AMSA June 2004 Regulatory Update

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The Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) is pleased to provide you with the June 2004 Regulatory Update. This Update provides a narrative summary of relevant regulatory issues and actions current to July 1, 2004. Unless another contact person is specifically listed, call Chris Hornback, AMSA’s Regulatory Affairs Director, at 202/833-9106 or email him at chornback@amsa-cleanwater.org with any questions or input you have concerning the Update topics.

Top Stories

AMSA Submits Data Showing Significant Savings with Pretreatment Streamlining Rule
On June 10, AMSA provided data (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/comments/2004-06-10slinedata.pdf) collected from its 2004 Pretreatment Streamlining Survey to numerous key officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency), the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, and the Small Business Administration. The data, which included estimates of cost savings nearing half a billion dollars annually nationwide, strongly support AMSA’s positions on several key issues related to the Agency’s 1999 Pretreatment Streamlining proposal (64 Fed. Reg. 39564). AMSA greatly appreciates the level of participation by the membership and non-member agencies on its survey. AMSA is encouraged by EPA’s recent efforts to finalize this critical rule, which would reduce the unnecessary administrative burden that publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and other regulatory agencies face under current pretreatment regulations. AMSA stressed in its data submission that small- and medium-sized pretreatment programs stand to save over 50% of their operating costs if AMSA’s recommendations are finalized. Also noted was the fact that the recommended changes would have no negative impacts on the environment, and result in no additional toxic discharges. Consistent with what AMSA has been told, in the Agency’s June 28 Semiannual Regulatory Agenda (69 Fed. Reg. 38154), the rule is scheduled for final publication in November 2004. For more information, please contact AMSA’s Will Pettit at 202/833-3280 or wpettit@amsa-cleanwater.org.

AMSA Seeks Member Input on Draft International Wastewater Standard
Because the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is in a critical stage of developing its standards for service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater supply systems (ISO TC/224), AMSA is seeking member input into the most recent iteration of the draft wastewater standard, available on AMSA's Regulatory Correspondence & Outreach section of its website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/reg_outreach.cfm). By way of background, as part of the development of the ISO TC/224 standards, ISO has created four working groups. The first is drafting the overarching definitions (WG 1) for the standards. The second is drafting the standards for water/wastewater service customers (WG 2). The third is drafting the standards for drinking water utilities (WG 3), and the fourth is drafting the standards for wastewater utilities (WG 4), on which AMSA is playing a leading role via its ISO Task Force.

These standards could have broad domestic ramifications on wastewater utility management issues, with EPA beginning to take an increased interest in these standards. The fundamental goal of AMSA’s involvement in the ISO process is to continue to lead the U.S. effort to ensure as sound an approach as possible into the WG 4’s wastewater standards document. It is critical, with finalization of the standards expected to occur in July 2005, that they remain explicitly voluntary and do not become the basis to develop regulatory requirements that could hinder clean water agency operations and local decision-making authority. According to the most recent iteration of the draft wastewater standard document the guidelines are intended to "continuously improve the level of service provided to the user at optimal cost. The standard is for voluntary application [and] does not include any targets/limits for the suggested performance indicators." Please review the document and provide any comments or concerns regarding the draft to AMSA's Managing Director of Government & Public Affairs, Adam Krantz, at 202-833-4651 or akrantz@amsa-cleanwater.org.

Register Today for AMSA’s Summer Conference on Evolving and Emerging Technical Issues
AMSA’s fast-approaching Summer Conference, Leading the Way… POTWs Take Environmental Protection Beyond the Pipe, will be held at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver, Colorado, July 20-23. This year’s agenda will focus on evolving and emerging technical issues that will increasingly alter wastewater treatment practices. POTWs are increasingly focused on non-traditional, and highly technical, beyond-the-pipe issues, and this conference will provide a forum to discuss how these new complexities are affecting national policy and POTW operations.

