NACWA’s Water Quality Committee held its last committee call of 2019 on December 4 and discussed a myriad of recent developments on the water quality front that will spill over into 2020.

NACWA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) hosted Part 2 last week of a 4-part webinar series Dealing with Disruption: Operationalizing Resilience in the Water Sector.

NACWA is pleased to welcome two new members to the Association’s staff.

NACWA released a new document, A Clean Water Utility’s Guide to Considering Source Identification, Pretreatment, and Sampling Protocols for PFAS, on November 25 designed to provide helpful information to utilities that are dealing with growing questions around PFAS chemicals in wastewater and biosolids.

NACWA, along with its partners the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation, met December 3 with political leadership for both the enforcement and water offices at EPA to discuss the groups’ report, Developing a New Framework for Household Affordability and Financial Capability Assessment in the Water Sector, which outlines a new approach to evaluating household affordability and utility financial capability across all water programs.

NACWA led a group of national and state stormwater associations in filing a November 25 brief with the US Supreme Court in support of the review of a Maryland court decision that could open municipal stormwater utilities to greater Clean Water Act (CWA) liability.

Congress returned to Washington, DC this week for what is expected to be a busy three-week legislative period prior to adjourning for the holiday recess.

In November 25 comments on EPA’s Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 14, NACWA asked EPA to broaden its study of industries that may discharge PFAS.

Members of NACWA’s Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Committee met on November 21 to discuss the implementation of the Dental Amalgam Rule. The 2017 rule requires that dental offices install dental amalgam separators and follow best management practices (BMPs) by July 2020. Dental offices must submit a one-time compliance report to their wastewater utility by October 12, 2020.

In 2017, the City of Prineville (OR) completed an innovative natural wastewater treatment system project by establishing a 120-acre wetlands complex along the Crooked River. While the complex incorporates effective wastewater treatment, it also serves as an interactive community asset with hiking trails, wildlife observation, and educational kiosks. The City received a National Environmental Achievement Award in the Operations & Environmental Performance category from NACWA in 2019 for the project.