Clean Water Current

Several pieces of legislation were introduced in the House of Representatives last week that would provide increased funding for communities to invest in their aging water and wastewater systems, as well as deal with the effects of extreme weather.

Congress has begun work on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 funding process, as both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees started scheduling budget hearings and receiving funding priorities from members and outside witnesses.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) hosted an annual National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) meeting in Washington DC last week to discuss critical water quality issues and emerging scientific applications throughout the country.

NACWA presented at the Texas Water 2018 conference in San Antonio, TX on April 24, providing a national update on the Association’s legislative, regulatory, and legal advocacy efforts, which include recent efforts on federal funding, integrated planning, blending, and Clean Water Act liability for discharges into groundwater.

The NACWA Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee will have a web meeting on May 21, 2:00-3:15 pm ET, to focus on how Texas utilities recovered from Hurricane Harvey.

The National Stormwater Advocacy Network (NSAN) held a quarterly conference call on April 27 and discussed a variety of important stormwater issues that continue to challenge municipalities across the country.

Building upon far-reaching discussions at NACWA's 2018 Winter Conference that were centered around how utilities are addressing resiliency and disaster recovery, the Association is co-sponsoring a one-day workshop on National Flood Risk Resiliency.

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.

NACWA submitted comments on April 21 for the risk assessments of three pesticides – dinotefuran, thiamethoxam, and clothianidin – asking EPA to consider the environmental impacts of these chemicals when they are used indoors and subsequently washed into sewer systems.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard oral arguments on April 18 in 26 Crown Associates, LLC v. Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority, another in a line of federal lawsuits examine if the role of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in regulating pollutants to groundwater.

As part of Water Week, NACWA’s Farm Bill Working Group met last week with key majority staff from the Senate Agriculture Committee to discuss the Senate version of the 2018 Farm Bill.

The question of whether a discharge of pollution to groundwater triggers Clean Water Act (CWA) liability is now being examined by all three branches of the federal government.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its first-ever loan from the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program last week, to NACWA Member King County, Washington.

If you made Capitol Hill visits while in Washington, DC last week for Water Week, NACWA wants to know about it!

As part of NACWA’s advocacy outreach around Water Week 2018, a special op-ed written by David St. Pierre, NACWA President and Executive Director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, was published in The Hill newspaper, one of Washington DC’s most read and most influential “beltway” news outlets.

During the National Water Policy Fly-In on April 17 – the signature event of Water Week 2018 – EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, David Ross, announced that the Agency is beginning a rulemaking to address the management of peak wet weather flows with blending.

Last week was an exciting time for clean water advocacy as numerous water professionals and water sector organizations came together in Washington, DC as part of Water Week 2018!

NACWA met with Dave Ross, Assistant Administrator (AA) for the Office of Water at EPA Headquarters on April 12, to discuss Ross’ priorities for his tenure at EPA, and for NACWA to provide a brief overview of some of the Association’s top issues.

The House Committee on Agriculture has released its version of the 2018 Farm Bill, which will be marked up by the committee this week. NACWA has been actively engaged over the past several months with members of both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to ensure inclusion of NACWA’s priorities under the “Conservation Title” of the Farm Bill, many of which were included in the House bill.

A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of the Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit in Upstate Forever v. Kinder Morgan, endorsing a theory advanced by EPA that pollutants which make their way to waters of the United States via groundwater must be permitted under the CWA.