Clean Water Current

After months of negotiations, Congressional Democrats continue inching toward an agreement on a significant “budget reconciliation” package. The bill is envisioned as building upon the bipartisan infrastructure package that already passed the U.S. Senate, and would further address priorities including climate change.

A bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate last week to require an updated formula by which Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) capitalization grants are allocated among U.S. states, tribes, and territories. Concerns about CWSRF allocations are perennially raised by Members of Congress who represent states which have grown in population since the formula was set in 1987.

EPA released its much-anticipated PFAS Roadmap October 18 detailing how the Agency plans to tackle PFAS in the months and years ahead. NACWA is reviewing the PFAS Roadmap and is preparing additional analysis and information on how particular items in the PFAS Roadmap may impact members and how the Association plans to respond.

U.S. EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Radhika Fox, testified October 20 before the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) on the federal response to the presence and impacts of PFAS chemicals on our environment.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) published an alert on October 14 to highlight ongoing malicious cyber activity directed at the water sector and how the sector can protect itself from these attacks.

Nearly three months after passage of the House Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill, and over two weeks into the new fiscal year, this week the Senate released its version of the bill, which provides annual funding for U.S. EPA and its core clean water programs.

The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) held field hearings last week in Delaware and West Virginia that focused on the challenges that small, rural and disadvantaged communities face in accessing and maintaining wastewater and drinking water treatment services.

EPA published A Compendium of U.S. Wastewater Surveillance to Support COVID-19 Public Health Response on October 14 documenting various programs across the country that implemented a surveillance program during the pandemic.

NACWA members are invited to participate in the 5th Annual Security and Risk Management Symposium, which will be a virtual event this year on November 4. The Symposium is offered free of charge, but advance registration is required by November 2.

NACWA and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) co-hosted a Utility Leaders Event this week at WEFTEC 2021 in Chicago. The event honored recipients of the annual Utility of the Future Today (UOTF) Recognition Program, sponsored by WEF, NACWA, the WaterReuse Association and the Water Research Foundation, as well as video remarks from EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox outlining the Agency’s current top water priorities.

NACWA provided comments today to EPA on its Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15, which announced rulemakings for several industrial categories to control PFAS and nutrient discharges. The Plan is published every two years to outline EPA’s planned studies and rulemakings related to effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) and pretreatment standards for industrial dischargers. The Plan, an FAQ, and other documents are available on EPA’s website.

NACWA staff joined the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) this week during their virtual 2021 Annual Meeting for a National Roundtable discussion: Post-Pandemic and the New Normal.

EPA published a Notice in the Federal Register on September 29 proposing an Information Collection Request (ICR) on Estimating Benefits of Surface Water Quality Improvements.

In a victory for NACWA member Charleston Water System (CWS), the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina recently preliminarily approved a proposed class action settlement agreement between CWS and major U.S. wipes manufacturer Kimberly-Clark concerning the performance and labeling of certain wipes products.

California’s AB 818 was signed into law by Governor Newsom on October 6, making California the fourth state to require “Do Not Flush” labeling on non-flushable wipes. Similar laws have been enacted in Washington, Oregon, and Illinois, with additional bills pending in Massachusetts and Minnesota.

EPA issued several draft Technical Support Materials on October 6 to support states and authorized tribes in adopting and implementing the Agency’s 2016 recommended Aquatic Life Criterion for Selenium in Freshwater.

In a major victory for clean water utilities, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week affirmed that states can take compliance costs into account when setting Clean Water Act (CWA) water quality standards variances, and that such variances do not have to ultimately result in attainment of the underlying water quality standard.

Dr. Jim Pletl, Director of Water Quality for NACWA member utility the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), testified this week on behalf of NACWA before the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee’s Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee on the issue of PFAS and other emerging contaminants. The hearing was entitled “Emerging Contaminants, Forever Chemicals, and More: Challenges to Water Quality, Public Health, and Communities”.

WaterISAC has developed a survey for utilities to report supply disruptions they have experienced, which will help the water sector understand how current supply chain issues are affecting utilities. The information collected will be shared with the sector associations, utilities, and federal partners to help identify areas where the federal government and regional or local networks can assist.

A number of NACWA members, led by the Louisville & Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer Department (MSD), published an op-ed this week calling on Congress to advance key legislative initiatives that would increase funding for clean water investment. The piece was authored by Tony Parrott, Executive Director of Louisville MSD and a member of the NACWA Board of Directors.