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Member Update (MU06-14)

Member Pipeline - Member Services & Information - Update (MU06-14)

To: Members & Affiliates
From: National Office
Date: May 25, 2006
Subject: NACWA STANDING COMMITTEE & TASK FORCE UPDATES
Reference: MU 06-14

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Many of the Association’s standing committees met in advance of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA)/Water Environment Federation (WEF) National Clean Water Policy Forum, which took place May 1-3, in Washington, DC. This Member Update provides a summary of the highlights from this conference’s Committee deliberations and key developments that will help inform NACWA’s next steps on priority clean water issues. Many of the issues discussed in this Update will also be the building blocks for continued strategic Committee and Task Force discussions at the Association’s upcoming 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting, Cross-Cutting Clean Water & Drinking Water Issues . . . Challenging Traditional Boundaries, July 18–21 in Seattle, Washington (visit http://www.nacwa.org/meetings/06summer/ to register and review an updated agenda). NACWA’s committees are the backbone of its advocacy efforts and the Association encourages member agency participation in them. To join NACWA committees, please contact Kendall Gray at kgray@nacwa.org or at 202-533-1801.

Biosolids Management Committee
Co-Chair, Robert Dominak, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio
Co-Chair, Dave Taylor, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wis.
A representative from the DC Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA) provided a presentation on their experiences with the National Biosolids Partnership’s (NBP) Environmental Management System (EMS) program. With an extensive land application program in neighboring Virginia, DC WASA credits its experience in the NBP EMS program with its success in building new, credible relationships with stakeholders and regulators.

An issue that has been receiving increased attention is EPA’s targeted national sewage sludge survey. Although the survey will likely not begin until July or later, the Committee was able to preview a draft list of the contaminants that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering for the new survey. Based on the Committee’s discussions, there was a suggestion that NACWA recommend to EPA that there be some coordination between selection of the wastewater utilities for a pending EPA effort to update the 50 POTW Study on the fate and transport of priority pollutants in wastewater treatment plants (see the Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Committee summary which follows) and the Agency’s national sewage sludge survey.

The potentially precedent-setting land-application of biosolids battle taking place in Kern County, California remains one of the Committee’s priority concerns. In addition to its direct impact on the biosolids management options available to a number of NACWA members in the southern portion of the state, there are potential national implications as well. A representative from the City of Los Angeles provided the Committee with an update on the situation in Kern, including an upcoming ballot measure that is expected to result in an outright ban on land application of biosolids from outside of Kern County. The outcome of the ballot measure will be followed closely by both the Biosolids Management and Legal Affairs Committees.

NACWA’s Biosolids Management Handbook is complete and will be available in early June. Committee members got a sneak peek at one of the Handbook’s informative chapters. With the completion of the Handbook, Committee members were also invited to review a list of ongoing projects and future efforts for the Committee, as well as a list of issues that the Association plans to track. The Committee Co-Chairs encouraged members to provide comments on possible initiatives and any new topics for the Association to follow — a discussion that will be continued at the next Committee meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, July 18 at 3:00 pm at NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Facility and Collection System Committee
Co-Chair, Marty Umberg, Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio
Co-Chair, Adel Hagekhalil, City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, Calif.
The Facility and Collection System (FACS) Committee meeting began with an update on the status of the peak wet weather flows policy that EPA expects to release sometime this fall. The draft policy, based on the agreement between NACWA and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), received 72 comments, down from the 98,000 the Agency got on its early draft policy.

EPA’s ongoing effort to update its enforcement policy on wet weather, including the definition of significant non-compliance (SNC), was also discussed. Environmental activist groups petitioned to have the Agency consider any municipality that has not adopted the 1994 combined sewer overflow (CSO) control policy’s nine minimum controls as being in SNC. EPA shared a draft of the enforcement policy with representatives of 16 states for review and comment. The draft builds on and expands the 1995 EPA policy memo to include not just CSOs, but sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), stormwater, dry weather overflows, and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). A draft may be released for comment by a wider audience, including NACWA members, by early summer.

