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April 25, 2003 AMSA Fax Alert

Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - April 25, 2003

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April 25, 2003

AMSA, Infrastructure Network Brief Senate Staff on Funding
AMSA and several other Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) member organizations briefed key staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on both short-term and long-term clean and safe water infrastructure funding needs. The group did a “walk-through” of WIN-drafted legislative language that would provide $50 billion over five years as well as grants for wet weather construction projects. Paul Pinault, AMSA President and Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission in Providence, R.I., provided an overview of the funding challenges his Commission faces, including costly combined sewer overflow control projects, and stated that the WIN-drafted language, if enacted, would help in the short-term while making it clear that a long-term, sustainable funding solution would still be a necessity. After this Capitol Hill meeting, AMSA took several of the Senate staff on an informative site visit of the Alexandria Sanitation Authority in Alexandria, Va. This visit demonstrated to the Senate staff the tremendous effort expended and the expense consistently needed, for publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) to continuously improve and upgrade their plants and services and constituted an excellent real-world example of the important work POTWs perform on a daily basis. A copy of the WIN-drafted legislative language is available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/faxalerts/042503a.pdf.

AMSA Urges Reasonable Implementation of WET Test Methods
AMSA met yesterday with several Office of Water officials to discuss ways of alleviating problems with the Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) test methods by improving their implementation. AMSA member agency representatives Jim Pletl, Environmental Scientist with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) in Virginia Beach, Va., and Joe Gully, Biologist II, with the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles, Calif., provided presentations that outlined the problems with assessing toxicity in low or no dilution environments and demonstrated the problems with data analysis and interpretation. Norm LeBlanc, Chief, Technical Services with HRSD, led a discussion that focused on two proposed approaches, a multiple test approach to remove some of the uncertainty associated with determining compliance based on a single WET test, and a permit limitation approach that would require permittees to complete a series of activities should a test result indicate potential toxicity, in lieu of triggering an automatic violation. EPA stated its desire to discuss and consider both approaches further and AMSA committed to outline more specifically the permit limitation approach. WET, and a host of other issues, were also discussed at a Municipal Wastewater Issues Meeting this week, with key EPA staff including Jim Hanlon, EPA’s Director of Wastewater Management. Hanlon suggested that these meetings be ramped up to occur every second month which will provide AMSA and other municipal organizations with an excellent opportunity to voice their clean water concerns and obtain updates from EPA policymakers. Details regarding these meeting will be available in next month’s Regulatory Update.

Advance Registration Deadline for AMSA’s May Forum Approaches!
The advance registration deadline for AMSA’s 2003 National Environmental Policy Forum & 33rd Annual Meeting, Making Our Voices Heard . . . Mobilizing in Support of the National Clean Water Agenda, May 17-21, 2003, in Washington, D.C. is May 12, so register today. The Forum provides a unique opportunity to interact with Agency and congressional officials and to garner momentum for national clean water policy. The Forum is being held at the Hyatt Regency Washington and AMSA urges you to book your rooms soon by calling 202/737-1234. Agenda and registration information is available online at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings/03nepf/.