Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - February 18, 2005
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February 18, 2005
AMSA, CSO Partnership to Co-Sponsor UAA/LTCP Workshop
AMSA and the CSO Partnership, in cooperation with EPA, will be holding a second national workshop for municipal officials and their consultants with responsibility for the oversight of their communities' combined sewer overflow (CSO) control programs, April 11 & 12 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Ill. The program will focus on water quality compliance strategies for CSO long-term control plans (LTCP) as well as key LTCP-related developments. This workshop will provide attendees with the valuable strategies and insights to help address these challenging issues at the community level. The workshop will include presentations on how to structure a use attainability analysis (UAA) within a LTCP and any permit, order or decree that will be used to implement it. Make your reservations today by calling the Drake Hotel at 1-800-553-7253 and ask for the CSO Partnership room block. Registration for AMSA members is $350. For agenda and registration information, visit AMSA’s website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings/).Proposed FY ’06 CWSRF Cuts Receive Criticism from Hill
The House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment held a hearing this week on EPA’s fiscal year (FY) 2006 budget, which the Bush Administration has proposed to cut by $500 million (from $8.1 billion to $7.6 billion). Testifying before the Subcommittee was EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin Grumbles, who defended the Administration’s proposed funding cut of $361 million for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) in FY ’06 (from $1.09 billion to $730 million). Grumbles stated that the widely accepted funding gap for wastewater infrastructure of $21 billion per year could be virtually eliminated through water conservation, asset management and rate increases. Grumbles’ testimony was met with sharp criticism by several members of the Subcommittee including Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN). The proposed cut received a similar response last week at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing (see FaxAlert 2-11-05). The Subcommittee pointed to the growing gap as requiring funding levels beyond the Administration’s request.AMSA also sent out a press release (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/releases/021605.cfm) the same day as the hearing urging Congress to fully fund the CWSRF in the short-term, and work toward a dedicated trust fund to guarantee clean and safe water for the long-term. In regard to the trust fund, the Association met with a small group of industry representatives this week to discuss their perspectives on the trust fund concept. The facilitated meeting provided valuable input to possible revenue sources for the trust fund and ongoing meetings are anticipated.
AMSA Supports
Legislation to Provide Funding for Wet Weather Projects
AMSA sent a letter (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/co/2005-02WWltr.pdf) this week to Representative Dave Camp (R-MI) supporting his newly introduced legislation, H.R. 624, which would authorize $250 million a year over six years for combined sewer overflow (CSO) and sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) control projects. This proposed funding incorporates the request made by Paul Pinault, AMSA Board Member and Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission, Providence, RI, in his July 2004 testimony (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/testimony/2004-07-08pptestimony.cfm) on this legislation before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. As stated in the letter, the legislation, if passed, “would provide that wet weather grant programs will be fully funded in line with the legislators’ original intent, providing cities across the country with additional grant funds to assist in paying for critical and costly wet weather control projects.” The Association believes that this bill is a solid step toward addressing EPA’s current estimates of approximately $80 billion and $50 billion in needed funds to control SSOs and CSOs, respectively.New VSAT™ 3.2 Update for Wastewater Released
AMSA has released a new software update to help wastewater utilities prepare and maintain their Emergency Response Plans (ERPs). AMSA has collaborated with the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) to make this new module available to the users of VSAT™wastewater. The new ERP Module of VSAT™wastewater follows the EPA / WERF Emergency Response Guidance for Wastewater Utilities (published in November 2004) and is a tool to assist utilities to create, update, and/or revise their vulnerability assessments (VAs) as well as prepare their ERPs. VSAT™ Version 3.2 includes the previous significant upgrades in the Countermeasure Library (including linkages and information from the EPA Security Products Guide), an improved vulnerability evaluation method and a new Expert Mode (XM) that makes the review and update of analysis easier. Users of VSAT™wastewater are strongly encouraged to update their software to the latest version of the software which is Version 3.2.The Wastewater ERP module can be used by wastewater utilities regardless of whether they have used VSAT™ or other methods to conduct a VA; however users must have the VSAT™ software to allow the download of the new ERP module. The VSAT™ 3.2 Upgrade can be installed on any version of VSAT™wastewater. VSAT™ development has been funded in part by EPA. Please visit www.VSATusers.net to download this important new tool or to order the VSAT™ software free of charge.