The most in-depth strategic discussion of the FACS Committee, however, focused on a draft NACWA options paper on the necessary steps the Association should take to ensure EPA begins to work in a meaningful way on a consistent national SSO policy. Five options that should not be viewed as mutually exclusive are laid out in the options paper: 1) move forward with the 2001 SSO proposed rule that was never formally published; 2) develop our own model rule or policy; 3) activate Congress to put pressure on EPA to develop a policy; 4) work with environmental activists on another agreement similar to what was done on peak excess flows; or 5) maintain the status quo and let the states take the lead. Another option that was discussed, and which will be added to the options paper, is petitioning EPA for a rulemaking. Committee members also related examples of strategies being implemented in their states to deal with SSOs. With such comments in mind, in addition to finalizing the options paper, NACWA is working on a narrative summary of how specific states are handling the SSO problem.

An update was also provided on the “shall conform to” memo being drafted by EPA. The 2001 legislation codifying the 1994 CSO Policy stated that National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits “shall conform to” the CSO policy. The EPA Office of Water seeks to clarify that long-term control plans (LTCPs) will satisfy that provision, but this clarification has received significant resistance from the Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA).

Adel Hagekhalil gave an overview of California’s draft regulation that provides for the permitting of collection systems, and Nancy Wheatley made a presentation on WEF’s Wet Weather Protocol. The next FACS Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 18 at 4:00 pm at NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Legal Affairs Committee
Chair, Lisa E. Hollander, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland, Ohio
Vice Chair, Terry J. Satterlee, Little Blue Valley Sewer District, Independence, Mo.
The well-attended Legal Affairs Committee meeting on May 1 featured a preview overview of NACWA’s forthcoming 2006 Supplement to the Association’s 2003 publication, Wet Weather Consent Decrees: Protecting POTWs in Negotiations. The Supplement analyzes over 16 consent decrees entered into by public clean water utilities between 2003 and 2006. Notably, the municipal wet weather decrees and orders discussed in the Supplement are already posted in NACWA’s Consent Decree e-library. Attorneys on the project, David Burchmore and Jill Grinham, with NACWA Legal Affiliate Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP in Cleveland, Ohio, discussed some of the trends they identified when reviewing many different decrees, including new standard provisions on deadlines, water quality standards reviews, watershed approaches, caps and reopeners, public notification, and regulator review of city submittals made under decrees. The Supplement also discusses recent enforcement policies and guidance, including EPA’s 2003 Memorandum on Negotiation of CSO Consent Decrees and 2005 Memorandum on Guidelines for Federal Enforcement in CSO/SSO Cases. NACWA will release the 2006 Supplement as a downloadable .pdf document in the coming weeks, and will re-release the 2003 Wet weather Consent Decree Handbook at the same time.

Next, attorney Susan Richardson of NACWA Legal Affiliate Kilpatrick Stockton in Atlanta, Ga., presented findings from the forthcoming NACWA White Paper entitled Intersections of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA): Emerging Issues for Clean Water Agencies. The White Paper presents a discussion of the history of the SDWA and its transition over the past thirty-two years, focusing on statutory and regulatory changes over the past ten years. Designed to lay a foundation for NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle which will focus on cross-cutting CWA/SDWA issues, the White Paper outlines new drinking water programs that are leading to overlaps with the CWA. It also discusses the importance of coordination and cooperation between clean water and drinking water organizations. NACWA will release the White Paper in the coming weeks. In addition, Ms. Richardson will be a featured speaker at the Summer Conference.

The Committee then conducted a discussion of other important issues, including actions the Association could take to ensure EPA begins work on a consistent national SSO policy (see the summary of FACS Committee discussions above). The Committee also reviewed the implications of the District of Columbia Circuit’s decision to hold that total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) could be expressed only as true 24-hour daily loads (see discussions of the Water Quality Committee above). The Association will pursue a combined legal, regulatory, and legislative response to the decision.

The next Legal Affairs Committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, July 21 at 7:30 am during NACWA’s Summer Conference.

