Clean Water Current

EPA’s Office of Wastewater Management hosted utility leaders, including several NACWA members, from around the country in May to discuss the current landscape of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) exchange and how to further support and enhance these vital networking tools.

NACWA staff, along with a coalition from the California Association of Sanitary Agencies (CASA), Water Environment Federation (WEF), Water Research Foundation, and Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF), met with senior staff members of the EPA Office of Transportation last week to discuss opportunities for biosolids in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.

NACWA provided input to EPA on the registration reviews of imidacloprid, a pesticide used in pet flea control products and indoor pest control sprays, and boric acid/sodium salts, a chemical used in swimming pools, spas and fountains.

To assist low-income households in the U.S. with rising water and wastewater rates, NACWA partnered with six other leading water associations to issue a guide July 18 that assesses the feasibility of rate-funded customer assistance programs (CAPs) in each state.

The EPA invited 12 applicants from across the country on July 19 to apply for financial assistance through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program.

The International Water Services Flushability Group (IWSFG) has published a draft flushability standard, with a public comment period open until September 1.

EPA filed its brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, on July 17, regarding the appeal of Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) v. Pruitt.

NACWA will be testifying July 20 before the Senate Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Subcommittee to address the need for more federal clean water infrastructure funding.

NACWA released a new report July 13 outlining environmental justice and community service efforts by municipal clean water utilities, and highlighting the important work being done by many NACWA members to better engage with their communities

During the House Appropriations Full Committee’s consideration of the FY 2018 Financial Services & General Government Subcommittee bill on July 13, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) introduced, but immediately withdrew, an amendment which would prohibit the District of Columbia from spending any money to implement DC’s Nonwoven Disposable Products Act of 2016.

The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) on July 12 approved the nomination of Susan Bodine to head EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) as Assistant Administrator.

EPA’s Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Dental Category, also known as the Dental Amalgam Rule, went into effect for new sources on July 14.

NACWA was pleased to give a national update at the Kentucky-Tennessee Water Professionals Conference in Lexington, Kentucky on July 11.

NACWA signed onto a letter July 5, with a broad coalition of water and engineering organizations, to raise concerns about federal “materials preference” legislation for water and wastewater projects.

NACWA asked EPA, in its July 7 comments, to consider impacts on wastewater treatment and the aquatic environment, in its environmental risk assessment of pyrethroid insecticides, which are found in many consumer products such as pet flea control treatments, lice and scabies treatment, and impregnated clothing.

EPA released a suite of online resource materials in early July, to assist public health officials and recreational water managers address the increasing occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms, or other harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwaters.

EPA Region 1 issued a formal postponement, on June 29, of the effective date (July 1) of the general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for small municipal separate stormwater systems (MS4s) in Massachusetts.

As healthcare and federal spending debates loom on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) fast-tracked energy legislation straight to the Senate floor.

NACWA participated in a July 10 press conference organized by Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the District of Columbia’s non-voting member in the House of Representatives, to defend local DC laws from being blocked or overturned by riders added to the Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bill.

Through high-level conversations with Trump Administration officials and Congress in recent weeks, NACWA is learning more about the infrastructure package under development by the White House and key congressional committees.