Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - December 19, 2005
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for the FaxAlert ArchiveDecember 19, 2005
EPA Releases Key Peak Wet Weather Flow Policy Mirroring NACWA/NRDC Proposal
NACWA is pleased to announce that EPA publicly released for comment a draft policy based on the NACWA/Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) proposal on the issue of peak wet weather flow management. NACWA and NRDC representatives were present when EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin Grumbles, made this important announcement today during a press conference at EPA Headquarters. Grumbles said the policy "puts a premium on stopping leaks and spills, improving treatment, and increasing public oversight" and he "commends environmentalists and utilities for working to find common ground on a clean water solution . . .”Language from the preamble to EPA’s draft policy demonstrates the joint leadership of NACWA and NRDC on this issue: “The NRDC/NACWA recommended approach includes an interpretation of the bypass regulation that is significantly different from [EPA’s] November 2003 proposal. . . . Today’s draft policy invites comment on this interpretation, as well as the recommended proposal to implement the interpretation, and reflects the approach of the NRDC/NACWA recommendation.” The draft policy will appear shortly in the Federal Register with a 30-day comment period. NACWA is confident the public comments will demonstrate broad support for EPA’s swift finalization of the policy. As follow-up to the Agency’s proposal, NACWA will provide a letter of support to EPA encouraging the Agency to finalize the guidance as proposed. NACWA encourages its members to support the policy and to submit their utility-specific comments directly to the Agency.
As stated in EPA’s press release, the Agency’s goal in proposing this new policy “is to ensure that all feasible solutions are used by local governments when addressing problems related to peak wet weather and to improve treatment of wastewater to protect human health and the environment.” EPA also anticipates that, over time, “the need for wet weather flow diversions can be eliminated from most treatment plants serving sanitary sewer collection systems. That can happen through various approaches such as enhancing storage and treatment capacity and reducing sources of peak wet weather flow volume.”
Specifically, the NACWA/NRDC proposal underlying today’s draft policy offered EPA a sound path forward on an issue that had become highly politicized and appeared to have permanently stalled. EPA’s proposal: 1) provides much-needed national consistency on wet weather flow diversions; 2) offers significant additional environmental and water quality benefits; and 3) ensures necessary public involvement with, and municipal flexibility in making, peak wet weather flow management decisions.
EPA’s proposal would benefit the nation’s water quality by minimizing the reliance of clean water facilities on peak wet weather flow diversions as a long-term wet weather management approach to the maximum extent feasible, taking into account the economic and real-world factors detailed in the proposal. NACWA believes that the proposal’s enhanced public notice provisions will improve the understanding and knowledge of peak wet weather flow diversion practices at public utilities.
The Association would like to thank Board Member and Blending Issue leader, Dave Williams, Director of Wastewater at the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Oakland, Calif., along with a select group of NACWA members, who provided tremendous input into the guidance which led to the draft policy. The Association will continue to provide the membership with updates on this issue as they become available. For more information on the guidance, including the Agency’s press release, visit EPA’s website (http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/wetweather.cfm?program_id=0).
Due to the upcoming holidays, NACWA’s next FaxAlert will be distributed on January 6, 2006. NACWA wishes you a safe and happy holiday season!