Clean Water Current

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.

State bills to address the labeling of wipes continue to gain momentum, with a bill in Washington state passing both legislative bodies and a bill introduced in Minnesota.

As Congressional appropriators begin their Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) appropriations process, NACWA continues to work closely with Members of Congress to secure key clean water funding and provisions in the Interior and Environment bill, which funds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and core clean water programs.

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed the first updates in over four decades to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on January 10, 2020. The rulemaking proposes various updates to the manner in which federal agencies conduct reviews on major or significant actions that could affect the quality of public health or the environment.

On Wednesday, March 4th, NACWA and a group of member clean water agencies from across New England met in Boston with EPA Region 1 Administrator, Dennis Deziel. The meeting provided an opportunity for utilities to elevate clean water priorities to Administrator Deziel, who was appointed in August 2019, and key Regional Office staff.

NACWA has been reviewing the Association’s plans for continuity of operations and for future meetings and events in light of developments surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19).

NACWA, along with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), met with senior EPA Office of Water (OW) and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) leadership on February 27 to hear an update on work EPA has underway to potentially revise the Agency’s household affordability and utility financial capability methodologies.

After a year-long effort, EPA released the first iteration of the National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) on February 27.