Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - August 1, 2003
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August 1, 2003
AMSA Participates in Biosolids Summit, Applauds Key Land Application Ruling
AMSA participated in the Water Environment Research Foundation’s (WERF) Biosolids Research Summit this week to develop research priorities in the biosolids arena, with a focus on land-application and further ensuring the protection of public health and the environment. The meeting’s participants included elected officials, scientists, private citizens, risk assessors, and others who helped identify and prioritize research needs. Many of the concerns raised at the summit echoed those raised by AMSA in its July 8 comments on EPA’s initial response to the National Research Council’s (NRC) July 2002 land-applied biosolids report. A series of research priorities were agreed upon and WERF will be releasing a detailed list of those projects soon. EPA noted that the proceedings would be used as part of its response to the NRC report.On a related note, proponents of the land-application of biosolids scored a major victory this week, when, by a unanimous decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s injunction against Appomattox County in Virginia from restricting the land application of biosolids. In this case, O'Brien v. Appomattox County, the court ruled that "[i]n light of the widespread use of biosolids in Virginia and elsewhere in the United States, the regulations and examinations undertaken by the Virginia General Assembly and the U.S. EPA, and the studies by the scientific community, the fear of possible, adverse health effects is too attenuated at this time to outweigh the likelihood of harm to the farmers."
AMSA Gets Positive Feedback from EPA on WATER9 Model Review Project
AMSA met yesterday with key EPA and Research Triangle Institute (RTI) representatives in Research Triangle Park, N.C., to discuss the Association’s Technical Action Fund project to assess EPA’s WATER9 model. RTI has contracted with EPA to work on the development of the Agency’s WATER9 model for estimating air emissions of individual water constituents in wastewater collection, storage, treatment, and disposal facilities. The Agency stated its intent to work closely with AMSA as it evaluates WATER9 — a very encouraging development. Several AMSA members traveled to North Carolina to attend the meeting, including Ed Torres, AMSA’s Air Quality Committee Co-Chair and Environmental Manager for Orange County Sanitation Districts, Calif. At the meeting, EPA and AMSA agreed upon a dataset that both will use to run WATER9 as well as two alternative models which will be used for comparative purposes. If the results of the comparisons show that WATER9 does in fact over-predict emissions, AMSA will prepare a white paper that relevant member agencies can then use with their permitting authorities. The Agency also noted its willingness to update WATER9 based upon AMSA’s findings.AMSA Task Force Taps Luntz for Focus Groups, Survey on Trust Fund Sources
AMSA will be working again with pollster and communications expert, Frank Luntz, on a key step in the Association’s Wastewater Infrastructure Funding Task Force’s strategy — to determine the public’s support for specific trust fund sources of revenue. Based on a conference call yesterday with Luntz, two focus groups will be conducted at the end of August, one each in Baltimore and Los Angeles, with a third focus group of approximately 25 elected officials to take place in conjunction with the National League of Cities’ September conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. AMSA’s first focus group effort found, among many other conclusions, that an overwhelming 84% of those polled support congressional action on long-term, clean and safe water infrastructure funding. The Association is looking forward to similarly enlightening results from this upcoming effort. AMSA will provide updates on this initiative via future Updates and Alerts.