Featured speakers include keynote speaker, L. Hunter Lovins, author of Natural Capitalism, which explores with efficient and environmentally friendly industry and growth-related issues, Mark Pifher, Division Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Water Quality Control Division, and numerous high-ranking EPA officials, including John Meagher, Director of the Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watershed’s Wetlands Division. Panels will examine a broad range of issues facing the POTW community, including legal and regulatory trends that are shaping the designated use debates; the need for increased monitoring and the potential effects this additional data may have on POTWs; the use of wetlands to control nutrient levels; the enormously important and increasingly complex dynamics of water quality and reuse issues; as well as the need to focus more attention on collection systems and their impacts on wet weather issues. The fact that the meeting takes place in Denver will provide an excellent opportunity for a case study on how arid conditions may further complicate these already challenging issues.

We hope you will join us as we take a look “beyond the pipe”. Register online to find the most up-to-date information on the 2004 Summer Conference (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings/04summer/).

Biosolids

Deadline Extended for AMSA/WERF Survey on Biosolids Incinerator Monitoring Systems
AMSA has extended the deadline to July 14 for its joint survey with the Water Environment Research Foundation that will help identify the problems that some POTWs are encountering with their Total Hydrocarbon (THC) / Carbon Monoxide (CO) - Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) and the differing interpretations of the 40 CFR Part 503 requirements concerning THC/CO-CEMS. Specifically, the survey will collect information on the following: 1) Current THC/CO emissions from biosolids incinerators; 2) Extent of the operation and maintenance problems being encountered with THC/CO-CEMS; 3) Cost to purchase, install, operate and maintain the THC/CO-CEMS; and 4) State and local THC/CO-CEMS requirements.

The information gathered from this survey will shed light on the extent of the problems POTWs are facing with their TCC/CO-CEMS and will help frame AMSA’s advocacy efforts with EPA, state, and local permitting authorities. The online survey is available on the CleanWater Central website (http://www.cleanwatercentral.org). AMSA requests that its members who incinerate part or all of their biosolids complete this survey by July 14, 2004. For more information, please contact AMSA’s Will Pettit at 202/833-3280 or wpettit@amsa-cleanwater.org.

AMSA Meets with ISCORS Subcommittee to Discuss Radiation Standards for POTWs
AMSA met in early June with members of the Interagency Steering Committee on Radiation Standards’ (ISCORS) Sewage Sludge Subcommittee to discuss revisions to the ISCORS recommendations document for POTWs (see Regulatory Alert 03-15 at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/regalerts/ra03-15.cfm). A draft of the recommendation document established a consultation level of exposure, above which POTWs would be encouraged to conduct more extensive investigations and/or contact their state nuclear regulatory agency. AMSA submitted comments on January 30, 2004 (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/comments/2004-01-30comments.pdf) highlighting a number of extremely conservative assumptions in the guidance and the underlying dose model documents that could potentially trigger additional follow-up activities unnecessarily. In response to comments received on the draft, the Subcommittee is considering revisions to their dose model that would result in more accurate predictions of actual exposure. The final guidance is expected later this year and AMSA will continue discussions with members of the Subcommittee. AMSA will also begin work on its Targeted Action Fund project to develop an easy-to-use document to help understand the ISCORS recommendations.

Pretreatment

Activist Groups Sue EPA Over 304(m) Review Schedule, AMSA to Consider Involvement
On May 28, two environmental activist groups filed a lawsuit against EPA claiming the agency is failing to comply with key Clean Water Act requirements for the effluent limitations guidelines program. The suit, filed by the Ecological Rights Foundation and Our Children’s Earth Foundation, charges the Agency with failure to perform annual reviews of existing effluent guidelines to determine the need for revisions, among other claims. The suit was filed after talks between the two activist groups and EPA did not arrive at an agreement. At AMSA’s Pretreatment & Hazardous Waste Committee meeting during the Association’s Summer Conference in Denver, Colo., the committee will discuss options for AMSA participation in the case, most likely in support of EPA. For more information, please contact AMSA’s Will Pettit at 202/833-3280 or wpettit@amsa-cleanwater.org.

