NACWA Member Update (MU05-18)

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is pleased to announce the availability of two white papers addressing issues of concern to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). The first discusses options on financial capability and affordability in negotiating wet weather agreements. The other summarizes the current state of science regarding pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment and lays out challenges and options for POTWs in addressing this issue. Both white papers are now available for download from the NACWA website.

Guidance on Issues Related to Affordability to Aid in POTW Wet Weather Negotiations
The first white paper, Financial Capability and Affordability in Wet Weather Negotiations, provides an in-depth review of existing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance on affordability-related issues and recommends modifications to existing policy and practice on wet weather compliance and its financial impacts. The white paper, developed through NACWA’s Targeted Action Fund (TAF), provides guidance to clean water agencies on wet weather-related negotiations through a body of case studies, and suggests approaches to reducing the financial impacts of wet weather projects on low-income households. The white paper can be downloaded from NACWA’s website (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2005-10NACWAWhitePprFinCapAff.pdf).

The Clean Water Act requires EPA to consider the financial impacts its regulations may impose on localities. Despite existing EPA guidance, many POTWs have experienced inconsistencies in how EPA incorporates economic considerations into wet weather negotiations and how EPA assesses financial capability and affordability at the local level. A key focus of the white paper’s discussion is EPA’s 1997 “Combined Sewer Overflows–Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule of Development” (FCA Guidance). NACWA initiated work on the white paper with the objective that a review of current EPA financial capability assessment guidance documents and practices could help result in a more holistic, economically sustainable regulatory framework for many communities.

Among other things, NACWA recommends in the white paper that:

• Enforcement of wet weather requirements should consider the full spectrum of costs imposed by Clean Water Act regulatory requirements and options for relief through use of more holistic regulatory frameworks;
   
• Evaluation of the benefits and costs of resource investments relative to other potential investments of local resources should guide enforcement of wet weather regulations;
   
• Assessment of financial capabilities should consider the full spectrum of requirements for providing wastewater services, not simply those associated with a single rule or requirement;
   
• FCA methodologies should include the costs of needed reinvestment in critical infrastructure;
   
• Insofar as other water quality-related costs are to be incurred for the same ultimate benefit as costs to eliminate CSO-related impacts, such costs should be included in an assessment of long-term capability to finance water quality improvements;
   
• Implementation and enforcement policies should recognize that local decision-makers must achieve the highest overall quality of life benefits in a community given resource limitations;
   
• Use of non-traditional and market-based approaches such as use attainability analyses (UAAs), watershed permitting, credit trading, phased implementation of requirements, and adaptive management will provide communities with the tools to ensure that maximum benefits can be achieved with affordable investments over time, to the net benefit of the communities served and the environment; and
   
• Legislative and policy actions may be needed to address current funding and financing power limitations. Expansion of loan and grant program funding is critical, as is relaxation of funding eligibility criteria to facilitate implementation of creative, cost-effective solutions to environmental challenges.

For more information on this white paper, contact Chris Hornback, NACWA Director of Regulatory Affairs, chornback@nacwa.org or 202/833-9106.

NACWA White Paper on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
NACWA’s white paper, Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: A White Paper on Options for the Wastewater Treatment Community, summarizes findings presented at the EPA conference on pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) held August 23-25, 2005, in Las Vegas, Nevada (http://www.nacwa.org/advocacy/special.cfm). Increasingly sophisticated analytical methods used to monitor for groundwater and surface water contamination are revealing the presence of chemical compounds at lower and lower levels. This new information raises obvious questions about potential risks to human health and the environment from PPCPs in the water and the role for NACWA members and the nation’s POTWs.

The white paper lays out the thinking and impressions of representatives from several NACWA member agencies who attended the meeting and provides a sense of the state of science on PPCPs and the major data gaps that exist; explains the increasing public and media attention this issue is receiving; and warns of a potential ‘sleeping giant’ whose future is being guided by the battle between the precautionary principle and clear, reasonable scientific evidence. NACWA wants to ensure that any approach to addressing this challenge is firmly rooted in science and not dictated by public anxiety over potential risks that may never materialize.

The white paper provides information about the nature and types of chemicals at issue, followed by an explanation of how they end up in U.S. waterways. A discussion about some of the research being conducted by EPA and university scientists, including some of the challenges they face is presented, followed by strategies and barriers for addressing PPCPs. Several options POTWs may consider for addressing this issue are also included. These range from public education campaigns to product stewardship initiatives, such as take-back programs and pharmaceutical collection days.

Many regulators, researchers, and some in the regulated community agree that the best approach is to remove these chemicals at the source rather than after disposal. To that end some POTW officials said take-back programs may offer the most cost-effective solutions in many situations depending upon the degree to which unused materials contribute to the source and the reduction needed to mediate any problem. Others questioned their usefulness if the majority of the problem stems from human excretion rather than the disposal of unused PPCPs.

Few would argue, though, that much more information is needed before broad national strategies for addressing the problem are implemented. In the meantime, NACWA will work with its member utilities and other organizations that are doing environmental research to take the results and develop options for minimizing risks and communicating these strategies to the public. For more information on this white paper, contact Susan Bruninga, NACWA Manager of Regulatory Affairs, sbruninga@nacwa.org or 202/833-3280.