NACWA July 2006 Regulatory Update

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The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is pleased to provide you with the July 2006 Regulatory Update. This Update provides a narrative summary of relevant regulatory issues and actions current to July 11, 2006. Please contact Chris Hornback, NACWA Director of Regulatory Affairs at 202/833-9106 or chornback@nacwa.org, with any questions or information on the Update topics.

Top Stories

NACWA Meets with Pharmaceutical Industry, WERF on Emerging Contaminants
NACWA staff met in June with representatives of the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the trade association for pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, on the effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment. PhRMA has spent significant resources to study the presence, fate, and transport of pharmaceuticals in the environment and wants to share this information with other stakeholders. According to PhRMA, the vast majority of pharmaceuticals enter the environment from patient use and excretion of un-metabolized medications, all of which pass through the nation's wastewater treatment plants before being discharged.

Until recently, analytical methods were not capable of detecting the presence of these contaminants in the environment, but the latest studies show their prevalence in the nation’s waters. The question that WERF, PhRMA, and NACWA, through its Emerging Contaminants Workgroup, have been trying to answer is whether the low levels of these pharmaceuticals have any human health or aquatic life impacts. Using real watersheds and actual wastewater treatment influent and effluent data, together with estimates of total drug use by U.S. consumers, PhRMA has developed a model that can predict the concentration of pharmaceuticals in treatment plant effluent, receiving waters, and in downstream drinking water supplies. Using this model, PhRMA has published several peer-reviewed articles demonstrating no expected human health impacts from the low-levels of these pharmaceuticals in the environment. PhRMA is now using the model to assess impacts on aquatic life and has offered to share the model with other researchers interested in applying it in their watershed.

NACWA’s Emerging Contaminants Workgroup will continue to track PhRMA’s efforts and will identify possible opportunities for collaboration with PhRMA and WERF on the issue of pharmaceuticals in the environment. Emerging contaminants will be the subject of a panel discussion at NACWA’s upcoming conference in Seattle, July 18-21, and will also be discussed at the 2006 Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Workshop, October 4-6, in New Orleans.

Air Quality

NACWA to Comment on EPA’s Proposed Reconsideration of Incinerator Rulemaking
NACWA will respond to a notice by EPA in the June 28 Federal Register (71 Fed. Reg. 36,726) seeking comment on its December 2005 final “other solid waste incinerators” (OSWI) rule to exclude sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs) from coverage. EPA acknowledged in the June 28 notice that it failed to properly request public comment on its decision to exclude SSIs from coverage. NACWA has been involved with this issue for years, advocating that Clean Air Act Section 129, under which the OSWI rule was developed, was not intended for SSIs. In 2001, NACWA intervened in Sierra Club v. EPA, arguing that Section 129 did not contemplate the regulation of these types of facilities, which already must meet strict requirements under the Clean Water Act.

EPA’s June 28 notice responds to a petition by the Sierra Club seeking reconsideration of the rule. The group has tried to have SSIs regulated under Clean Air Act Section 129, but NACWA maintains that these facilities are not major sources of hazardous air pollutants. Moreover, the Association maintains that Section 129 was intended to cover solid wastes generated by commercial or industrial facilities or the general public. SSIs burn solid waste from municipal sources, the Association said. This case resulted in the December 2005 deadline for EPA to issue the final rule.

NACWA will file comments maintaining its long-held position that SSIs should be excluded from a rule regulating emissions from OSWI units. The Association welcomes member input and encourages members to submit comments of their own. In addition to filing comments, NACWA will continue to track the issue and keep members apprised of ongoing developments.

Multi-State Commission Recommends Controls for POTWs to Address Ozone
NACWA’s Air Quality Committee is considering the impact of new recommendations from a multi-state organization on air emissions. The Ozone Transport Commission (OTC), a state group created under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments to advise EPA and states on how to address ozone-forming air pollutants in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, is recommending certain controls for publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). NACWA recently learned of these efforts that include recommendations for POTWs to install covers on all primary treatment processes up to the secondary treatment units with emissions routed to a carbon adsorption unit or other control device. The OTC does not have regulatory authority, but states tend to heed the recommendations and incorporate them into their State Implementation Plans required under the Clean Air Act.

