the settlement agreement are certainly not overly onerous.”  NACWA also emphasized the importance of addressing all pollution sources to improve water quality.  NACWA will notify members when EPA finalizes this proposal and will keep members informed about other regulatory and legislative initiatives to control pollution from agricultural sources as developments occur.

Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention

NACWA Continues to Work with GAO on Effluent Guidelines Study

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is currently working on a study of EPA’s effluent limitation guidelines (ELG) program, at the request of Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee.  NACWA first spoke with GAO about this study in September 2011, and the Association is continuing to provide information to GAO as their work progresses.  Although GAO is still refining the scope of their work, the study will likely include an examination of what can be done to improve the EPA’s process of screening industries for ELG review and development.  GAO is also expected to study the effectiveness of pretreatment standards over the last couple of decades.  Some of the issues that EPA is exploring in the hydraulic fracturing area may also be dealt with in the report.  NACWA members with any comments on these topics or on the ELG program in general should provide input to Cynthia Finley at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Security and Emergency Preparedness

Water Sector Associations Discuss Incident Reporting with DHS

NACWA, the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), the National Rural Water Association (NRWA), and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) met with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff on January 25 to discuss the reporting of security-related incidents at drinking water and wastewater utilities.  The associations and DHS discussed potential strategies to improve the reporting of incidents to the appropriate agencies and the dissemination of useful information to utilities.  While some incidents at utilities are reported in the media, others are not.  Utilities should be aware that suspicious activity continues to occur, and all incidents – regardless of the scope or presumed credibility – should be reported.  The water sector associations plan to release a joint statement to their members in the coming weeks with further information about suspicious activity and incident reporting.  Please contact Cynthia Finley at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions you may have.

NACWA Security Committee to Meet via Web on February 23

The NACWA Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee will have a web-based meeting on Thursday, February 23, from 2:00-3:30 pm Eastern, to discuss a variety of security-related issues, including incident reporting (see story above).  Participation in the virtual committee meeting is complimentary, but pre-registration for the meeting is required.  Please see NACWA’s Security and Emergency Preparedness webpage for a link to registration.  An agenda for the meeting will also be posted on this webpage and emailed to Committee members prior to the meeting.  Agenda items will likely include a case study on utility response to a natural disaster and the opportunities for utilities available through the DHS Enhanced Critical Infrastructure Protection (ECIP) program.  All NACWA public utility members are encouraged to participate in the virtual meeting and have a representative join the Security & Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Water Quality

NACWA to Comment on Revised Recreational Water Quality Criteria

EPA’s long-awaited revisions to its 1986 criteria for recreational waters were released in draft form on December 21, 2011.  The criteria values themselves are identical to the 1986 criteria, but there are a few notable differences that may have implications for clean water agencies.  First, EPA is recommending that these criteria be used for all coastal and inland waters designated for primary contact recreation, whether or not there are designated swimming areas or beaches.  All coastal recreation waters have had to meet the 1986 criteria – which are based on E. coli and enterococci as indicators – for some time now, but depending on the state, many inland waters remain subject to standards that rely on the older fecal coliform indicator.  Second, while EPA does not include it in its national recommended criteria, the Agency is announcing the availability of a new, rapid test method – quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) – which provides results in a matter of hours, rather than the days it takes the current culture-based methods.  EPA notes that the new qPCR method for detecting and quantifying enterococci is intended only for beach monitoring and directs those states wishing to use the qPCR method to develop site-specific alternative criteria based on the test method.

Ensuring that the qPCR test method was not used for Clean Water Act permitting or compliance purposes was a priority issue for NACWA.  Unless a state chooses to adopt the qPCR method as a part of its water quality standards, all Clean Water Act permit requirements and compliance determinations would be based on the current culture-based test methods, not the new qPCR method.  The Agency has also signaled its intention to begin work on implementation guidance for the criteria that should help clarify key qPCR test method issues and NACWA is hopeful that some of this implementation guidance will be available as soon as the criteria are finalized, which must happen by October.

NACWA staff and member representatives participated in a January 25 webinar on the criteria revisions to seek further clarification on key issues.  A top discussion item during the webinar was the length of the assessment period for determining whether the criteria have been exceeded, which EPA has set at 30-90 days.  While some states and stakeholders had hoped that the assessment of geometric means would be based on a recreation season, EPA believes the 30-90-day period will strike the right balance between collecting sufficient data to generate scientifically-sound values and providing timely notice of an impairment.  In addition to the geometric mean value, the revised criteria introduce a new term, the statistical threshold value (STV), which would replace the old single sample maximum (SSM).  EPA sets a single STV value for all beaches and provides additional information on how the STV should be appropriately used for impairment decisions and beach monitoring.

The NGO community is already signaling its displeasure with EPA’s revisions, so NACWA will be working to develop detailed comments that underscore EPA’s efforts to base the new criteria on sound scientific information.  EPA will be accepting comments and additional information on the criteria recommendations document until February 21, 2012. Please send any input you may have for the NACWA comments to Chris Hornback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

NACWA Briefs State Water Regulators on Ammonia Criteria Revisions

NACWA briefed state water quality standards officials on EPA’s pending revisions to its water quality criteria for ammonia December 7.  During the call with representatives from the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA), NACWA outlined EPA’s efforts over the past eight years to revise the 1999 ammonia criteria to better account for toxicity to freshwater mussels.  EPA released draft criteria recommendations in 2009 that employed two sets of criteria – one for waters where mussels are present, and the other for waters where there are no freshwater mussels.  Since 2009, EPA has worked to bolster the underlying data supporting the criteria and has addressed many of NACWA’s concerns first raised in 2004.

Lingering issues remain, however, over the use of certain data including toxicity data from invasive species.  During a November 2 meeting with NACWA, EPA indicated that it was abandoning the bifurcated criteria approach in favor of a single set of acute and chronic criterion values designed to protect waters where freshwater mussels are present – essentially applying the more stringent criteria values from the 2009 proposal to all waters, not just those where mussels are found.  EPA indicated that instead of the bifurcated approach, it would rely on the states to develop alternative, site-specific criteria where appropriate to address the absence of mussels.  While EPA has signaled that it intends to include language in the criteria document on implementation, NACWA encouraged the states to reach out to the Agency and work with them as the criteria document is finalized to ensure these implementation issues are adequately addressed.  EPA is expected to release the final criteria recommendations in early spring 2012.

Register for NWQMC’s 8th National Monitoring Conference on April 30-May 4

Join the National Water Quality Monitoring Council’s (NWQMC) 8th National Monitoring Conference, Water: One Resource – Shared Effort – Common Future, in Portland, Oregon on April 30 - May 4.  This national forum provides an exceptional opportunity for federal, state, local, tribal, academic, private, and other water stakeholders to exchange information and technology related to water monitoring, assessment, research, protection, restoration, and management, as well as to develop new skills and professional networks.  NACWA is a member organization of the NWQMC and has sponsored this event in the past.  For more information and to register for this conference, please visit NWQMC’s website.