Clean Water Current Archive

EPA is soliciting public comments on a proposal to create a new, time-limited alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process, which would result “in a fundamental change to the Agency's long-held administrative exhaustion requirements” and make significant changes to the appeals process before the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB).

NACWA held a conference call with its State and Regional Partners on December 17 to discuss legislative efforts to address the problem of wipes improperly flushed into sewer systems.

NACWA convened a call last week at the request of the New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA) to discuss PFAS, EPA’s action on this issue to date including work under the Agency’s PFAS Action Plan, and how various states are tackling this complex topic.

In an important legislative achievement for NACWA and the clean water sector, House and Senate negotiators released their compromise Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA - the Full report and summary are viewable online) earlier this week and excluded the most problematic PFAS provisions.

NACWA helped spearhead a meeting of diverse stakeholders last week to discuss water affordability challenges. The group came together to discuss respective priorities around water affordability issues, potential areas for collaboration, and interest in advancing federal legislation.

EPA sent a proposed regulatory determination to establish a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFOA and PFOS, two of the most well-known PFAS constituents, to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on December 4. This is consistent with the Agency’s PFAS Action Plan, which envisioned EPA beginning this regulatory process.

NACWA’s Water Quality Committee held its last committee call of 2019 on December 4 and discussed a myriad of recent developments on the water quality front that will spill over into 2020.

NACWA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) hosted Part 2 last week of a 4-part webinar series Dealing with Disruption: Operationalizing Resilience in the Water Sector.

NACWA is pleased to welcome two new members to the Association’s staff.

NACWA released a new document, A Clean Water Utility’s Guide to Considering Source Identification, Pretreatment, and Sampling Protocols for PFAS, on November 25 designed to provide helpful information to utilities that are dealing with growing questions around PFAS chemicals in wastewater and biosolids.

NACWA, along with its partners the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation, met December 3 with political leadership for both the enforcement and water offices at EPA to discuss the groups’ report, Developing a New Framework for Household Affordability and Financial Capability Assessment in the Water Sector, which outlines a new approach to evaluating household affordability and utility financial capability across all water programs.

NACWA led a group of national and state stormwater associations in filing a November 25 brief with the US Supreme Court in support of the review of a Maryland court decision that could open municipal stormwater utilities to greater Clean Water Act (CWA) liability.

Congress returned to Washington, DC this week for what is expected to be a busy three-week legislative period prior to adjourning for the holiday recess.

In November 25 comments on EPA’s Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 14, NACWA asked EPA to broaden its study of industries that may discharge PFAS.

Members of NACWA’s Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Committee met on November 21 to discuss the implementation of the Dental Amalgam Rule. The 2017 rule requires that dental offices install dental amalgam separators and follow best management practices (BMPs) by July 2020. Dental offices must submit a one-time compliance report to their wastewater utility by October 12, 2020.

Congressional negotiations continue to stall on how to address PFAS in the final Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, Jim Inhofe (R-OK), recently introduced a “skinny” version of the NDAA that solely addresses key military authorizations and excludes contentious “riders” such as PFAS.

Congress is set to pass another short-term continuing resolution (CR) this week to avoid a government shutdown and fund all federal agencies, including EPA, at current spending levels until December 20. The House passed the CR on Tuesday and the Senate is expected to pass it and send it to the President for signature before the current CR expires at midnight on Friday.

EPA is extending the comment period for its recent notice on water quality trading, published in the Federal Register in September. EPA will now accept comments until December 18.

The Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC) met on November 13 to discuss security and other related issues that are impacting the water sector, and also met with the Water Government Coordinating Council (GCC) the following day.

EPA announced this week that it will be holding two teleconference calls to brief the public on the continued development of a report on the funding aspects of stormwater.