Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - June 10, 2004
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June 10, 2004
Senate Majority to Introduce Water, Wastewater Funding Bill
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) Chairman, James Inhofe (R-OK), and Fisheries, Wildlife and Water Subcommittee Chairman, Mike Crapo (R-ID), have released a discussion draft of new water and wastewater infrastructure funding legislation that will amend the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Act loan programs. The discussion draft bill would reauthorize the Clean Water Act state revolving fund (SRF) at $20 billion over five years. While the discussion draft seeks to use incentives instead of mandates as a method to distribute SRF money, the bill does contain various provisions that members may find troubling. As such, AMSA will be forwarding the legislation to members soon via a Legislative Alert with a detailed analysis of the draft bill’s provisions and a request for comment. Your input will be critical to guide AMSA’s next steps regarding this legislation. The bill may be finalized for introduction as early as June 16, 2004. A discussion draft of the bill is available on AMSA's Legislative Correspondence & Outreach website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/leg_outreach.cfm).AMSA’s 2004
Summer Conference Nears, Make Plans To Attend Now
AMSA’s 2004 Summer Conference, Leading the Way … POTWs Take Environmental Protection Beyond the Pipe, will be held at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver, Colorado, July 20-23, 2004. This year’s agenda will focus on the evolving and emerging technical issues that continue to alter wastewater treatment practices and demand an increasing focus on non-traditional, highly technical, “beyond-the-pipe” issues. Among the various topics slated to be discussed are examples of successful total maximum daily loads (TMDLs); the impasse over designated uses; the controversy surrounding use attainability analyses; non-traditional treatment through constructed wetlands; regulatory drivers for water reuse; and, water quality monitoring as an underlying foundation for a host of clean water issues.Conference to Showcase Keynote, Featured Speakers
The 2004 Summer Conference speakers will provide innovative presentations on timely water quality topics. L. Hunter Lovins, a founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and co-creator of the Natural Capitalism concept, will be this year’s keynote speaker. Under her leadership, RMI grew into a nationally recognized research center, widely celebrated for its innovative thinking in energy and resource issues. Lovins will bring her years of expertise and wealth of knowledge to this year’s Summer Conference and will focus on how to look at naturally occurring systems for insight into developing a sustainable approach to water quality issues. Featured speaker, Mark Pifher, Division Director of the Water Quality Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, Colorado, will also be on hand to discuss the importance of water quality monitoring and offer views from a state perspective, including budgetary challenges.Hotel Deadline June 28 – Register Today!
AMSA encourages members to make plans now to attend the 2004 Conference as the deadline for reserving hotel rooms and advanced registration is rapidly approaching. To receive AMSA’s special room rate of $165 single/double, contact the Westin Tabor Center at 303/572-9100, by June 28, 2004. To ensure your name is included in this year’s participants list, attendees must register with AMSA by July 8, 2004.Attendees are also encouraged to sign up for this year’s facility tour of the Denver Metro Wastewater Reclamation District’s Central Treatment Plant and Denver Water Recycling Plant, as well as, the 2004 AMSA Open, being held at the newly opened Fossil Trace Golf Club in Golden, Colorado. To register for either event select your choice on the registration form you received in the mail or on AMSA’s convenient online registration form. For up-to-the-minute registration and agenda information, visit AMSA’s conference webpage (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings/).
AMSA Submits Comments
on EPA’s Proposed Test Methods and Revisions
AMSA commented this week on EPA’s proposed analytical test methods and revisions for whole effluent toxicity. The Association successfully advocated for the proposed recommendation to implement the 245.7 mercury method, which would provide treatment facilities with a less expensive and less resource-intensive alternative to the currently available methods, while still providing quantifiable levels of mercury. Also included in the comments were AMSA’s stance on method detection limits for whole effluent toxicity methods, procedures for MDLs and MLs, and the use of Microtox 1010. To view AMSA’s comments in their entirety, visit the Association’s website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/releases.cfm).
- AMSA will join the Federal Government, District of Columbia Government, District public schools and many other Associations in observation of Friday, June 11, as the National Day of Mourning honoring President Reagan. AMSA’s offices will reopen on Monday, June 14.