Clean Water Current

Politico, a leading political publication that influences federal policy in Washington, DC, has used the inaugural issue of its recently unveiled sustainability publishing vertical to highlight several of the key water issues facing the country.

Jeffrey Clark, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Environment and Natural Resources Division, sent a memorandum this week outlining a new policy “strongly disfavoring” federal enforcement in civil Clean Water Act (CWA) cases where a state has previously instituted a civil penalty proceeding under an analogous state law arising from the same operative facts.

Members of the US Department of Agriculture’s Multistate Research Committee, known as W4170, recently completed a rebuttal of the November 2018 EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report on biosolids land application.

In a webinar on July 23, EPA staff from the Office of Research and Development (ORD) provided a progress update on developing analytical methods for PFAS.

NACWA hosted the third and final session of its three-part webinar series, Partnerships to Reduce the Impacts from COVID-19 on the Water Sector on Tuesday, July 28.

Formal deliberations on the next COVID-19 relief bill began in earnest this week. As talks kicked off on Monday, NACWA sent another letter to Senate leadership urging inclusion of direct clean water utility and ratepayer assistance in the next package.

The water sector continued joint efforts this week to address concerns over funding provisions for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program in the House’s proposed FY 2021 appropriations package for EPA.

NACWA will host the final installment of its three-part webinar series next Tuesday, July 28, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EST. Next week’s session will be moderated by Yvonne Forrest, Director, Houston Water in Houston, TX and will feature the following speakers:

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) last week finalized a set of sweeping changes to the rules governing how environmental reviews of proposed Federal actions are conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). According to CEQ, “the modernized regulations will promote more efficient, effective, and timely environmental reviews by all Federal agencies.”

Last week, EPA finalized updates to its regulations governing the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 state water quality certification process. The Agency proposed the changes in August of last year pursuant to Executive Order 13868, “Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth.”

EPA re-launched its POTW Screener Questionnaire in June as part of the Agency’s National Study of Nutrient Removal and Secondary Technologies. After delays due to the coronavirus, and after making revisions recommended by EPA stakeholders, the Agency has begun its second round of fielding the survey.

NACWA congratulates Terry Leeds, Director of KC Water, as NACWA’s newly-elected President for 2020-2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an issue to resurface that some public clean water utilities periodically face: the potential diversion of utility ratepayer funds to fill gaps in other areas of a city (or other governmental body’s) budget.

As the start of the federal Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) rapidly approaches on October 1st, the U.S. House has begun working to advance its annual Appropriations (funding) bills through their committee process. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee passed its Interior and Environment bill to fund the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and core clean water programs.

While the bill passed this week by the committee only contains provisions related to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) policies and projects, the House is expected to couple it with the committee’s clean water focused and bipartisan Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2019, H.R. 1497, during WRDA conference negotiations with the Senate this summer and fall.

In comments filed on July 6, NACWA continues its support of EPA maintaining the existing Comprehensive Procurement Guideline Designations (CPG) and Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) recommendations for landscaping products, which includes compost made from recovered organic materials like biosolids.

The International Water Services Flushability Group (IWSFG) held its annual meeting virtually on July 1 to discuss potential updates to its Flushability Specifications.

EPA announced July 14 that 2020 funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program is now available.

NACWA released a new document highlighting a variety of considerations for public clean water utilities across the country that are already doing wastewater-based epidemiological (WBE) surveillance for COVID-19 or contemplating doing so in the future.

Leading private sector partners of the public clean water sector engaged in the first of a three-part NACWA webinar series titled Partnerships to Reduce the Impacts from COVID-19 on the Water Sector.