NACWA Member Update (MU05-13)

Action Please By:
August 25, 2005

NACWA’s Fall Strategic Leadership Session will take place on Monday and Tuesday, September 19 – 20, 2005 at the Hilton Embassy Row in Washington, DC – and you’re invited. This fall meeting serves as an annual forum for NACWA’s Board Members and committee leaders to discuss issues of strategic importance to the Association. With an eye toward increasing the value of the discussions for both NACWA’s leaders and the Association as a whole, interested NACWA members are encouraged to attend and join the discussions. There is no registration fee for the Strategic Leadership Retreat.

The Strategic Leadership Session will be different from those in prior years in several significant ways. Our 2005 Session will begin with a Regulatory Policy Strategy Session led by NACWA’s committee leadership. Issues such as blending, sanitary sewer overflows, and pretreatment streamlining are certain to receive significant attention. In addition to this in-depth discussion of regulatory policy, we will focus on two key topics – The State of Clean Water Security (through a confidential internal discussion involving NACWA public agency members only) and Demystifying the Clean Water Trust Fund (featuring both outside speakers and internal discussion involving both public member agencies and Affiliates). Our approach to each of these topics is described in greater detail in the paragraphs which follow.

To assist in your travel planning, we have attached a preliminary agenda to this correspondence. We encourage you to begin making your travel plans now by reserving your hotel accommodations. Please call the Hilton Embassy Row directly at 202/265-1600 for reservations. Be sure to ask for the special rate of $189 single/double reserved for the NACWA Leadership Meeting. Please note that the hotel reservation deadline is Thursday, August 25, 2005. We are also attaching an Attendance Confirmation Form, so that you may advise the National Office of your plans to attend.

The Agenda in Detail. . . .
Through the review, revision and adoption of new governance documents – including the Association’s Strategic Plan and Bylaws – NACWA’s leaders and members have committed to ensure that clean water policies, laws, and regulations are funded and based on valid science, economic feasibility, public health, and environmental benefit. Deliberations – in the context of strategic planning – identified objectives that are considered critical to achieving this goal. They include 1) increasing opportunities to work with other clean water, environmental, and public health partners; 2) increasing sustainable sources of infrastructure; 3) increasing NACWA’s visibility and access to regulators and legislators; 4) increasing the level of political involvement among members and ratepayers; and, 5) emphasizing the importance of rigorous science and sound economic analysis in laws, policies, and regulations.

Regulatory Policy Strategy Session
The agenda for the 2005 Strategic Leadership Retreat will focus on the further evolution of many of these key objectives. The objectives of increasing opportunities to work with other clean water, environmental, and public health partners; increasing NACWA’s visibility and access to regulators; and emphasizing the importance of rigorous science and sound economic analysis in laws, policies, and regulations will play out during the Regulatory Policy Strategy Session as our committee leaders engage all in attendance as we discuss the Association’s regulatory advocacy agenda.

Demystifying the Clean Water Trust Fund
The objective of increasing sustainable sources of infrastructure will receive attention through a compelling presentation, The Political Realities of Creating a Trust Fund . . . The Case for Clean Water, in which the evolution of the Highway Trust Fund is revisited and important lessons learned relevant to today’s funding dilemma are identified. An internal NACWA discussion follows focusing on Demystifying the Clean Water Trust Fund.

The concept of a national clean water trust fund has received exceptional definition and direction through the Association’s Clean Water Funding Task Force. Federal legislation, The Clean Water Trust Act of 2005, is poised for introduction. Influential Members of Congress have endorsed the concept; however, misconceptions and misinformation continue to result in lingering questions . . .

Does a clean water trust fund offer any benefit in the context of existing budgetary constraints?

Can resources in a trust fund be protected for clean water priorities by firewalls?

Is the funding of clean water infrastructure and priorities a national or a local issue?

Can broad-based revenue sources be identified that are both equitable and viable?

Guided by NACWA’s Strategic Plan, FY 2006 will find the Association engaged in important work to demystify this issue and place it appropriately in context of NACWA’s diverse legislative, regulatory, and legal advocacy agenda. We invite NACWA’s public agency Members and public, legal and corporate Affiliates to join us in this effort on September 20.

The State of Clean Water Security
It’s been tough for the clean water community to get its arms around the issue of security. Again, a wide range of perceptions enter into the mix. While the physical plant of the utility may not be a likely direct target – there are other potential scenarios that could have considerable impact on a clean water utility. A terrorist event – not directed at your utility, but within your service area, has the potential to result in large volumes of decontamination wastewater entering your system. Large diameter sewers continue to offer potential access points to other critical infrastructure – and standards for wastewater utility design and operations are receiving serious consideration.

Security, as an issue for wastewater utilities, is here to stay. The water sector (consisting of both water and wastewater) has been identified among the nation’s critical infrastructures and is receiving considerable attention from both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The House of Representatives has focused on the issue – as has the Senate through two Environment & Public Works Committee-directed studies by the Governmental Accountability Office (see Member Update 05-11 for additional information on security initiatives).

NACWA has established itself as a credible, authoritative voice on behalf of clean water utilities on this issue. In FY 2006 it will be essential for this role to be maintained – and perhaps more important for clean water utilities to define their preferences and priorities so that NACWA can most effectively represent and support their interests. The September Strategic Leadership Retreat offers a unique opportunity for public utilities to discuss – in a confidential and secure setting – their priority activities and concerns in this arena.

Planning to Attend?
Utilities planning to attend NACWA’s Fall Strategic Leadership Session should make their hotel reservations at the Hilton Embassy Row at their earliest convenience. A preliminary agenda is attached to assist you in making your plans to attend. Please use the attached Attendance Confirmation Form to let us know you will be joining us. We look forward to a robust discussion in September in Washington, DC.

ATTACHMENTS:

• Preliminary Agenda (PDF)
• Attendance Confirmation Form (PDF)