Legislative Policy Committee
Chair, Marian Orfeo, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Boston, Mass.
Vice Chair, Kevin Shafer, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Milwaukee, Wis.
NACWA members who attended the May 1 Legislative Policy Committee had an opportunity to discuss their efforts to recruit House members as cosponsors of the Clean Water Trust Act of 2005 (H.R. 4560) (See the Clean Water Funding Task Force summary which follows). The Committee also received advance notice of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (Securing Wastewater Facilities: Utilities have Made Important Upgrades, Though Further Improvements to Key System Components May Be Limited by Costs and other Constraints) that was set to be released the day of the Legislative Policy Committee meeting. Policy Committee members also received an overview of a Senate wastewater security bill that was planned for introduction later in the week that would address the GAO’s findings. The report was requested by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) who, as Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced May 10 the Wastewater Treatment Works Security Act of 2006 (S. 2781).

Other topics of discussion included the fiscal year 2007 budget for the clean water state revolving loan fund (CWSRF) and the identification of possible issues of importance to POTWs in the next reauthorization of the Farm Bill. NACWA will prepare a primer or tutorial on the current Farm Bill and will seek input from NACWA members on how the Association can help its members by participating in the reauthorization of the Farm Bill’s conservation programs.

The Legislative Policy Committee will meet again on Thursday, July 20, at 7:45 am, during NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Committee
Chair, Bennett Horenstein, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Oakland, Calif.
Vice Chair, Martie Groome, City of Greensboro, N.C.
NACWA’s latest efforts to work with EPA on updating the 50 POTW Study garnered significant attention. Specifically, NACWA is working with Agency officials to expand a planned sampling program to gather a “footprint” of the types of chemicals entering the headworks of wastewater treatment plants. NACWA would like to assist EPA in expanding that effort by embarking on a plan to analyze existing data from a representative sample POTWs. Ben Horenstein, Committee Chair, successfully secured a $25,000 NACWA Targeted Action Fund (TAF) contribution to hire a consultant to analyze existing POTW data that could form the basis for the Study.

Also discussed was the progress EPA is making in its effort to set effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) for drinking water utilities. NACWA continues to believe that this ELG is not needed because the pollutants from these facilities are controlled under existing requirements. EPA is planning to perform an initial screener survey and a more detailed, follow-up survey of facilities to gather additional information on drinking water utility effluent. NACWA will notify members as well as provide its own comments when the draft surveys are released. A NACWA workgroup, meanwhile, is working on methodologies to determine the potential cost to drinking water utilities of such a new ELG.

The Committee had a lively discussion about removal credits and EPA’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to expand the list of contaminants that would be eligible. NACWA has traditionally opposed the use of removal credits saying they may result in excess levels of metals in biosolids. One member, however, said her facility does grant removal credits, which is not uncommon in highly industrialized areas. The solids from these facilities, she said, are not land-applied but, instead, are sent to municipal solid waste landfills. She urged the Association to be flexible in its position on the matter since the rulemaking would still give individual utilities the discretion on whether to grant removal credits. The Committee agreed the Association should continue to watch the issue and ensure that the rulemaking is consistent with POTW goals on biosolids.

Committee members also provided updates on activities in various states regarding the implementation of the 2005 pretreatment streamlining rule. Many are adopting the federal rule verbatim while others are excluding some provisions. No one reported any significant problems with implementation.

The Committee also discussed the activities of the newly formed Emerging Contaminants Workgroup, including strategies for dealing with mercury and pharmaceuticals in wastewater. NACWA’s recent letter to EPA on potentially negative water quality impacts from washing machines that release silver ions as a way to disinfect clothing and the Agency’s response were also discussed.

The 2006 Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Workshop will be held in New Orleans from October 4-6. In addition to the vital pretreatment issues that will be on the agenda, the Association believes it is critical at this juncture to help support New Orleans and looks forward to a strong turnout at the Pretreatment Workshop. The next meeting of NACWA’s Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Committee will be on Tuesday, July 18 at 9:00 am at NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Regulatory Policy Committee
Chair, Ray Orvin, Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority, SC.
Vice Chair, Steve Pearlman, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Denver, Colo.
The Regulatory Policy Committee meeting began with consideration of proposed changes to NACWA’s policy and procedures for approving TAF projects. Over the last few years, NACWA leaders have met several times with the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) to improve the exchange of information between, and better leverage the resources and capabilities of, both organizations. The TAF guideline changes, which were approved by the Committee, will help ensure sound determinations regarding whether a particular project is best suited for TAF funding or whether joint funding, through WERFs Cooperative Research Program for example, would be more appropriate. The Committee also approved a slate of individuals to serve as the Association’s representatives to WERF’s six subscriber committees.

