Member Pipeline - Regulatory - Alert (RA 99-20)
To:
Members & Affiliates, Wet Weather Committee, Legal Affairs Committee
From:
National Office
Date:
October 29, 1999
Subject:
SSO Federal Advisory Committee Reaches Agreement on Draft Requirements for Collection Systems
Reference:
RA 99-20
On October 18-20 in Williamsburg, Va., AMSA and other organizations represented in the Sanitary Sewer Overflow Federal Advisory Committee (SSO FAC) unanimously approved the basic principles expressed in draft proposed regulations on municipal sewerage collection systems. The agreement came after three days of intensive discussions in which municipal interests won important concessions on several issues relating to SSOs. The entire SSO FAC supported and recommended the regulatory approach the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should take toward the following: a general prohibition on SSOs; capacity, management, operation and maintenance (CMOM) of collection systems; reporting and public notification; remote treatment facilities, satellite collection systems, and watershed approaches. Prior to the unanimous endorsement, AMSA worked closely with EPA and other stakeholders on substantive changes to the SSO FAC process to ensure its success after hitting several stumbling blocks over the course of
The October 18-20 negotiations resulted in significant compromises that should translate into SSO regulations that provide an appropriate level of flexibility and local control to municipal wastewater agencies. Attached are copies of four issue papers that reflect the consensus recommendations of the FAC on: 1) CMOM; 2) prohibition on SSOs; 3) record keeping, reporting, and public notification; and, 4) peak excess flow treatment facilities. Also attached, are the post-meeting thoughts of one municipal advisory committee participant.
The agreements came as a surprise to many in the FAC considering the entire municipal caucus had withdrawn from the discussion in late-July 1999 amid concerns that the Agency could not be flexible or was constrained on issues critical to municipalities. After receiving assurances from EPA that they were willing to work with municipalities on critical issues, the municipal caucus decided to rejoin the discussions. A September 3, 1999 letter to EPA Administrator Carol Browner from the SSO advisory committee municipal and operator caucus, along with EPA's response is attached to provide some background of municipal concerns going into the October 18-20, 1999 FAC meeting.
Capacity, Maintenance, Operation, and Management
One of the important developments during the negotiations was the clarification of EPA's draft proposed CMOM requirements. Rather than a set of prescriptive requirements, CMOM now consists of a series of “General Standards” that collection systems must meet with the development of a program that ensures that the collection system is properly built, managed and maintained. CMOMs will not be required to be approved by EPA, however, the implementation of the CMOM program will be considered in any relevant enforcement action.Liability Protection
One of the primary issues that municipalities were seeking throughout the entire FAC process was a degree of liability protection for municipal owners and operators for unavoidable SSOs. AMSA and other municipal representatives had been concerned that EPA's May 1999 draft proposed prohibition language would not adequately protect municipalities from liability for SSOs in extreme wet weather events or SSOs beyond a reasonable control of the operator. The language was crafted based on the current upset/bypass regulation and expressly limited liability protection to those events that did not cause a water quality standards violation. While the consensus October 20 language still does not quantify what constitutes an extreme event, references to water quality standards have been deleted.Peak Excess Flow Treatment Facilities (Wet Weather Treatment Facilities)
The Committee recognized that it may be appropriate to allow or require peak excess flow treatment facilities (PEFTFs) to be installed in order to reduce adverse environmental impacts from SSOs if no timely feasible alternatives exist for managing existing SSO discharges. To qualify for approval of a PEFTF, a municipality would be required to perform a system assessment, develop and implement a CMOM program with specific plans to remediate causes of SSOs, and agree to operate the facility under an administrative order or consent decree that identifies a date when all avoidable overflows are to be eliminated. Treatment requirements of the PEFTFs could be developed on a case-by-case basis.Record Keeping, Reporting, and Public Notification
The Committee agreed to standard permit conditions that would address record-keeping, reporting and public notification. Under the agreement, municipalities would be required to provide a 24-hour oral or electronic report to the NPDES authority and notice to public health agencies, drinking water suppliers, and other affected entities (in accordance with the municipality's CMOM program) for SSOs that may imminently or substantially endanger human health. Municipalities will also be required to track SSO events, and include summary data in monthly discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) and annual reports to the NPDES authority.Satellite Collection Systems
While EPA's May 1999 draft proposed regulation would have required NPDES permits for all satellite collection systems (collection systems that convey wastewater to a regional system and are not owned or operated by the same entity that provides wastewater treatment), the Committee agreed that a uniform permitting approach was not the best solution to address satellite collection systems. Several options were discussed, and it was agreed that local control mechanisms or agreements (e.g., contracts, inter-jurisdictional agreements, “pretreatment-like” permits, etc.) developed by the regional authority and the satellite collection systems should be implemented as a first step. To provide an impetus for local cooperation, the Committee agreed that it may be appropriate for EPA to “backstop” local programs with the potential imposition of an individual or general NPDES permit for satellite collection systems if local control mechanisms are not implemented and where there is a continued proWatershed Management
A SSO management flowchart, which was unanimously approved by the Committee in 1995, was referenced by the Committee as the underlying framework for addressing SSO remediation efforts. In the flowchart, there is an option for municipalities to pursue a watershed management approach to remediation of SSOs. During the October 18-20 meeting, municipal representatives stressed the need to: 1) consider SSOs in the context of the watershed planning; 2) evaluate water quality impacts from other wet weather sources, such as urban stormwater and CSOs, and 3) establish regulatory flexibility to pursue a prioritized scheme for controls. Integration with EPA's Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program was seen as one mechanism to achieve this prioritization.Next Steps
Based on the SSO FAC's recommendations, EPA will draft national SSO regulations. Earlier this year, President Clinton directed EPA to develop the regulations by Spring 2000. With the timing of the SSO FAC's agreement, EPA is on track to propose regulations by that deadline. The National Office will continue to provide information to the Agency during the SSO proposal development and AMSA members will be apprised of further developments on this issue. If you have any questions, please contact Mark Hoeke, AMSA 202/833-9106, or Kevin Weiss, EPA 202/260-9524.Attachments:
Consensus Recommendation of the Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Fedral Advisory Subcommittee Capacity, Management, Operation and Maintanence (CMOM) Prohibition Record Keeping, Reporting and Public Notification Peak Excess Flow Treatment Facilities for Sanitary Sewer Collection Systems September 3, 1999 Letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner from NLC, AMSA, APWA, WEF and Tri-TAC October 21, 1999 E-Mail from Gordon Garner, Executive Director, Louisville & Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District September 28, 1999 Letter to The Honorable Jack Lynch, Mayor of Butte, MT, from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrators, J. Charles Fox and Steven Herman For these downloadable file, you must have the Acrobat Reader. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader, click on the icon below to download a copy. After you download and install a copy, return to this page and click on the links above for the downloadable files.
