Clean Water Current

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) this week published guidance on how it intends to implement the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), including a directive that public works personnel be considered “emergency responders” under the law.

EPA issued a news release on March 30 to encourage Americans to only flush toilet paper. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and toilet paper shortages, wastewater utilities have seen an increase in flushing of wipes and other materials.

EPA’s newly appointed Municipal Ombudsperson, Jamie Piziali, met virtually with NACWA staff on March 30 to discuss NACWA’s long-standing work on Integrated Planning initiatives, including the importance of having an Ombudsperson office within EPA’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations serve as a liaison between EPA Headquarters, municipalities, state regulators and EPA Regional Offices.

The Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC) met on March 25 to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the water sector and met the following day with the Water Government Coordinating Council (GCC). The WSCC and GCC had originally planned to meet in person on these dates but moved to a web meeting format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NACWA and its members have been active in their outreach to the media during this extraordinary time.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and in recognition of the concerns raised by NACWA members and many others concerning the worker shortages and compliance limitations it may cause, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) on March 26 issued a temporary policy outlining how the Agency “intends to exercise its enforcement discretion with respect to certain compliance situations.”

NACWA and the broader water sector joined together in a formal request to Congress this week to aid water and wastewater utilities in overcoming the challenges posed by coronavirus.

NACWA is hosting a free webinar regarding the impacts of COVID-19 on clean water agencies, with all utilities invited to participate. The webinar will be held April 2 from 2:00 – 3:30 PM ET.

Washington State became the first state with a wipes labeling law on March 25, when Gov. Jay Inslee signed Washington’s HB 2565.

NACWA met with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) via conference call on March 19 to discuss the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), the regulatory program that manages security of high-risk facilities that possess any of 300 chemicals of interest above a specified threshold.

In a recent report released March 9, NACWA corporate affiliate Arcadis reviewed readily available fate and transport models for groundwater leaching, surface water runoff, and plant uptake as they apply to PFAS in land applied biosolids and residuals. NACWA and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) partnered with the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) to complete this modeling review.

NACWA submitted comments March 13 on EPA’s Draft Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2018. The annual Inventory provides nationwide estimates for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for different sectors, including wastewater treatment, and is intended to be used only for informational purposes.

As the impacts from the COVID-19 outbreak continue to spread across the country, NACWA is committed to providing the highest level of service and resources to its members during this difficult time. Member utilities are doing incredible things to keep their staff and communities safe and their utilities providing service without disruption that all clean water agencies can benefit from.

As the economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic further reverberate throughout the entire U.S. economy, NACWA staff have been in continual engagement with Congress to advocate that any legislative stimulus package must include assistance for hard-hit public clean water utilities.

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.