Water Quality

Methylmercury Implementation Guidance Delayed, Second Year Fish Tissue Study Data Released
AMSA has learned that the impending draft implementation guidance for EPA’s methylmercury fish tissue criteria, originally slated for release earlier this year, will be delayed due, in part, to the increased scrutiny EPA is placing on mercury issues. The EPA Administrator will have to be briefed on the guidance, which could delay the release of the draft until after the election. AMSA’s mercury workgroup has been actively participating in discussions with EPA on the guidance.

On a related note, EPA released data in mid-June from the second year of its four year National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue. The study is assessing the condition of lakes and reservoirs in the lower 48 states and will provide the first national estimate for 268 persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals. The study will help EPA track reductions of these chemicals in freshwater fish. EPA is analyzing the fish samples for mercury, arsenic, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dioxins/furans, along with many pesticides and other organic chemicals, such as phenols and chlorobenzenes. Chemical analysis of all fish samples should be complete by the end of 2004. EPA plans to finish statistical analysis of the cumulative four-year fish tissue data set in 2005 and produce a final report in 2006. More information on the study is available on EPA’s website (http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fishstudy).

AMSA Considers Extent of Comments on EPA Risk Assessment Methodology Paper
AMSA National Office staff has been made aware of a March 2004 EPA staff paper entitled, An Examination of EPA Risk Assessment Principles and Practices (69 Fed. Reg. 15326). The paper is a product of an EPA staff review of how risk assessment is conducted at the Agency, and presents staff recommendations for EPA and interested parties to consider how the Agency can strengthen and, where appropriate, improve its risk assessment practices. AMSA’s members are “end users” of the standards and criteria that are developed by EPA using various risk assessment methodologies and are, therefore, very interested in the assumptions, default values, and uncertainty factors that go into conducting such assessments. Wastewater treatment utilities must comply with, among other things, their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limits that may be based on Clean Water Act Section 304(a) water quality criteria or pollutant concentration limits for their biosolids, both of which are derived using Agency risk assessment methodologies.

Comments were originally due to the Agency on June 23, 2004. In a June 10 letter, AMSA requested that the Agency accept comments on the paper and the associated risk assessment principles beyond the comment period deadline. EPA subsequently agreed to accept stakeholder comments after the deadline, giving AMSA the opportunity to review the 400 page document. AMSA’s Water Quality Committee will discuss at its Summer Conference meeting in Denver, Colo., whether to seek outside assistance to perform a more rigorous review of the paper in order to provide the Agency with detailed comments.

AMSA Nominates Member for Endocrine Disruptor Methods Validation Advisory Committee
On June 10, AMSA nominated James Pletl, Ph.D., Environmental Scientist for the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), Virginia Beach, Va., for appointment to the Endocrine Disruptor Methods Validation Advisory Committee (EDMVAC or Committee) (69 Fed. Reg. 22509 and 69 Fed. Reg. 30907). The purpose of the proposed EDMVAC will be to provide advice and recommendations to EPA on scientific and technical aspects of the Tier I screens and Tier II assays being considered for the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). The proposed Committee will evaluate relevant scientific issues, protocols, data, and interpretations of the data for the assays during the validation process, as well as providing advice on the composition of the Tier I screening battery. The EDSP will ultimately be used by EPA to identify what chemicals/substances have the potential to adversely affect the human endocrine system.

The nation’s wastewater treatment plants are on the front-lines of this issue, and are already being faced with the potential task of removing or otherwise controlling these substances in their discharges. AMSA believes that a representative from the wastewater community will help to ensure the EDMVAC has a balanced and complete membership. AMSA will inform members of the Committee’s decision regarding the nomination when it is made. There is no scheduled deadline for this decision.

