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March 11, 2005 AMSA Fax Alert

Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - March 11, 2005

March 11, 2005

AMSA Sends
Technical Review of 2003 Blending Study to Congress
AMSA sent a technical review (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/co/2005-03-08CongBlltrep.pdf) of the November 2003 Katonak-Rose Report on Public Health Risks Associated with Wastewater Blending, to Congress this week. The 2003 Katonak-Rose Report provided the basis for environmental activist mischaracterizations of the human health risks associated with exposure to blended effluent. The Technical Review offers a thorough and scientific analysis of the flawed assumptions contained in the Katonak-Rose Report’s risk assessment methodology. These flawed assumptions led to the Rose Report’s vast overstatement of the potential risk of pathogen loads in blended effluent. The Technical Review states that “Because of significant flaws associated with [the Katonak-Rose] study, it is inappropriate to extrapolate or infer anything from this exercise about the risks associated with implementing the proposed blending policy. The national significance of the proposed policy on blending cannot be determined through this study.” The Review is timely as legislation has been introduced in the House seeking to prohibit blending. AMSA has distributed the Review to all members of Congress and will continue to work with lawmakers and EPA to ensure the proposed blending guidance is issued. AMSA will be holding a congressional briefing next Wednesday along with the Water Environment Federation and Water Environment Research Foundation. Further details will be included in next week’s FaxAlert.

AMSA Continues
Push for Increased Funding for EPA Clean Water Loan Program
AMSA, in collaboration with a coalition of municipal entities, state water regulators and financial officers, labor organizations and environmental groups, sent a letter (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/co/2005-03-08CWDWfdgltr.pdf) this week to House Budget Committee Chairman, Jim Nussle (R-IA), and Ranking Member, John Spratt (D-SC) seeking increased funding for the state revolving fund (SRF) program. The letter urged the Budget Committee to support a minimum of $2.5 billion in budget authority for EPA’s Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs in fiscal year 2006. Of this $2.5 billion, $1.5 would go to the clean water program and $1 billion to drinking water. The coalition asserted that “[t]he budget resolution would not only support critical clean and safe drinking water programs, but would also create nearly 117,500 American jobs. The coalition also stated that it “support[s] this reasonable increase to protect clean and safe water next year because it takes a step toward a longer-term solution for our nation’s water needs.” The letter comes on the heels of the Bush Administration’s proposed budget cuts to EPA’s Clean Water SRF (see FaxAlert 2-07-05). AMSA will continue to work with the coalition to ensure full funding for the SRF program.

AMSA Meets with ISO Working Group on Amalgam Separators
AMSA met with an International Organization of Standardization (ISO) working group this week to review comments on a draft revision of an ISO standard for testing dental amalgam separators, sometimes used to decrease levels of mercury in dental office effluent. This effort is not related to the AMSA’s work on the ISO wastewater management services standard. The current standard for testing dental amalgam dictates how the units should be tested to asses the efficiency with which they remove mercury-containing dental amalgam. Later this month AMSA and the working group will conduct a review of the formal Committee Draft of the revision which will incorporate the various comments received to date. Many communities in the US, including AMSA members, now require dentists to install separators from a list of approved models or select an 'ISO tested' model. AMSA's Mercury Workgroup is currently working on guidance related to amalgam separators that will provide communities exploring similar requirements with case studies on how others have set up their separator requirements. The Association will continue to provide an active voice in the ISO amalgam separator standard review.

AMSA urges its members to contact their delegates to support continued funding of the National Biosolids Partnership at $1 million for fiscal year 2006. For more information visit AMSA’s Write Congress Now webpage (http://63.66.87.48/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=AMSA).