Clean Water Current Archive

NACWA met this week with David Ross, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, and other senior staff from the Office of Water to discuss a number of the Association’s advocacy priorities including affordability and water quality issues.

A federal district court issued a ruling July 16 in a case brought by environmental groups, which challenged the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) approval of Montana’s general nutrient variance for municipal dischargers.

Members of the US House of Representatives passed a sweeping two-year budget deal last week, before adjourning to leave Washington, DC and head back to their home districts for the August recess.

The Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), sent a letter to EPA yesterday expressing concern over EPA’s current efforts to develop a rule on peak wet weather flow blending at publicly owned treatment works and asking EPA for more information on the practice.

Congress is set to vote in the coming days on a sweeping two-year budget deal that will raise the federal debt limit until mid-2021 and increase current spending caps put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act by $320 billion over the next two years.

NACWA’s 2019 Utility Leadership Conference drew more than 200 participants last week to Minneapolis, MN to discuss a variety of emerging utility leadership challenges – including workforce, rate setting and affordability, and community and customer engagement – and how today’s clean water utility executives can best positions themselves to adapt to these challenges at both the national and local levels.

EPA announced last week that it has received 51 requests in the third round of funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program totaling $6.6 billion, which exceeds the $6 billion EPA has available in funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. This demonstrates the critical need for investment in our nation’s water infrastructure and the strong interest in the WIFIA program.

The US House of Representatives passed PFAS legislation last week, as part of the annual National Defense Authorization (NDAA) bill, that has potential serious consequences for public clean water utilities.

EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance released a memo last week further empowering states to take the lead on environmental enforcement issues, furthering EPA’s efforts to place states in the lead of enforcement actions.

NACWA held its quarterly conference call with its State and Regional Partners on July 11. The group heard from the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) regarding their efforts to push non-flushable wipes legislation at the state level and the testing and grassroots initiatives they are engaging in between sessions.

NACWA was honored to be invited to speak at the Arkansas Water & Wastewater Managers Association’s (AWWMA) Annual Conference last week to learn about the Arkansas clean water sector’s priorities and challenges, and to present a national update on NACWA’s advocacy priorities.

As Congress returns from its July 4th Recess, the U.S. House of Representatives has increased its focus on PFAS, including legislative language that has potential serious consequences for public clean water utilities. Immediate NACWA utility action to contact Members of the House is critical to address these concerns.

The US Supreme Court has announced it will hear oral arguments November 6 in a closely watched case over whether pollutants that travel via groundwater can be regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

NACWA submitted comments to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week on EPA’s Study of Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management, which considered the current management practices for wastewater generated by both conventional and unconventional (“fracking”) oil and gas extraction from onshore facilities.

NACWA sent a letter to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 2, requesting assistance in clarifying influent and effluent sampling requirements for pretreatment programs of publicly owned treatment works (POTWs).

A new report by the Northeast-Midwest Institute assesses the implementation of a federally funded conservation program, with a particular concentration on its potential to improve water quality, focusing on a set of locations across the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

A major bipartisan effort to address PFAS chemicals advanced last week, as a package of bills that had been passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee was successfully attached to the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act. The Defense bill passed the Senate on an 86-8 vote.

The US House of Representatives passed a Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) spending package on June 25, which includes significant increases for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies. The bill (H.R. 3055) would provide $9.5 billion to EPA in FY20, a roughly $1.5 billion increase over current (FY19) spending. This spending would be the second-highest EPA budget in history.

NACWA presented at a workshop last week in Los Angeles hosted by member utility LA Sanitation and Environment (LASAN) to discuss how integrated planning (IP) has the potential to more strategically help Los Angeles, and communities across the country, better manage costs and prioritize their clean water investments.

NACWA member utility the Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) released the first ever water equity roadmap for the metropolitan Louisville area on June 27.