Documents relating to the OTC recommendations can be found on the group’s website (www.otcair.org). A list of candidate POTW controls, updated in April, is also available on OTC’s website (http://www.otcair.org/projects_details.asp?FID=93&fview=stationary#). It is not immediately clear from this material when the issue will be considered formally, but many of the documents are dated from 2006 and a comment period on the recommendations recently closed in March. Based on other documentation from the website, it appears that there will be additional deliberations on the POTW controls, which may provide NACWA an opportunity to weigh in.

NACWA has alerted its members in the affected states and NACWA’s Air Quality Committee will be discussing this issue further and developing next steps when it meets on July 18, during NACWA’s Summer Conference in Seattle.

Conferences

NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference in Seattle Features Exciting Agenda
It’s not too late to make plans to attend NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference, Cross-Cutting Clean Water & Drinking Water Issues . . . Challenging Traditional Boundaries (http://www.nacwa.org/meetings/06summer/). While no more rooms are available at the Westin Seattle, the National Office stands ready to assist you in finding alternate nearby accommodations. If you are currently holding a room at the Westin Seattle and are no longer planning to attend the 2006 Summer Conference, please contact Nirah Forman at (202) 833.8418 or nforman@nacwa.org PRIOR TO CANCELING YOUR RESERVATION so that your room can be assigned to another attendee. We look forward to a provocative agenda and stimulating discussions in Seattle and hope to see many of you there.

Utility Management

Water Sector Effort on Effective Utility Management Gets Underway
NACWA staff and several representatives from NACWA member agencies participated in the first Steering Committee meeting of a collaborative effort on effective utility management on July 6 and 7. The Committee began the task of refining a list of attributes of effectively managed utilities developed during a July 2005 meeting hosted by EPA’s Office of Water. Other groups attending the meeting were the American Public Works Association (APWA), the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), and the Water Environment Federation (WEF). The effort was launched May 2 with the signing of a joint statement of intent to promote effective utility management.

In addition to working on the list of attributes, the Steering Committee also began developing measures of success for utilities to gauge their progress in improving their management and will highlight any existing barriers to improved utility management. A series of focus groups will be held over the coming months to get additional input on the list of attributes discussed at July meeting. The Steering Committee meets again in November to discuss the results of the focus groups. NACWA will keep the membership apprised of this ongoing effort.

Water Quality

NACWA Seeks POTW Representation on Panel to Discuss Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico
NACWA is requesting that EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) include a member from the wastewater treatment community on an expert panel being assembled to evaluate the factors contributing to the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Every summer, a roughly 6,000-square-mile area of the gulf near the mouth of the Mississippi River experiences severe oxygen depletion. The SAB panel will examine the complex scientific and technical issues that affect this zone and the possible management and control options to reduce the extent and severity of this national problem. NACWA sent a letter to the SAB in June (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2006-06-23hypoxia.pdf) commending the group for assembling the panel but said it needed to have more balance. Since many NACWA members discharge to waterways within the Mississippi River Basin and play an important role in the efforts to control nutrient discharges, the Association said participation from the municipal wastewater treatment community is critical. NACWA plans to provide a list to the SAB of potential participants and will keep members apprised of activity on this important subject.