Following reports from the Chairs of each of NACWA’s Standing Committees and Regulatory Policy Workgroups, the Regulatory Policy Committee considered a TAF request from the Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Committee. The Regulatory Policy Committee approved the Pretreatment Committee’s request for a total of $25,000 in TAF monies ($15,000 in FY 2006 and $10,000 in FY 2007) to support its ongoing efforts to update EPA’s 50 POTW study on the fate and transport of priority pollutants in wastewater treatment plants.

The Regulatory Policy Committee will meet again on Wednesday, July 19, at 7:30 am during NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Security and Emergency Preparedness
Chair, Robert C. Steidel, City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities, Richmond, Va.
This Committee meeting opened with a discussion of efforts to prepare for the possibility of an avian flu pandemic. NACWA has worked with other organizations on a checklist for utilities to help them prepare for such a pandemic, which, according to the worst-case scenario, could cause over 30% of the workforce to be absent and create severe service continuity challenges. EPA, meanwhile, is developing its own action plan for pandemic preparedness and NACWA will share this information with members when it is made available.

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) published a guidance to help water and wastewater utilities establish mutual aid networks to assist each other in cases of emergency. The policy is an outgrowth of a joint policy statement from NACWA and other water sector associations which was signed in February.

The Committee also heard updates on legislation introduced in the Senate addressing chemical security, including, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act (S. 2145) by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Me) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). POTWs covered by Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act would be covered and could be subject to onerous reporting requirements that, according to Collins’ and Lieberman’s staff, were intended for private sector chemical facilities only. NACWA staff shared information with the Committee with regard to its ongoing efforts to remove POTWs from the “chemical facility” definition.

The Measures Testing Group (MTG) met in New York City in April to discuss potential ways of measuring where utilities stand in terms of the three national aggregate measures of water security. The meeting, which included representatives from NACWA, focused on such things as establishing baselines from which to measure progress in enhancing plant security and response ability as well as the use of available vulnerability assessment tools. A subgroup for each of the three aggregate measures was formed to develop a list of findings.

NACWA has also been involved in discussions on Homeland Security Presidential Directive-8 (HSPD-8), which is working to ensure a unified approach to prevent and respond to threatened or actual domestic terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies by requiring national all-hazards preparedness. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an initial draft of 37 “capabilities” to guide preparedness planning at the federal, state, and local level for various types of emergency scenarios. NACWA and other associations are concerned about the level of detail in this planning guide and the potential for it to be translated into unnecessary regulatory requirements.

The Committee also heard updates on the continued focus of Congress on wastewater security and chemical security legislation; VSAT— NACWA’s vulnerability assessment tool; the chlorine gas decision tool that NACWA prepared for DHS; the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on security at wastewater utilities; and the activities of the Water Sector Coordinating Council, which has been busy with the development of the Sector Specific Plan (SSP). The plan is due six months from the release date of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), which is expected to be released in July or August.

The next meeting of the Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee will be held Tuesday, July 18 at 1:00 pm at NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Utility Management Committee
Chair, Jon Schellpfeffer, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wis.
Vice Chair, Tim Houghton, City and County of Honolulu Dept. of Environmental Services, Hawaii
Following an update from WERF on its process to formulate its research agenda on asset management, the Utility Management Committee had a robust discussion on the need for continued communication among NACWA, WERF and various water sector stakeholders on this issue. Of concern, was a possible duplication of efforts within the water sector due to intense interest, but the absence of a coordinated approach. NACWA is playing a leadership role in several efforts currently underway focused on greater collaboration on utility management issues within the water sector. The Committee also was briefed on a statement of intent (signed during a subsequent session at the National Clean Water Policy Forum by NACWA, WEF, the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) along with EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin Grumbles) that will establish a Steering Committee to formulate a collaborative effort among the organizations to promote ‘effective utility management’. (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2006-05-02UMGMTjs.pdf)

The draft international standard (DIS) on wastewater services, which is being developed by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), was released just prior to the Policy Forum and the Committee discussed the Association’s next steps in its efforts to see that the interests of wastewater utilities in the U.S. are fully represented as the DIS moves toward finalization next year. NACWA representatives will meet June 16 and again following NACWA’s Summer Conference in Seattle before meeting with the entire U.S. delegation in August.

