Clean Water Current

(May 20, 2020) – Nearly 1,000 pretreatment professionals participated in NACWA’s Pretreatment Virtual Event, May 14-16, featuring two webinars and a meeting of the Association’s Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Committee.

In the first webinar, Pretreatment Regulatory Update: What You Need to Know Now, four speakers from EPA provided updates on the National Pretreatment Program, the Effluent Guidelines program and the Agency’s Water Reuse Action Plan. Jan Pickrel, EPA’s National Pretreatment Program Coordinator, discussed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on pretreatment programs and EPA’s temporary policy for enforcement discretion during the pandemic. 

The second webinar, Pretreatment for PFAS: On the Horizon?, featured presentations on the impacts of PFAS in Michigan, Maine, and California. Recordings for both webinars are available on NACWA’s webpage.  

During the Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Committee meeting, NACWA utility representatives discussed how their programs have adapted to the current pandemic. The Committee also focused on the ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of wipes and other consumer products that are flushed into the sewer system, which has increased for some utilities during the pandemic. Other topics of discussion included PFAS legislation and implementation of the Dental Amalgam Rule.

For more information about the Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Committee, please contact Cynthia Finley, NACWA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs.