Clean Water Current Archive

Congress returned to Washington this week on the heels of their Thanksgiving state and district work periods with a plate full of major issues up for consideration – several with deadlines before the year’s end.

NACWA joined with the North Carolina Water Quality Association (NCWQA) this week on an amicus brief supporting a North Carolina county’s collection of uniform water and sewer impact fees from claims by developers that such fees are unlawful “takings” under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

NACWA submitted comments on November 29 to EPA on a recent proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) on Estimating Benefits of Surface Water Quality Improvements, published in the Federal Register in September.

Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) made an announcement on November 18 that a new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) definition is on its way.

he Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) recently released a report, Poor Cybersecurity Makes Water a Weak Link in Critical Infrastructure, on the deficiencies of the water sector’s cybersecurity and how cybersecurity could be improved by utilities.

USA Today published an article Dec. 1 exploring the potential impacts of climate change on combined sewer overflow (CSO) communities. The article quotes NACWA and a number of NACWA utility members.

President Joe Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) on Nov. 15 in front of a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The $1.2 trillion package provides the largest federal clean water federal investments in decades for communities to update aging infrastructure, as well as help address growing climate, water quality, and affordability challenges.

The U.S. Senate began consideration this week of its version of the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which fortunately does not include problematic PFAS provisions for the public clean water utility sector.

NACWA’s Board of Directors and standing committee leaders gathered this week in Charleston, SC for the Association’s annual Fall Leadership Meeting. This was the first NACWA in-person event since February 2020, and attendees were thrilled to see one another and gather together.

After several years of ongoing discussions in Washington, DC about the need for comprehensive infrastructure legislation, and NACWA’s continuous advocacy to ensure public clean water utilities were a key component, Congress finally acted Nov.5 by passing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill, H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which President Biden is expected to sign into law next week.

NACWA hosted a webinar Nov. 9 for public clean water utility executives on the growing challenges presented by PFAS chemicals.

NACWA filed an amicus brief last week supporting a group of Maryland municipalities challenging a state-issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for small MS4 operators that includes requirements beyond the maximum extent practicable (MEP) standard and requires MS4s to address nonpoint source runoff and other third-party stormwater discharges that neither flow into nor discharge from their systems.

John Sullivan, Chief Engineer for the Boston Water and Sewer Commission and a member of the NACWA Board of Directors, testified last week on behalf of the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC) before the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee.

NACWA participated in EPA’s Urban Waters Federal Partnership (Partnership) virtual 10-year Anniversary Celebration Event on Nov. 9 to highlight the milestone of the Partnership and recommit to a Framework for the Future.

Congressional Democratic leadership released long-awaited legislative text on October 28 outlining their latest reconciliation proposal for investment in host of economic and social priorities.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has continued working to release in full the $1.138 Billion it received as part of the federal COVID-19 Relief packages for providing aid to water customers facing arrearages, potential water service shutoffs, or other hardship paying their water bills.

The final fairness hearing on NACWA member Charleston Water System’s (CWS) preliminarily approved class action settlement agreement with major U.S. wipes manufacturer Kimberly-Clark has been set for Jan. 24, 2022.

EPA unveiled its draft Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities on October 28. The draft Strategy aligns with the Biden Administration’s commitment to address ongoing exposures to lead, and it builds upon the progress already made on reducing lead with particular attention paid to overburdened communities and environmental justice concerns.

EPA finalized its toxicity assessment for GenX chemicals - the notorious short chain PFAS chemicals industry used to replace the related longer-chain perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) – on October 25.

NACWA’s comments explained that pesticides may be washed or drained into the sewer system or stormwater systems, and even utilities with advanced treatment technologies cannot remove all pesticides.