Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - May 28, 2004
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May 28, 2004
AMSA Policy Forum Provides Members with Key Perspectives on Clean Water Policy
AMSA’s 2004 National Environmental Policy Forum (NEPF) and 34th Annual Meeting, Politics, Policy and POTWs, provided attendees with critical information from a variety of stakeholders that will help AMSA and its members advance sound clean water policies. Also, the Board of Directors approved several important legal and regulatory Targeted Action Fund (TAF) requests, which will be detailed in next week’s Regulatory Update.A highlight of the conference was Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s remarks at AMSA’s National Environmental Achievement Awards (NEAA) and Peak Performance Awards luncheon. Mayor Franklin, an NEAA Local Public Service Award recipient, discussed the pride she felt in being known as the “Sewer Mayor” because of her consistent and vocal commitment to upgrade Atlanta’s aging sewer system and to making the city’s water quality a priority issue. Washington, DC Mayor, Anthony Williams, also received a Local Public Service Award and spoke to AMSA at its May 22 reception on the importance of his $1.6 billion Capitol Improvement Program to upgrade DC’s aging water infrastructure as the cornerstone for dealing with population and economic growth in the nation’s Capitol.
After the meeting, AMSA members and staff met with EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water (OW), Benjamin Grumbles, on constructed wetlands and combined sewer overflow issues —issues he commented on at the NEPF. Grumbles’ NEPF remarks also focused on the need to increase water quality monitoring and the pressing need for increased outreach, noting that in the public’s mind, “infrastructure” simply remains a 14-letter word, despite its critical importance. In addition to Benjamin Grumbles’ focus on public education, Amy Showalter, a grassroots expert, provided attendees with a useful “how-to” plan to develop local support for publicly owned treatment work (POTW) initiatives, from making sure facility employees understand the importance of local and national clean water initiatives, to getting POTW local and national officials to champion clean water issues. In line with this pressing need, AMSA’s Board voted to form a new Communications and Public Relations Committee to advance AMSA’s outreach objectives.
One of the more lively panels was a roundtable that included a discussion of representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council, American Rivers, and Environmental Defense to discuss their organizations’ recent controversial publications on clean water issues and to outline areas where cooperative efforts with AMSA would be beneficial. Despite the very real differences of opinion on a variety of Clean Water Act issues and interpretations, a common theme of the panelists was the need for the wastewater treatment and activist communities to work together on infrastructure and stormwater funding as well as on innovative watershed approaches to water quality issues. This discussion was captured well in a BNA Daily Environment Report article (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/news/052604.cfm).
AMSA would like to thank all participants for making the NEPF such a success. Speaker presentations will be available on AMSA’s website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings/materials.cfm) next week.