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December 3, 1999
AMSA Opposes EPA's Proposed Great Lakes Mixing Zone Ban
This week, AMSA submitted comments on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed elimination of mixing zones in the Great Lakes region. The Association opposes a blanket mixing zone prohibition for several reasons. The comments express the concerns of AMSA's water Quality Committee that the ban will present an expensive challenge to municipalities already faced with the prospect of funding competing clean water priorities such as wet weather flows or treatment plant upgrades with limited municipal funds and the lack of economic justification for the ban.In the October 4 Federal Register, EPA proposed amending the Final Water Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System to prohibit mixing zones for bioaccumulative chemicals of concern in the Great Lakes System. These chemicals include mercury, dioxin, PCBs and others. For existing discharges, the regulation would prohibit mixing zones for these chemicals starting 10 years after the publication date of the final mixing zone rule. New discharges containing bioaccumulative chemicals would be immediately subject to the mixing zone prohibition. EPA had promulgated a mixing zone provision similar to this proposed regulation in 1995, but an industry lawsuit required EPA to complete a cost-benefit analysis before proposing the ban.
AMSA 2000 Winter Conference Agenda Finalized
The agenda for AMSA's 2000 Winter Conference, Utility Leadership in the New Millennium, was finalized this week. The conference will take place February 1-4, 2000 in Albuquerque, N.M. AMSA's extremely popular winter conference is devoted to public utility competitive management issues. The program's general sessions will consist of keynote addresses, panels and roundtable discussions focusing on the importance of leadership in driving change and implementing recently developed utility management tools such as the new AMSA/AMWA competitive management handbook — Creating High Performance Business Services. Members will soon receive meeting materials containing a preliminary agenda and further information on the conference. As always, visit the Conferences & Meetings Section of AMSA's web site for the latest meeting and registration information. The hotel cutoff for the conference is Jan. 7, 2000.Dec. 17 Deadline for National Environmental Achievement Awards
Nominations for the National Environmental Achievement Awards are due to the National Office by Friday, Dec. 17. These awards recognize local, state and federal elected/appointed officials for their contributions to the clean water community. Member Update 99-10 contains application materials. Details including: award categories, eligibility criteria, application information and instructions for submitting nominations, can be found in the Member Pipeline section of AMSA's web site, http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org.Test Drivers Needed for Clean Water Central Database for POTWs
Member agencies interested in conducting tests of Clean Water Central — a joint effort by AMSA and the Water Environment Research Foundation to provide an online database for POTWs — should contact Jeni Hornback, ggehrmann@amsa-cleanwater.org or 202/296-9384.AMSA's E-Mail Fully Restored . . .
AMSA staff are back online. E-mail addresses have not changed as a result of the move. Thank you for your patience during the interruption.