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August 23, 2002 AMSA Fax Alert

Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - August 23, 2002

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August 23, 2002

AMSA’s Awarded Funds for New Versions of VSAT™
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week awarded funding to AMSA, via a cooperative agreement, to produce two additional versions of the Association’s Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool, VSAT™wastewater. Development work is anticipated to begin immediately on VSAT™water/wastewater for combined utilities and VSAT™water for small-medium sized water utilities. A November release date is anticipated.

VSAT™wastewater has garnered tremendous interest from many different sectors since its July 23, 2002 release. To date nearly 1,500 copies of the software tool have been distributed to public wastewater utilities and other public entities across the nation. On Tuesday AMSA completed the last of two scheduled online training workshops on VSAT™wastewater – which reaffirmed the user-friendliness of this new tool. The official VSAT™ web site, www.VSATusers.net – and AMSA’s site, www.amsa-cleanwater.org – will provide new developments as they occur.


AMSA Urges EPA to Propose SSO Rule with Achievable Standards
AMSA sent a detailed letter this week to Tracy Mehan, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, expressing its support for moving ahead with a comprehensive sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) rule, but urging the Agency to develop a rule that recognizes “the unique role of collection systems and establishes achievable performance standards for Clean Water Act compliance.” AMSA expressed its belief that the foundation for an acceptable proposal is contained in EPA’s January 2001 draft provisions on satellite system permits, management, operation and maintenance (MOM) programs, and assurance plans – and reiterates the Association’s continued opposition to a zero discharge standard for SSOs. The letter is available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/08-02Mehanletter.PDF.

On a related note, AMSA was quoted several times in an August 20 article in USA Today on the SSO issue. The article states, “not everybody says new rules are the answer. Ken Kirk, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, says the Clean Water Act fails to consider the limits of engineering. ‘There is no way to design sanitary sewers to accommodate a zero-tolerance policy. Period,’ Kirk says.” The article also quotes AMSA member and Director of the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, Patrick Karney, who provides a realistic, experience-based outlook, stating “These Johnny-come-lately regulations weren't anticipated in the 1800s when these systems were built," There was no eye to the environment in those days. You can't miraculously redo 3,000 miles of sewer." For copies of the article, see http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-08-19-sewage_x.htm.


AMSA Files Opposition Brief to Rehearing in Key TMDL Case

AMSA filed a brief this week in opposition to the American and California Farm Bureau Federations’ July request that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rehear the pivotal May 2002 Pronsolino v. Nastri case. In Pronsolino, the Ninth Circuit upheld the Northern District of California court’s 2000 decision that impaired waters should be listed and subject to total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) under the Clean Water Act, whether impaired by point sources, nonpoint sources, or a combination of both. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion unequivocally held that nonpoint sources must be part of the solution to improving our nation’s water quality. Ensuring that the Ninth Circuit decision is upheld is even more urgent given EPA’s recent announcement that it will propose a new TMDL rule for public comment in the coming months. AMSA’s brief will be available on the Association’s web site next week.