Wet Weather Issues
Proposed Stormwater Phase II Regulations
Background: EPA’s proposed stormwater phase II rule regulating stormwater discharges from small municipal separate sewer systems and small construction sites was published in the January 9, 1998 Federal Register. The proposed rule would require smaller municipalities within urbanized areas to apply for NPDES permit coverage by May 31, 2002 and implement a mix of best management practices to "reduce the discharge of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable and protect water quality."
Status: EPA’s Stormwater Phase II Advisory Committee held its final meeting on June 25-26, 1998 to discuss several issues raised during the comment period of the Phase II rule. EPA plans to develop additional technical guidance and fact sheets to assist in the implementation of the rule, which is expected to be finalized in March 1999. CONTACT: George Utting, EPA 202/260-9530 or Mark Hoeke, AMSA 202/833-9106.
EPA Commits to Reconvening SSO Federal Advisory Committee
Background: EPA is crafting a national framework to guide the Agency in revising regulations and guidance to address SSO permitting and enforcement issues. A federal advisory committee, made up of municipal (including AMSA), environmental, EPA, and state interests met from November 1994 to December 1996 to discuss framework and implementation issues.
Status: EPA is continuing its internal discussions concerning a national SSO policy. On July 15, AMSA representatives met with EPA to discuss EPA’s current thinking on issues related to the policy including liability for overflows, authorized wet weather facility discharges, definitions of adequate design, operation and maintenance, and regulation of satellite collection systems. EPA restated its commitment to reconvene the federal advisory committee once internal negotiations have been resolved. On May 18, AMSA representatives met with Bob Perciasepe, EPA’s assistant administrator of the Office of Water and Steven Herman, assistant administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. The meeting was requested by AMSA and other municipal representatives of EPA’s SSO Federal Advisory Committee (FACA) to discuss concerns regarding the derailed FACA process and substantive issues relating to EPA’s recent draft SSO strategy "blueprint." AMSA called on EPA to commit to reconvening the FACA prior to the finalization of a national SSO strategy, and began a substantive dialogue with Perciasepe, Herman, and other high-level program and enforcement officials over concerns with liability defenses for unavoidable SSOs and the allowance of permitted wet weather facility discharges at less than secondary treatment. As a result of the meeting, EPA has committed to reconvening the FACA after completing its internal agency discussions, and working with AMSA to resolve remaining technical and legal issues. Also, on May 28, AMSA received a list of questions from Eric Schaeffer, Director, EPA’s Office of Regulatory Compliance regarding the development of a national sanitary sewer overflow policy. The questions were originally posed as part of Schaeffer’s comments during the "Regulatory Perspectives" panel session at AMSA’s May 16-20 National Environmental Policy Forum . EPA is still attempting to reach internal consensus on the development of a national SSO policy. Among the types of questions presented include: 1) how would AMSA define "unavoidable " as it relates to SSOs; 2) how would AMSA define "wet weather" in the context of SSOs; 3) how would AMSA define a "wet weather treatment system"; 4) how would wet weather facility discharges impact the attainment of water quality standards in the receiving streams; and 5) does AMSA have a legal theory for regulating discharges from separate systems differently from combined systems? Several other questions were also raised. A draft version of the caucus’ responses to the questions was forwarded to EPA on June 11 for their consideration during an internal meeting being held June 12 on the national strategy. In addition to addressing the six questions, the caucus’ letter emphasized their concern with EPA’s expectation that SSOs can be eliminated — i.e. the "zero overflow problem." The letter presented a clear explanation as to why engineers believe zero SSO overflows are unattainable no matter how much money is spent on the problem because of the way sewer systems are designed and operated. The municipal/operator caucus is expected to request another meeting with Perciasepe and Herman in the final letter. AMSA members can review the June 11 draft letter on AMSA’s web site at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org, under the Committee Correspondence section of the Member Pipeline. CONTACT: Kevin Weiss, EPA 202/260-9524, or Mark Hoeke, AMSA 202/833-9106.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Proposes New Nationwide Permit 26
Background: Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires anyone who wishes to discharge dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including all wetlands to obtain a Section 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. An individual permit is usually required for potentially significant impacts. However, the Corps often grants general permits on a nationwide basis for categories of activities that they believe will have only minimal effects, called Nationwide Permits. The Corps of Engineers has established the Nationwide Permits, under their authorities of Clean Water Act Section 404 and Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 Section 10 for certain categories of discharges and activities. Nationwide Permit 26, which is issued for projects relating to headwaters and isolated waters, originally allowed for no notification to the Corps of Engineers of projects that affected less than 1 acre of these waters and a permit for discharges that affected up to 10 acres. Due to opposition and further study of the adverse effects created by Nationwide Permit 26, in December of 1996 the Corps reissued this permit in a different form. Instead of a threshold of 10 acres, it was reduced to a maximum effected area of 3 acres and notification if a project effected more than 1/3 of an acre. In addition, this revised permit will only last for two years with an eventual phase out period of five years.
Status: On July 1, 1998 the Army Corps of Engineers proposed to issue 6 new nationwide permits and modify 6 existing nationwide permits to become effective when NWP 26 expires in December 1998 (the proposal includes provisions to extend NWP 26 to March 1999). The proposal includes the issuance of a new nationwide permit for the construction of stormwater management facilities. A nationwide permit will be available for new stormwater facilities that do not cause the loss of greater than 2 acres of non-tidal wetlands, and where the permittee has developed a compensatory mitigation proposal that will offset the loss of waters of the United States (if the facility causes a loss of greater than 1/3 an acre). The Corps also proposes changes to NWP 7 which includes permitting of activities related to the construction of outfall structures, and maintenance excavation around outfall structures; and NWP 12, which includes permitting of activities related to the excavation, backfill, or bedding of utility lines, and the construction, maintenance, or expansion of associated pumping stations. AMSA plans to provide comment on the proposal. Comments on the proposal are due August 31, 1998. CONTACT: David Olson USACE 202/761-0199 or Mark Hoeke, AMSA 202/833-9106.
Related Items of Interest
A recently initiated three-year pilot program for verification testing of fully developed and commercially available urban wet weather (WWF) pollution abatement systems has an estimated funding of three million dollars. The WWF pilot is part of EPA’s Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program established under President Clinton’s initiative for acceptance and use of newly developed and environmentally beneficial technologies. Currently, the ETV program carries out 12 different pilot programs, which are described in an EPA publication entitled, "Environmental Technology Verification Program Strategy," EPA/600/K-96/003, February 1997. It is EPA’s goals to make each pilot self-sustaining beyond the funded program period. Progress reports for each of the pilot programs are available on a continuously updated ETV’s Internet web site at http://www.epa.gov/etv. The WWF pilot will verify two types of the WWF pollution abatement systems: 1) WWF storm-inlet devices that are designed to control/treat stormwater before it enters the sewer systems, and 2) advanced high-rate WWF treatment technologies that belong to four general groups: sedimentation, micro- and fine-mesh screening, biological processes, and disinfection processes.