Wet Weather Issues
Stormwater Phase II Advisory Committee Holds Final Meeting
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 was interested in hearing from states on how equivalency could be assured if States were allowed to develop statewide stormwater programs rather than adhering to the mandated NPDES general permit approach. The Committee also discussed several issues related to proposed regulation of construction sites from one to five acres, focusing on the applicability of waivers, and how states could minimize overlapping of local and statewide construction permitting requirements. EPA , with Committee concurrence also indicated that the regulation of CSO communities with a mix of combined and separate systems should be flexible enough to allow CSO and stormwater control requirements to be included in one permit. Also, the Committee agreed with one of AMSA’s comments on the proposed rule which indicated that EPA allow for the designation as a single system, a group of smaller systems "located within the boundaries of a region defined by a stormwater management regional authority based on a jurisdictional, watershed, or other appropriate basis," (i.e., a regional authority). Committee members stressed, however, that local systems must be willing co-permittees in such an arrangement. 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: 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.
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.