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October 18, 2002 AMSA Fax Alert

Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - October 18, 2002

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October 18, 2002

AMSA Leadership Meets in DC, Water Act Celebrates 30th Birthday
AMSA held its Fall Leadership Retreat and Strategy Session this week, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act (CWA) today. The timely meeting of the Association’s Board of Directors and Special Committee leaders explored the gamut of AMSA’s priority issues through discussions among high-level EPA officials, congressional staff, and AMSA member public wastewater utility leaders. Among the key issues discussed was AMSA’s formation of the Wastewater Infrastructure Funding Task Force to build support for a sustained funding source, potentially in the form of a wastewater infrastructure trust fund. The idea of a trust fund met with broad interest, including from EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, G. Tracy Mehan, who emphasized that AMSA should discuss this initiative at a funding forum EPA is organizing on the issue in January. Mehan also applauded AMSA’s leadership on wastewater security issues, noting that EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman was aware and appreciative of the Association’s security efforts, including its Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool (VSAT™) software initiative.

Congressional staff in attendance, representing both the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, acknowledged that there is broad bipartisan agreement as to the massive water and wastewater infrastructure funding shortfall, adding that given the budget’s deficit situation, a trust fund would create a dedicated source of revenue with the added benefit of avoiding the traditional appropriations process. Senate and House staff also expressed their hope for passing wastewater security legislation this year. The Hill staff recognized AMSA and the Water Infrastructure Network for their committed pursuit of infrastructure funding legislation in both the House and Senate. While acknowledging that final passage of such legislation is unlikely this year, they expressed a willingness to work with the Association during the 108th Congress to see the infrastructure funding legislation through to fruition.

AMSA members also had the opportunity to discuss the upcoming proposal of the sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) rule and its enforcement implications with EPA’s “top cop”, John Peter Suarez, Assistant Administrator of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance. AMSA members urged Suarez to take into account the very real engineering and budgetary constraints publicly owned treatment work operators face. Suarez appeared open to AMSA’s arguments countering a “zero tolerance for overflows” policy, and stated that his enforcement philosophy is guided by two principles — “fairness and flexibility” and expressed interest in AMSA proposals on Capacity, Management, Operations and Maintenance (CMOM) plans. EPA also expressed interest in AMSA’s idea of holding a future meeting or symposium primarily to discuss SSO-related issues, with Mehan adding that such a forum would be useful as a means to help activists and the POTW community air out their differences. More specifics about the Leadership Meeting and events relating to the 30th anniversary of the CWA will be available in future Alerts, Updates, and the October issue of the Clean Water News.


AMSA congratulates its members for the tremendous water quality gains they have helped Americans nationwide enjoy throughout the past 30 years under the Clean Water Act. AMSA looks forward to working with you in the coming years to build on this clean water progress!