Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - January 27, 2006
Click Here
for the FaxAlert ArchiveJanuary 27, 2006
NACWA Releases Whole Effluent
Toxicity White Paper to Address Utility Permit Issues
NACWA released its Whole Effluent Toxicity NPDES Permit Testing and Limitations for Public Agencies white paper (http://www.nacwa.org/private/wetwp/) this week to help guide clean water facilities in navigating the often complex arena of whole effluent toxicity (WET) testing in a specific clean water agency permit situation. This tool will help public agencies formulate appropriate permit conditions when negotiating with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) authorities and to build an administrative record to support reasonable WET testing permit provisions. Key issues discussed in the white paper include, but are not limited to, distinctions among WET test endpoints, test method flexibility, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC), frequency of WET testing, and concerns about the relationship between WET test results and enforcement actions. Significantly, the white paper also provides suggested NPDES permit language and critiques the language currently being used by permitting authorities.The white paper is an important step in NACWA’s long-term advocacy on WET-related issues and exemplifies how the Association’s legal and regulatory advocacy work in tandem. The white paper builds on the vital experiences the Association gained via its legal advocacy on behalf of WET issues, most notably via the December, 2004 Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision in Edison Electric Institute, et al v. EPA (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legalalerts/leg04-11.cfm). Although the test methods were upheld in this case, the Court provided valuable input on proper and improper uses of WET methods which inform much of the technical discussion in the document. The white paper will also be discussed next week at NACWA’s Winter Conference during the Water Quality and Regulatory Policy Committee meetings.
NACWA, NRDC Submit Joint
Comment Letter on EPA’s Proposed Peak Wet Weather Policy
NACWA and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) submitted a joint comment letter (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2006-01-23letter.pdf) to EPA this week supporting the Agency’s proposed peak wet weather flow policy. The comments also reiterate both organizations’ commitment to working with EPA to respond to other comments or clarifications the Agency has received and to move quickly toward finalizing the policy. NACWA would like to thank its negotiating group on peak wet weather flows, and specifically the Blending Issue Leader, Dave Williams, NACWA Board Member and director of wastewater at the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Oakland, Calif., for their input throughout the drafting and comment effort. To date, the Agency has received approximately 40 comments on the proposed policy, a far cry from the 98,000 comments it received in response to its 2003 proposal. In addressing these comments, NACWA will be conducting a Peak Wet Weather Flow Comment Analysis by amassing all available comments and providing a brief analysis of the concerns contained in these comments. The Association will make this analysis available to the membership once it has been completed. EPA is still receiving comments by mail so this project is targeted for completion in early February.Chemical Security Legislation
to Impact Clean Water Facilities, NACWA Seeks Comments
NACWA urges members to provide the National Office with comments on The Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Act of 2005 (S. 2145). The legislation would provide broad new authority to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish risk-based criteria to determine which chemical facilities are vulnerable to terrorist attacks and establish security standards for those facilities. Please send your utility’s comments to Lee Garrigan, NACWA Director of Legislative Affairs (lgarrigan@nacwa.org), by February 15, 2006. For more information, please refer to Legislative Alert 06-2 (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la06-2.cfm).WERF Accepting Nominations for
Volunteers to Participate in Water Quality Research Initiative
The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) is accepting nominations for volunteer experts interested in shaping the future of water quality research as part of WERF's new Program-Directed Research initiative. Individuals are being sought to populate a series of Exploratory Teams responsible for research plan development, technical oversight, and peer review of high-priority research challenges. This initiative will be discussed at the Research Coordination Workshop at NACWA’s Winter Conference next week. For more information on this initiative, visit the WERF website (http://www.werf.org/press/release_12306.cfm).
NACWA looks forward to seeing you all at the 2006 Winter Conference in Palm Desert.