Clean Water Current Archive

One of the many benefits of NACWA membership is the ability to communicate and collaborate using the online community, Engage.

NACWA’s Water Quality Committee convened a Zoom conference call on May 7 and discussed a variety of key nutrient issues as well as concerns surrounding sampling wastewater influent as a means of tracking coronavirus in local populations.

With the coronavirus pandemic causing many businesses and buildings to be closed for long periods of time, the stagnated water in pipes can become unsafe for drinking and other uses.

NACWA filed comments on May 7 on a draft general permit for total nitrogen discharges from a handful of clean water utilities on New Hampshire’s Great Bay.

Today marks the end of Water Week 2020 and caps an incredibly successful week of education and advocacy that brought together thousands of water stakeholders from across the country to highlight the importance of clean, safe and reliable water.

The U.S. Senate plans to return to session in Washington, D.C. on Monday, May 4th as Congress continues to negotiate a path forward on coronavirus response.

The Federal Reserve announced April 27 that it will expand the eligibility criteria for local governments regarding its purchase of municipal debt to help with cashflow challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic

After receiving various requests, on April 30, EPA extended the comment period by thirty days on the proposed regulatory determination for eight contaminants listed on the forthcoming Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), including PFOA/PFOS.

Members of the public clean water sector in New York and across the country are remembering Thomas Lauro, former Commissioner of the Westchester County (New York) Department of Environmental Facilities, who passed away from complications related to COVID-19 on April 22.

The Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee released its bipartisan draft version of the 2020 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) this past week, which includes several top clean water priorities that NACWA has been advocating for over the past year.

NACWA joined with the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Water Research Foundation (WRF), and the WateReuse Association to host a webinar April 22 providing an update on key clean water sector advocacy issues.

In a highly anticipated Clean Water Act (CWA) decision, the U.S. Supreme Court this week held that discharges originating from point sources that reach navigable waters through groundwater and other diffuse media are subject to CWA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting requirements if they are the “functional equivalent” of discharges made directly into those waters.

Congress moved this week to advance another emergency supplemental spending package to provide more funding for COVID-19 testing, hospital aid and small business loans, as it struggles to support overwhelmed health systems and contain the national economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a Notice published in the Federal Register on April 21, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army (Army) finalized the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which provides updated regulations on what waters fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.

As part of the ongoing mediation for Massachusetts and New Hampshire’s small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) general permits, EPA published a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register of the proposed permit modifications on April 23.

Congress announced this week it is delaying its return to Washington DC until at least May 4 due to continued social distancing efforts around the COVID-19 outbreak.

NACWA joined with the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) in filing an amicus brief earlier this week with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) in support of Member Agency the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Petition for Review of a Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued by EPA Region 9.

EPA published a notice in the Federal Register on April 10 seeking public comment on the WaterSense Program and requesting information on any data, surveys, or studies to help assess consumer satisfaction with WaterSense labeled products.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued two memos – one on March 31 and one on April 13 – outlining its policy to temporarily suspend certain affirmative civil debt collection and enforcement activities, including those related to environmental consent decrees and settlement agreements, through May 31, 2020 to “mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.”

In a final rule published in the Federal Register on April 15, EPA is finalizing a suite of changes to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) eRule to be consistent with current municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4s) permit requirements.