The Committee has also been actively following or engaged in several other initiatives including EPA’s Energy Star program. Updates were provided on these issues as well as several NACWA projects including the 2005 NACWA Index (including a new region by region comparison of average domestic service charges), the Clean Water Central database, and the Association’s collaborative effort with WEF and AMWA to develop a new practical guide to asset management. This last effort is now underway and NACWA hopes that the new guide will be available to the membership by the end of the year. For more information, contact Chris Hornback, NACWA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, at 202/833-9106 or chornback@nacwa.org.

The Utility Management Committee will meet again on Monday, July 17 at 1:00 pm during NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Water Quality Committee
Chair, Norm LeBlanc, Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Va.
Vice Chair, Keith Linn, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio
The Water Quality Committee focused the majority of its discussions on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision (Friends of the Earth v. EPA) that the term “daily” in total maximum “daily” loads does, in fact, mean “daily,” and the real-world implications of such a decision. The case specifically concerns TMDLs for dissolved oxygen (DO) and total suspended solids (TSS) for D.C.’s Anacostia River, which were expressed as annual and seasonal averages, respectively. The court did not accept EPA’s urging that the word “daily” in TMDL did not preclude expressing TMDLs in non-daily terms (such as seasonal or annual) where the pollutant of concern was not suitable for calculating daily loadings. The court reasoned that “daily means daily, nothing else.” The court was unmoved by NACWA’s arguments regarding the practical implications of such a decision for the implementation of the TMDL program.

NACWA’s General Counsel provided the Committee with three possible actions for the Association in the wake of the decision, including: 1) seeking to amend CWA § 303(d); 2) preparing and filing a petition with EPA seeking to remove certain pollutants, which are unsuitable for daily loads, from the TMDL program; and 3) participating in any rehearing of the case before the DC Circuit or, given the new split of opinion on this very issue between the DC Circuit and the Second Circuit, perhaps before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Committee concurred with a request for Targeted Action Funding to support the Association’s continued participation in this effort.

The Committee had limited time at the end of the meeting to cover other agenda items, which included an update from the new NACWA workgroup on emerging contaminants and the ongoing activities of the Mercury Workgroup. Also discussed were the continuing efforts of the Federal Advisory Committee on Detection and Quantitation, which is still struggling to find an alternative to EPA’s method detection level (MDL) approach. Members interested in an update on several pending water quality criteria including, ammonia, selenium, and copper, should contact Chris Hornback, NACWA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, at 202/833-9106 or chornback@nacwa.org.

The Water Quality Committee will meet again on Tuesday, July 18 at 10:00 am during NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Clean Water Funding Task Force
Chair, Paul Pinault, Narragansett Bay Commission, Providence, R.I.
Vice Chair, Suzanne Goss, JEA, Jacksonville, Fla.
Legislative strategy and grassroots activities in support of House Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman John J. Duncan’s clean water infrastructure funding bill, the Clean Water Trust Act of 2005 (H.R. 4560), were the focal points of the April 30 Funding Task Force meeting. The Task Force discussed the importance of NACWA members becoming active on the issue by contacting their Representatives and urging them to cosponsor H.R. 4560. Participants discussed a possible role for the Environmental Finance Center at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in identifying a revenue source to finance a new clean water trust fund.

The Task Force received overviews of ongoing grassroots and communications projects and will receive for review draft materials to support NACWA member efforts to talk about H.R. 4560 with their ratepayers, local civic groups, and elected officials. Broadening NACWA’s message in the communications materials was discussed, with participants agreeing that language should be included on local rates increases and how federal dollars would supplement local and state revenue streams. The Clean Water America website’s (www.cleanwateramerica.org) popularity has led to a redesign of the internet site to make it more user-friendly. The Funding Task Force will meet again on Tuesday, July 18 at 3:30 pm during NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference and 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.