Clean Water Current

NACWA is encouraging all of its public agency members to share their pandemic recovery or “Return-to-Work” plans so that we can post them on our password-protected Covid-19 Resource Webpage.

With a short turnaround for public comment, EPA published a proposal that would “increase the transparency of [its] guidance practices and improve the process used to manage EPA guidance documents” on May 22. NACWA submitted comments to the Agency earlier this week encouraging increased transparency, especially the establishment of a dedicated and easily accessible public portal that houses active guidance documents in an orderly fashion, as beneficial to the broader regulated community.

NACWA submitted comments last week on EPA Region 1’s proposed permit modifications for small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. NACWA also submitted comments to EPA on its proposed regulatory determination—the first step of potentially regulating PFAS for drinking water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

Since the House’s passage of the Heroes Act last month , Congressional action on further COVID-19 stimulus relief has remained at a standstill as Senate Leadership continues to take a wait and see approach before proceeding on any related legislation while the U.S. economy slowly reopens.

NACWA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) hosted the final installment of a complimentary 4-part webinar series Dealing with Disruption: Operationalizing Resilience in the Water Sector on June 3.

NACWA teamed up with the WateReuse Association last week to host To Be (a Point Source) or Not To Be (a Point Source): Implications of the County of Maui Supreme Court Decision for Clean Water Utilities, Part 2 of NACWA's complimentary 2020 Hot Topics in Clean Water Law Webinar series.

NACWA congratulates its members from across the country who applied for and received funding through EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA).

NACWA’s 2019 Cost of Clean Water Index, released May 29, indicates that the average cost of wastewater services rose 3.8 percent in 2019, more than doubling the rate of inflation over the same period.

NACWA published a white paper this week, Funding and Financing Strategies to Address Coronavirus Impact, that outlines various funding and financing options the federal government could pursue to help municipal clean water utilities recover from the current economic challenges facing the sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NACWA submitted comments June 1 on EPA’s most recent iteration of the multi-sector general permit (MSGP) for stormwater discharges associated with industrial activity.

NACWA hosted the first-ever Strategic Communications: H2O Virtual Event on Monday, June 1st and Tuesday, June 2nd. Nearly 200 individuals participated online for each event.

River Rally, hosted each year by the River Network, brings together a broad range of advocates for inspiring conversations and celebrating progress towards an equitable and sustainable water future.

NACWA is devoting this issue of the Current to an expression of our solidarity with those seeking to end racism and all its forms of injustice in our country and who are demanding a move beyond the deep divisions that have far too often led to hatred, brutal violence and the unnecessary death of Black Americans.

Clean water utilities have operated resource recovery systems at their treatment plants for many years without clear direction from U.S. EPA as to the status of the recovered materials.

In a departure from its much-criticized eco-regional approach to developing nutrient criteria, EPA published draft water quality criteria recommendations for lakes and reservoirs in the May 22 Federal Register that rely on statistical, stressor-response relationships using data collected from hundreds of lakes.

Since the U.S. House’s passage earlier this month of its next phase of COVID-19 relief, the Heroes Act, Congressional action has slowed on reaching bipartisan agreement for a new legislative package.

NACWA convened a panel of clean water legal experts last week to provide clean water utility leaders and attorneys with information designed to help navigate permitting and enforcement issues arising from COVID-19.

This coming Monday and Tuesday, June 1-2 at 2:00 p.m. EST, NACWA will host its first Strategic Communications H2O Virtual Event.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the latest round of COVID-19 stimulus legislation this past Friday, May 15th, signaling the start of the next phase of negotiations over addition federal relief to state and local governments.