Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - January 31, 2003
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January 31, 2003
AMSA Calls for Long-Term Funding Solution at EPA Meeting
AMSA participated today in a broad, EPA stakeholder meeting titled Closing the Gap: Innovative Responses for Sustainable Water Infrastructure. The meeting was announced last year during EPA’s release of its report, The Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis, documenting a startling water and wastewater infrastructure funding gap of as much as $500 billion. Paul Pinault, AMSA’s President and Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission in Providence, R.I., participated as a panelist during the meeting’s morning session on asset management, making it clear that public wastewater treatment utilities are competitively managed; that asset management has become more routine and effective; and rates are on the increase to help deal with an aging infrastructure and costly federal regulatory requirements. Paul Pinault emphatically warned, however, that these practices are not alone sufficient to overcome the enormous funding gap and voiced the need for a federal, long-term, sustainable funding solution to overcome the shortfall. Billy G. Turner, an AMSA Board Member and President of the Columbus Water Works, Ga., also participated in the EPA meeting and echoed these and other municipal concerns. AMSA will provide further details on the meeting in future Alerts and Updates.AMSA Recommends Steps for EPA Response to Biosolids Report
By April, EPA must issue a notice for public comment outlining how the Agency plans to respond to the recommendations contained in the July 2, 2002 National Research Council report entitled Biosolids Applied to Land: Advancing Standards and Practices. In a letter this week to G. Tracy Mehan, III, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, AMSA recommended EPA take the following steps in response to the report, which will help reassure the public of the safety and benefits of land-applying biosolids: perform exposure-assessment studies to compile additional human health data; create a Response Team for biosolids health reports; increase the funding and staff resources devoted to the biosolids program; and consider conducting a new national biosolids survey that would include a survey of pathogen occurrence in raw and treated sewage. As the letter states, “AMSA is confident that . . . the exposure-assessment studies and the [recommended] framework for human health investigations, will provide the most benefit for the biosolids program, the nation’s publicly owned treatment works, and the communities they serve.” AMSA’s letter is at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/2003-01-Mehanletter.pdf.AMSA Comments on Proposed Withdrawal of 2000 TMDL Rule
AMSA provided EPA with comments this week on the Agency’s proposed withdrawal of the July 13, 2000 final revisions to the federal Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulations. AMSA supports EPA’s proposed withdrawal of the July 2000 rule, providing that EPA moves forward with a workable replacement rule that builds on the extensive information provided since July 2000 by AMSA and other stakeholders. AMSA believes that a workable TMDL/watershed rule must promote a system that requires better water quality information and data; incorporate nonpoint sources in a meaningful manner; and provide a clear path toward TMDL implementation and accountability for all parties. AMSA also stated in its comments that the Association “is troubled by recent reports that EPA may abandon the watershed rule development process,” adding that “[t]his is an unacceptable outcome.” AMSA will continue to work to ensure that EPA proposes a viable TMDL rule as quickly as possible. AMSA’s comments are available on the Association’s web site at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/01-27-03cmts.pdf.