Member Pipeline - Clean Water Current - November 27, 2006
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for the Clean Water Currents ArchiveNovember 27, 2006
NACWA Applauds U.S. EPA Decision to Regulate Silver-Ion Washing Machines
NACWA scored a major victory last week after EPA announced its intention to regulate washing machines that release silver ions during the rinse cycle as pesticides. NACWA first called EPA’s attention to the appliances in a February 2006 letter (http://www.nacwa.org/private/reg_outreach.cfm) stating that “NACWA’s member agencies are very concerned about the water quality impacts from the discharge of silver ions from this new machine as well as from other residential pesticide uses.” Specifically, NACWA pointed out that ionic silver, even at very low concentrations, is toxic to aquatic life and can bioaccumulate in some organisms, such as clams. NACWA is proud of the work of its Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Committee and Water Quality Committee to achieve this major victory not only for the environment, but for public clean water agencies. The Association’s outreach efforts also helped bring the media’s attention to this issue. NACWA was quoted in the Wall Street Journal and on New York City’s CBS-affiliated television station about the potentially harmful effects of silver ions in the water. While the Agency has not formally released anything yet, EPA’s decision was announced in media reports. A notice in the Federal Register is expected soon. NACWA will alert members to this important notice when it appears.U.S. Supreme Court Asked to Review Critical Catskills Interbasin Transfer Case
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP), a NACWA member agency, filed a petition Nov. 20 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit regarding the city’s interbasin water transfers. In the City of New York v. Catskill Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Inc. decision issued in June 2006, the Second Circuit reaffirmed its earlier ruling that the city needs a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to transfer natural, untreated water from one of its drinking water tributaries to the main tributary of another of its reservoirs. New York argued in its brief that the transfer of natural water from one water body to another does not constitute a “discharge of pollutants” under the Clean Water Act, and thus no NPDES permit is necessary. The city also argued that the CWA anticipates alternative mechanisms for addressing water transfers, and that the Second Circuit decision is inconsistent with the structure of that law. NACWA will file an amicus brief within 30 days on behalf of NYCDEP urging Supreme Court review of the case. To view the city’s petition and obtain more information about NACWA’s involvement in the case, go to NACWA’s Litigation Tracker (http://www.nacwa.org/private/littrack/#20). NACWA will keep its members informed on the progress of this important case.NACWA Meets with EPA Staff to Discuss New TMDL Guidance
NACWA met with EPA staff and members of the Federal Water Quality Coalition (FWQC) Nov. 21 to discuss the Agency’s new guidance on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) as a result of the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Friends of the Earth v. EPA. The Nov. 15 guidance memo (http://www.nacwa.org/private/cwc/20061117.cfm) attempted to clarify and provide some flexibility in how daily discharge limits in permits should be expressed to comply with TMDL requirements, and the Nov. 21 meeting with EPA staff provided a further opportunity to discuss this important issue. EPA is developing a “fact sheet” to help both clean water agencies and regulators take TMDLs currently expressed in non-daily terms and convert them to TMDLs expressed in daily terms. A draft is expected to be ready for circulation and comment by early December. NACWA and FWQC provided input into this process and will circulate the draft fact sheet to its members for comment as soon as it becomes available.Online Registration Now Available for NACWA’s 2007 Winter Conference
Join your clean water colleagues Jan. 30 – Feb. 2, 2007 for NACWA’s 2007 Winter Conference – Global Trends Impacting Public Utilities . . .The Rising Cost of Clean. This year’s program will examine the increasing financial pressures municipalities face from external, sometimes global forces. With environmental regulations, consent decrees, and other mandates forcing municipalities to plan their capital improvement budgets years and often decades into the future, the added level of uncertainty with regard to how far the municipal dollar will ultimately go is of critical importance. Attire for the winter conference is business casual. Online conference registration and the agenda are now available, so please visit NACWA’s website (www.nacwa.org/meetings/07winter) for the most up-to-date information on the 2007 Winter Conference. Register today!