Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - July 9, 2004
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July 9, 2004
AMSA Testifies
Before House Subcommittee on Wet Weather Funding Bill
Paul Pinault, Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission, Providence, Rhode Island and Chair of AMSA’s Clean Water Funding Task Force, testified this week at a House Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee hearing in support of the Water Quality Investment Act of 2003 (H.R. 784). The bill provides authority for $750 million in grants for combined and sanitary sewer overflow (CSO and SSO) projects for fiscal years 2004 and 2005. AMSA strongly supported the bill’s grant component but, based on experience with Congress’s past inability to fund similar programs, Pinault noted that H.R. 784 would have “a more realistic chance of obtaining the needed appropriations at a level of $250 million per year” over six years. Pinault also noted that EPA estimates that over $50 billion and $100 billion is currently needed for CSO and SSO controls respectively. The full Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is expected to approve the bill next week, though no specific date has been scheduled. The testimony is available on AMSA’s website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/testimony/2004-07-08pptestimony.cfm).AMSA Provides EPA with Input
on Pending WET Implementation Guidance
AMSA, along with several key stakeholders, met this week with Linda Boornazian, Water Permits Division Director in EPA's Office of Wastewater Management and key members of her staff to discuss a pending guidance document on whole effluent toxicity (WET) implementation. Originally drafted to provide guidance on reasonable potential determinations, the document will also deal with other implementation issues surrounding the contentious WET methods, a result AMSA has advocated for over the past year. The guidance will be released for public comment in September of this year. In addition to its legal efforts to challenge the validity of the WET methods themselves (Edison Electric Institute v. EPA), AMSA has maintained a dialogue with EPA's permit office to explore implementation fixes that would improve the methods’ application in the context of Clean Water Act permitting. AMSA and other stakeholders recommended that EPA address several issues in the guidance, including in-stream dilution and the use of a tiered approach in which a single test failure triggers confirmatory testing, not a violation. AMSA will alert its members upon release of the guidance and will continue to discuss this issue with EPA.Apply Now for
2004 Excellence in Management Recognition Program
Launched in 2003, AMSA’s Excellence in Management (EIM) program recognizes member agencies that have implemented successful management programs over a continuous three-year period that address the range of management challenges faced by public wastewater utilities in today’s competitive environment. Application materials, with program eligibility and criteria were distributed to AMSA’s membership in late June via Member Update 04-11 (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/membership/eim/mu04-11.cfm). The application deadline for the 2004 EIM program is Friday, August 2, 2004.
- Today is the deadline for discounted room rates for AMSA’s 2004 Summer Conference, Leading the Way… POTWs Take Environmental Protection Beyond the Pipe, in Denver, Colo., July 20 – 23, so call the Westin Tabor Center today at 303/572-9100 and indicate you are an AMSA conference registrant. To register online for the conference, visit AMSA’s website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings/04summer/).