NACWA Draft Paper on Options for Farm Bill Policy Circulated for Member Review
A NACWA draft options paper, 2007 Farm Bill Reauthorization and Potential Benefits for Municipalities, recommends strategies that Association members are discussing to ensure that the next Farm Bill strengthens programs that will benefit water quality. A range of interest groups representing farmers, conservationists, environmental activists, and others are preparing to weigh in when Congress takes up the bill, possibly in 2007. NACWA will take part in these negotiations to maximize POTW benefit from the relevant conservation programs in the existing law. NACWA believes that ongoing international trade talks will result in reduced farm subsidies, freeing up money — perhaps several billion dollars annually — that can be used for conservation measures aimed at improving water quality to the benefit of POTWs and other downstream users. Multiple studies have shown that regardless of how much NACWA members invest to meet their Clean Water Act obligations, their goals will not be achieved unless significant commitments are made to curb agricultural runoff.

NACWA is seeking input from key committee leaders regarding the options paper’s recommendations that NACWA advocate for a sound farm policy with a strong commitment to water quality. Specifically, the paper calls on the Association to push for Farm Bill legislation that 1) maximizes funding for water quality improvements through coordinated efforts with like-minded interest groups; 2) ensures these funds are used for their targeted purpose of water quality improvements; 3) ensures the U.S. Department of Agriculture facilitates coordination with municipalities and other downstream users on how to maximize the funds available to meet the goals of the Clean Water Act; and 4) incorporates language supporting land application on farms as a sound way to manage biosolids. NACWA’s involvement in the Farm Bill reauthorization process will be a hot topic in the Legislative Policy Committee meeting, July 20, at NACWA’s 2006 Summer Conference & 36th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

NACWA Considers Involvement in Voluntary Initiative on Detergents
NACWA is considering the impact of a new voluntary program designed to encourage the manufacture and use of safer detergents and how it may be expanded to similar products. EPA’s Design for the Environment Program, run by the Agency’s Office of Pesticides, Prevention, and Toxic Substances, held a public meeting on June 12 to discuss a new initiative to reduce the use of nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactants (NPEs) in detergents. Designed in cooperation with EPA’s Office of Water, the Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative (SDSI) specifically targets NPEs and the substances that form when NPEs degrade. This includes nonylphenol, an aquatic toxin and suspected endocrine disruptor, for which EPA recently issued water quality criteria.

The SDSI program would recognize companies, facilities, and others who voluntarily phase out or commit to phasing out NPEs. Most of the manufacturing and consumer product representatives present at the meeting supported the program, but representatives from the Alkylphenol Ethoxylate Research Council and the industrial laundry sector said the program unfairly targeted NPEs, ignoring evidence that NPEs are not causing environmental problems. Industrial laundry representatives also cited the fact that their companies discharged to wastewater treatment plants, and that given the removal rates for NPEs, a voluntary program like SDSI is not necessary. As EPA moves forward with the initiative, NACWA’s Emerging Contaminants Workgroup will continue to evaluate the SDSI and the role it might play in decreasing the discharge of such contaminants to the Nation’s sewer systems.

EPA Announces Start of Phase-in for Permit Compliance System (PCS) Replacement
NACWA is cautiously optimistic that EPA’s long-awaited update to the Permit Compliance System (PCS) may be one step closer to reality. EPA marked a major milestone last month in its efforts to modernize the PCS: its new Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) 2.0 went live on the EPA website. The release of ICIS has two components: the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), and Federal Enforcement and Compliance (FE&C). The two components of ICIS 2.0 are called: ICIS-NPDES (aka PCS Modernization) and ICIS-FE&C.

All federal enforcement and compliance information will now be entered into ICIS-FE&C. Twelve states will soon begin to use ICIS-NPDES instead of PCS: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Virgin Islands, and Utah. The District of Columbia will also use ICIS-NPDES. For these states, all NPDES permitting and enforcement information that a state or EPA would have entered into PCS must now be entered into ICIS-NPDES.

EPA is now preparing to migrate another 16 states, tribes and territories from PCS to ICIS-NPDES. These states and territories will go live in ICIS-NPDES on August 21. These states and territories are: Connecticut, Georgia, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Saint Regis Tribe, Navajo Nation, Guam, American Samoa, Canal Zone, Mariana Islands, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Offshore and Trust territories.