Clean Water Current Archive

As part of the ongoing federal response to COVID-19, the President yesterday signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (HR 6201). This $100 billion law is considered “Phase 2” of the COVID-19 response.

Given the significant public health and travel restrictions in place as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, NACWA’s Executive Committee and executive staff made the difficult decision this week to cancel or postpone all of the Association’s in-person meetings through the end of July.

In an announcement made on March 16, EPA officially named Ms. Jamie Piziali as the Agency’s first Municipal Ombudsman to assist states and local governments in carrying out integrated planning efforts.

Almost two years after EPA published its initial Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science proposed rulemaking, EPA announced a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) on March 3 to further clarify details on what the Agency plans to achieve.

A Hawaii circuit court judge recently dismissed a lawsuit filed against the mayor of the County of Maui challenging his decision not to settle the case currently before the US Supreme Court concerning whether pollution reaching navigable waters via groundwater or other diffuse media is subject to Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements.

Legislation championed by NACWA was introduced in the US House of Representatives on March 6 that would create a federal “Advanced Research Projects Agency – Water” (ARPA-H2O) within EPA to spur clean water research and innovation.

State bills to address the labeling of wipes continue to gain momentum, with a bill in Washington state passing both legislative bodies and a bill introduced in Minnesota.

As Congressional appropriators begin their Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) appropriations process, NACWA continues to work closely with Members of Congress to secure key clean water funding and provisions in the Interior and Environment bill, which funds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and core clean water programs.

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed the first updates in over four decades to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on January 10, 2020. The rulemaking proposes various updates to the manner in which federal agencies conduct reviews on major or significant actions that could affect the quality of public health or the environment.

On Wednesday, March 4th, NACWA and a group of member clean water agencies from across New England met in Boston with EPA Region 1 Administrator, Dennis Deziel. The meeting provided an opportunity for utilities to elevate clean water priorities to Administrator Deziel, who was appointed in August 2019, and key Regional Office staff.

NACWA has been reviewing the Association’s plans for continuity of operations and for future meetings and events in light of developments surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19).

NACWA, along with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), met with senior EPA Office of Water (OW) and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) leadership on February 27 to hear an update on work EPA has underway to potentially revise the Agency’s household affordability and utility financial capability methodologies.

After a year-long effort, EPA released the first iteration of the National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) on February 27.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler testified before the House Subcommittee on the Environment and Climate Change last Thursday, Feb. 27th concerning EPA’s Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Budget.

NACWA and the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) met with EPA on February 25 to discuss the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program’s classification of fuel produced through co-digestion of biosolids and food waste.

EPA recently announced it is proposing to extend the Phase 2 compliance deadlines for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Electronic Reporting Rule from December 21, 2020 to December 21, 2023.

NACWA CEO Adam Krantz published an op-ed in Bloomberg Environment yesterday, February 25, highlighting the hard work and remarkable efforts undertaken by public clean water utilities to comply with federally mandated consent decrees regarding combined sewer overflows under the integrated planning framework.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a Report to Congress calling for increased technical assistance to address utility resilience risk and recommending that federal agencies require climate information be considered in the water infrastructure project planning process.

Congress returned to Washington, DC this week for what is expected to be a busy legislative period ahead.

NACWA’s Stormwater Management Committee will hold its first committee meeting of 2020 on March 2 from 3:00 to 4:00 PM ET.