The City of Corpus Christi Water Utilities received a 2019 National Environmental Achievement Award (NEAA) for its workforce development program. The utility makes workforce development a priority within the organization. It is their goal to produce a workplace that gives employees opportunities to become more successful in their current and future employment and to increase the number of leaders in the community. The leadership within the City strives to provide a roadmap to guide the career of employees by providing the means to participate in innovative learning and to develop meaningful, lifelong skills.

NACWA submitted comments on April 15 regarding the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) and the US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE’s) proposed new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) definition.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement on April 15 clarifying the application of Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting requirements to groundwater. EPA’s Interpretative Statement concludes that Congress excluded releases of pollutants to groundwater from the CWA’s permitting requirements, and instead left regulation of those releases to the states and EPA’s other statutory authorities.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in a letter dated April 4, 2019, that it was approving Idaho’s new and revised human health criteria, which is essentially a complete reversal from the position taken by the last administration.

As part of its ongoing Toilets Are Not Trashcans campaign, NACWA submitted comments on the regulations for flushable wipes proposed by the District of Columbia (DC) Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE). DOEE was required to develop these regulations by the District’s wipes labeling law, the Nonwoven Disposable Products Act of 2016. The law and the proposed regulations are the first in the US related to the labeling of wipes.