Regulatory reform initiatives gained steam in both the House and the Senate this year, and NACWA played a key role in discussions around potential modernizations to the Clean Water Act (CWA). Central to this was testimony from Mickey Conway, NACWA’s current Treasurer and CEO of Metro Water Recovery, on NACWA’s behalf before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (pictured below). The hearing was focused on viable regulatory reform ideas under the CWA that would improve how the law functions and provide greater certainty to clean water agencies while maintaining environmental protections.
Conway recommended codifying EPA’s permit shield policy, prohibiting generic “catch-all” requirements in CWA discharge permits, and strengthening the judicial review of EPA’s water quality criteria
process. These ideas were well-received and the House is expected to explore related legislation in the coming months. NACWA has also had positive conversations about these regulatory reform ideas with the Senate.
Sound nutrient management also continues to be an advocacy priority. NACWA partnered with the Agricultural Nutrient Policy Council in December 2022 to host a symposium exploring case studies where states, clean water utilities and agricultural entities have collaborated to implement watershed-based approaches to reduce nutrient impairment and improve water quality.
On the wet weather front, NACWA has continued its longstanding productive engagement with EPA on combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to help ensure that, as NACWA members begin to complete their long-term control plans (LTCPs), post-LTCP NPDES permits appropriately reflect the significant investments communities throughout the country have made to address CSOs and improve water quality. NACWA’s LTCP Task Force has met with EPA several times to stress the need for clean water agencies to be able to spend their limited public dollars on projects that will most benefit their communities, particularly where successful implementation of an LTCP has rendered additional CSO controls unnecessary. EPA has indicated that it will be releasing draft guidance to post-LTCP permit writers in the coming months for public comment.
NACWA also continues to support member utility efforts to challenge unlawful post-LTCP NPDES permitting requirements in court. In February, NACWA filed a brief in support of public agency member Columbus, Georgia’s ongoing appeal of proposed permitting requirements that would force the city to implement prohibitively expense controls despite decades of data gathered during and after its LTCP completion showing consistent attainment of all water quality standards. NACWA also continues to support member San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s challenge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit of permit terms that would allow both regulators and outside groups to effectively rewrite requirements throughout the term of the permit, thereby potentially diverting limited public funds into unwarranted and unanticipated CSO requirements.
Furthering the Association’s work on environmental justice issues, NACWA hosted a webinar on Environmental Justice Considerations in State and Federal Funding and Regulatory Decisions to support members as they navigate environmental justice options related to funding, permitting, and compliance actions.
Learn more about NACWA’s Advocacy and Analysis.
Back