Clean Water Current

The NACWA Security & Emergency Preparedness Committee held a web meeting on May 21 with guest speaker Mike Howe from the Texas Section of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), who provided a presentation on how the Texas Water & Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN) helped utilities recover from the impacts of Hurricane Harvey.

Water Infrastructure Investment. Consent decrees. Integrated planning. Affordability. Your utility can be 100% correct on the issues, and still suffer negative blowback due to poorly executed communications on advocacy matters.

The US Conference of Mayors recently released a slide report examining local government construction spending on water and sewer infrastructure, finding that local government expenditures totaled $738 billion for 10 water and sewer asset categories from 1993 to 2017.

The Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee and the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee this week are marking up their respective versions of the 2018 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), S. 2800 and H.R. 8, with the Senate EPW Committee unanimously voting to move the legislation to the Senate floor.

The U.S House’s 2018 Farm Bill failed on the Floor of the House of Representatives last week by a vote of 198-213. After the failed vote, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) motioned to reconsider the vote at a later date. Republican leadership are now trying to negotiate a path forward on reconsideration and passage.

NACWA, along with a coalition of water organizations including the WateReuse Association, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the California Association of Sanitation Agencies, and the Central Valley Clean Water Association, submitted comments May 21 to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Water regarding how discharges of pollutants to groundwater should be regulated under federal and state environmental laws.

NACWA participated in the annual Wet Weather Partnership Conference on May 16-18 in Cincinnati, OH, providing an update on legislative and regulatory developments.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has released a new issue paper, Go Back To The Well: States And The Federal Government Are Neglecting A Key Funding Source For Water Infrastructure, that urges states to ramp up use of loan guarantees and issuance of bonds to help close the gap between identified wastewater and drinking water infrastructure needs and available federal funding.

NACWA participated in the Massachusetts Coalition for Water Resources Stewardship’s (MCWRS) annual Water Resources Strategies Symposium on May 18, providing a national update on key clean water policy issues.

A recent report issued by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) reveals potential areas of liability for a variety of sectors in clean water — including municipalities – that result from climate change impacts.

NACWA joined with other organizations from the water sector today at a meeting with EPA that included Administrator Scott Pruitt, Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Assistant Administrator for Water David Ross, and other key officials from the Office of Water.

The House Appropriations Committee will be marking up their Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) Interior and Environment Bill this week. The bill provides funding for EPA and its programs that are important to the clean water sector.

NACWA met with EPA on May 9 to discuss the new rulemaking announced by the Agency during Water Week (April 15 – 21) to address the management of peak wet weather flows with blending.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments May 8 in Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) v. Pruitt, a case involving the issue of constructive submission of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP).

After a highly successful Water Week and National Water Policy Fly-In, we, as an Association of public clean water utilities, should work even harder to keep the advocacy momentum going.

Important conversations about investment in the water sector continue to explore varying levels of private engagement, the role of peer-to-peer partnerships, and how fragmentation in the public water and wastewater sector may limit progress.

NACWA will host the next installment of its Hot Topics in Clean Water Law Webinars on June 20, from 2:00-3:30 pm ET.

NACWA hosted 70 utility leaders and affiliates at the Great Lakes Regional Utility Forum on May 7-8, to discuss a variety of issues impacting the region. The Forum featured a keynote address from Cathy Stepp, EPA Region 5 Administrator, in which she shared her vision for cooperative federalism, and resetting the relationship between Region 5 and the regulated community.

Collaborative advocacy in the clean water sector continues this week during Infrastructure Week, May 14-21 – a national week of events, media outreach/coverage, public education, and other activities which elevate infrastructure as a critical issue that impacts all Americans.

NACWA convened member and non-member utilities discharging to Long Island Sound (LIS) and its tributaries on May 9, to discuss EPA’s recent work to address nutrient-related water quality impacts in the Sound.