Clean Water Current

EPA held the second of three public listening sessions on its planned peak flow/wet weather blending rulemaking on October 24, hosted at its Region 7 headquarters facility in Lenexa, Kansas. Similar to the first public listening session held on October 16 in Washington, DC, the Kansas one featured a mix of speakers representing municipal utilities and state regulators.

The New England Regional Pretreatment Coordinators Association (NERPCA) held its annual workshop October 24-25, with over 150 attendees from public clean water utilities and state regulatory agencies. The workshop provides an opportunity for pretreatment professionals to learn about regulatory updates, hear case studies from other utilities, and network with one another. NACWA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, Cynthia Finley, provided an update on recent NACWA activities, particularly related to wipes and emerging contaminants.

New legislation has been introduced led by Sens. Cardin (D-MD), Wicker (R-MS), and Stabenow (D-MI) to establish a pilot federal assistance program for water ratepayers. S. 3564, the Low-Income Water Customer Assistance Programs Act of 2018, fleshes out a concept proposed by NACWA several years ago, suggesting that – similar to the energy sector’s Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) – there may be a role for the federal government to offer assistance to communities and low-income ratepayers in paying water and sewer rates.

Despite Congress being adjourned until after the November mid-term elections, House and Senate conference committee negotiations continue among Congressional staff on the 2018 Farm Bill. Many in Congress remain hopeful that a final bill can be brought to a vote before the end of this Congressional Session in December.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a report, entitled Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956 to 2017, which provides information on spending by federal, state, and local governments for transportation and water infrastructure. The report highlights important trends. In addition to presenting data on outlays for various types of infrastructure, the reports also examine spending in terms of two broad categories—spending for capital and spending for operation and maintenance.

The National Network on Water Quality Trading released a new report on October 15 entitled, Breaking Down Barriers: Priority Actions for Advancing Water Quality Trading. As a member of the National Network, NACWA and its members participated in a series of meetings and interviews that the Network conducted to better understand why there haven’t been more water quality trading programs to date.

California became the latest state to pass pharmaceutical take-back legislation with SB 212 Solid Waste: Pharmaceutical and Sharps Waste Stewardship, which was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. NACWA and many of its California public member agencies signed a letter of support for this legislation to establish a producer-funded take-back program for the disposal of pharmaceuticals and sharps used in homes.

NACWA met with Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine, head of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), on October 9 to discuss how NACWA members can best work with OECA to accomplish the shared goal of protecting water quality.

Representatives from seven NACWA public member agencies participated in the October 15 EPA Stakeholder Roundtable on peak wet weather flow blending, with additional representatives attending as observers. The Agency held the invitation-only Roundtable to gather input for developing a proposed rule on blending.

Consistent with NACWA’s recommendations, an EPA rule that will finalize only some of the less controversial provisions from a May 2016 proposed update to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program is currently under review by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Last week, the Senate passed the 2018 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), S.3021, by a vote of 99-1. The bill, entitled America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, previously passed the House by a unanimous vote and now awaits President Trump’s signature to become law.

Reps. Kilmer (D-WA), Heck (D-WA), and Kaptur (D-MI) recently introduced H.R. 7041, the Preventing Pollution through Partnership (P3) Act, which aims to increase green infrastructure investment to improve water quality by providing a new financing tool for green infrastructure projects. Specifically, the bill would amend federal tax code to include green infrastructure in the definition of eligible uses of private activity bonds (PABs), allowing for PABs to be issued for projects where 95 percent or more of bond proceeds will be used to develop, carry out, or certify green infrastructure projects.

NACWA was busy last week sharing its clean water perspective across the country, speaking at both the Southeast Stormwater Association’s (SESWA) 13th Annual Regional Stormwater Conference in Hilton Head, SC and at the National Association of Water Company’s (NAWC) conference in San Antonio, TX.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently held a public meeting to report what the Agency has learned to date, and to provide stakeholders with the opportunity to contribute additional input on its Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management Study.

NACWA submitted comments to EPA on October 9, asking the Agency to modify its proposed label language for dichlobenil, a root control chemical. Dichlobenil can be effectively used to control roots in wastewater collection systems, helping to prevent overflows and backups. However, if too much of the chemical is used in too short of a time, it has the potential to both interfere with the microorganisms used in the wastewater treatment process and negatively affect effluent quality. The chemical may also be a safety hazard for collection system workers.

NACWA and other clean water agencies conducted a conference call on October 11 to discuss implantation of the final rule for public notification of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Great Lakes, which EPA developed as required by Congress.

NACWA participated in a meeting - co-hosted by EPA’s Office of Water on October 9 - with the Water Environment Federation, the WateReuse Association, and the American Membrane Technology Association on “Membrane Water Treatment Technology Usage and Needs” in the United States.

The Senate is expected to vote as early as today on the 2018 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), S.3021, advancing the bill to the President’s desk for signature. The House passed the bill with an overwhelming bipartisan vote last month, and the measure is expected to easily clear the Senate with similar bipartisan support.

The US Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water Quality Program last week added water quality data from 2017 to its web tool, Tracking Water Quality of the Nation’s Rivers and Streams. The interactive web tool is part of the USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project that collects data in order to characterize status and trends of surface water quality.

Ever wonder what’s taking place across the water sector, but don’t have time to sift through endless news stories? Then take a look at the Water Sector News & Trends section of the NACWA website to stay current on the latest happenings in water news.