AMSA Comments in Support of Long-Awaited Proposed Mercury Test Method, Among Others
AMSA submitted comments (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/comments/2004-06-07cmtsOW-2003-0070.pdf) June 7 on an April 6 proposal to approve Method 245.7 for the analysis of mercury in wastewater, as well as a long list of new and updated test procedures for the analysis of various pollutants under the Clean Water Act (69 Fed. Reg. 18166). This proposal came after six years of advocacy by AMSA in support of Method 245.7. If approved, Method 245.7 will provide many POTWs with a cost-effective alternative for monitoring mercury in their influent and, in many cases, their effluent. Given that the detection and quantitation levels for Method 245.7 are higher than those for the more expensive Method 1631, the new performance-based method will be of most use in measuring influent levels of mercury and for industrial user pretreatment compliance. It will not be a viable option where effluent limits are extremely low, such as in the Great Lakes. AMSA appreciates the effort of numerous member agencies that submitted comments to the Association, and will alert the membership when EPA finalizes the changes.

AMSA Comments on U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy’s Preliminary Report
On June 4, AMSA submitted comments (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/comments/2004-06-04ocmts.pdf) on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy’s Preliminary Report, which provides EPA and other federal agencies with recommendations on managing the quality of the nation’s coastal waters. While the focus of the report is on coastal waters, the recommended actions could have national implications on all types of waterways, and, therefore, for the nation’s POTWs. While the report makes hundreds of recommendations, AMSA’s comments focused on the commission recommendation that EPA and states should require advanced nutrient removal for all wastewater treatment plant discharges into nutrient-impaired waters. AMSA has long advocated that nutrient issues must be addressed at the watershed level to protect the use or uses of a particular waterbody. Simply requiring POTWs on a national level to reduce nutrient loadings will not solve what is a multi-media problem, with unique, site-specific issues in each circumstance.

AMSA’s comments also touched upon the recommendation to develop a national water quality monitoring network. AMSA fully supports increased water quality monitoring and agrees with the report’s recommendation for increased funding in this arena. Relating to funding, the third piece of the report that AMSA commented on is the commission’s support for a national, sustainable, long-term clean water funding source. AMSA agrees with the report that there needs to be federal involvement in order to bridge the ever-growing funding gap for wastewater utilities. For more information, please contact Adam Krantz, AMSA, at 202/833-4651 or akrantz@amsa-cleanwater.org.

Wet Weather

CSO/SSO Report to Congress Still Undergoing Review
AMSA has learned that the long-awaited Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO)/Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Report to Congress is still in the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) review process, and will likely be delayed until August. OMB has apparently been deluged with other, higher priority issues. AMSA continues to advocate for the soonest possible release of the report. Preliminary indications are that the report will conclude that sewer overflows can have significant impacts on the local level but that their effects are less observable at the national level. AMSA’s SSO Workgroup remains at the ready to finish work on AMSA’s response once the report is finished.

AMSA Opens SSO Workgroup to Broaden Member Involvement
At AMSA’s May National Environmental Policy Forum & 34th Annual Meeting, the Association, through its Wet Weather Issues Committee, decided to open the SSO Workgroup to all members. The SSO Workgroup was originally formed as a small working group with one purpose in mind – to comment on an EPA proposed SSO Rule. As the rule now seems indefinitely postponed, and as SSO issues continue to receive additional focus from EPA, especially its enforcement arm, AMSA’s SSO Workgroup saw the need to broaden its activities and redouble its efforts to secure a national SSO policy. If anyone is interested in supporting this important endeavor, please contact Chris Hornback at chornback@amsa-cleanwater.org.

Miscellaneous

AMSA Announces Formation of Public Relations Committee
AMSA is pleased to announce the formation of a new Communications & Public Relations Committee, created by the Association’s Board of Directors at AMSA’s May 2004 National Environmental Policy Forum, in Washington, DC. The formation of this Committee was met with much excitement and enthusiasm by the Board and membership as it will enhance and help coordinate both member utility and AMSA outreach initiatives at the local and national levels.

The creation of the Committee is timely, given AMSA’s ongoing Strategic Planning Initiative, a central goal of which is to have the media, utility customers, and the general public view wastewater treatment utilities, and the public servants who operate them, as the “true environmentalists” protecting the nation's water quality, the environment, and public health. For more information on the Communications & Public Affairs Committee please contact Adam Krantz, Managing Director of Government and Public Affairs, at 202/833-4651 or akrantz@amsa-cleanwater.org.