Member Pipeline - Regulatory - May 2007 Regulatory Update
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| To: | Members & Affiliates, Regulatory Policy Committee |
| From: | National Office |
| Date: | May 14, 2007 |
Printer friendly versionThe National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is pleased to provide you with the May 2007 Regulatory Update. This Update provides a narrative summary of relevant regulatory issues and actions current to May 14, 2007. Please contact NACWA’s Chris Hornback at 202/833-9106 or chornback@nacwa.org or Cynthia Finley at 202/296-9836 or cfinley@nacwa.org with any questions or information on the Update topics.
Top Stories
NACWA Initiates Dialogue on Potential
Contaminants from Consumer Products
NACWA staff and members of NACWA’s Pretreatment and Pollution
Prevention Committee and Emerging Contaminants Workgroup met with other
organizations on May 9 to begin a dialogue on the issue of potential
contaminants from consumer products. These groups included the Sierra Club, the
Product Stewardship Institute, the International Center for Technology
Assessment, and the Water Environment Foundation (WEF). A growing number of
consumer products use new ingredients or additives that are outside of the
traditional regulatory framework, such as soaps containing triclosan, washing
machines that discharge silver ions, and fabrics impregnated with copper. These
additives may end up in the sewer system and subsequently be discharged to the
nation’s waterways or found in biosolids. Some of the additives are newer
compounds with unknown environmental and human health impacts, while others
consist of chemicals, pesticides, and heavy metals that are known threats and
that are regulated under the National Pretreatment Program when discharged from
industrial and commercial sources. Since there is no existing way to regulate
discharges from residential sources, clean water agencies are increasingly
concerned about potential contaminants from consumer products.
Letters and communication from NACWA (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2006-02-14agltr.pdf) and other groups to EPA have already resulted in an announced decision to regulate silver ion washing machines (http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/ion.htm). The consumer products dialogue initiative will allow NACWA and other groups to coordinate efforts to increase awareness of the possible environmental and human health impacts of consumer product additives. The dialogue will include regulatory agencies and the manufacturers and retailers of these products, with a goal of finding ways to prevent potential contaminants from entering wastewater. NACWA will keep members informed about progress made with the dialogue and other consumer products issues.
NACWA Highlights Concerns with White House
Drug Policy
On May 2, NACWA sent a letter (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2007-05-02whdpo.pdf)
to the Director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
detailing several concerns raised by members regarding a set of disposal
guidelines (http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/factsht/proper_disposal.html)
for unused prescription drugs issued by the ONDCP, in coordination with the
Department of Health and Human Services and EPA earlier this year. NACWA’s
letter noted that the guidelines do not put sufficient emphasis on the value of
local drug take-back programs, many of which have been developed by NACWA member
agencies on behalf of their communities. More problematic was the inclusion in
the guidelines of a list of drugs that the federal government is recommending
should be flushed.
The Food and Drug Administration maintains the list of drugs that it believes should be flushed primarily due to the potential for illegal distribution and use, but NACWA expressed concern that recommending flushing for any drugs could result in an increase in flushing of all drugs, not just those on the list. While acknowledging the public health benefits of ensuring the proper disposal of controlled substances, NACWA expressed concern that federal drug officials are recommending the disposal of certain drugs down the drain at the same time as environmental regulatory agencies with oversight of clean water agencies are measuring these drugs in wastewater effluent and contemplating their options to address this issue. NACWA’s Emerging Contaminant Workgroup will be following up with the ONDCP and the other federal agencies involved in the handling of unused pharmaceuticals on the value of local or regional take-back programs.
NACWA Outlines Concerns with EPA Documents on
Climate-Related Water Impacts
On April 27, NACWA submitted comments (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2007-04-27ord.pdf)
outlining several concerns and recommending changes to two draft screening
assessments released by the EPA Office of Research and Development on the
potential impacts of climate change on water quality. The reports, A
Screening Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Combined
Sewer Overflow (CSO) Mitigation in the Great Lakes and New England Regions
(CSO Report) (http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=166365)
and A Screening Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the
Costs of Implementing Water Quality-Based Effluent Limits at Publicly-Owned
Treatment Works in the Great Lakes Region (WQBEL Report) (http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=166366),
highlight two of the many potential impacts global climate change may have on
the water environment. NACWA commented that both reports should be revised to
better characterize the speculative nature of the analyses and more thoroughly
outline in the Executive Summaries the numerous limitations and uncertainties
associated with the reports’ conclusions.
The CSO Report suggested that due to climate-related changes in precipitation patterns, some CSO long-term control plans may no longer meet the CSO Control Policy. The report further suggested that some communities may want to consider including margins of safety in their planning to account for broader climate changes. Acknowledging the importance of considering how climate change may impact the water sector, NACWA noted that it is premature to recommend any major modifications in long-term control plans given the acknowledged uncertainty in these analyses and the underlying climate models used to conduct them. In fact, one of the CSO analyses indicated that there would be more CSOs in the future using one climate model but fewer CSOs in the future using another. The WQBEL Report suggested that additional treatment may be required in the future to remove certain pollutants if predicted precipitation patterns result in lower base flow conditions. Unfortunately, the report failed to recognize that should such dramatic climate changes occur, we would likely no longer be dealing with the current slate of water quality standards, and predicting whether we could meet standards in the future was somewhat problematic. These reports also received significant attention at the Climate Change Issues Forum during the joint NACWA/Water Environment Foundation (WEF) National Clean Water Policy Forum earlier this month.
Biosolids
New National Survey on Biosolids Use in the
U.S. Nears Completion
For the past 18 months, NACWA has been providing input to an EPA
grant-funded survey of national biosolids quality and end-use practices
conducted primarily by the North East Biosolids and Residuals Association (NEBRA).
The preliminary report from the project titled A National Biosolids
Regulation, Quality, End Use & Disposal Survey is now available. The report
provides an overview regarding biosolids management in the U.S. with additional
state-by-state data. NACWA will be submitting comments on the current draft of
the report and providing additional feedback to NEBRA as it works to complete
the survey report. To download the preliminary report visit
www.nebiosolids.org
and click on the headline, Biosolids in the U.S. – A New National Report.
Conferences and Awards
Plan Now to Attend NACWA’s 2007 Summer
Conference
Join your clean water colleagues July 17-20, 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio
for NACWA’s 2007 Summer Conference, Sustainable Infrastructure Choices…Gray,
Green, & Everything In Between. The conference program will focus on how
sustainable clean water infrastructure can be developed by balancing traditional
‘gray’ infrastructure with new ‘green’ infrastructure approaches. Featured
speakers and panelists will examine both the benefits and challenges of
balancing gray and green infrastructure in terms of regulatory requirements,
economics, and environmental progress. The conference will also include meetings
of NACWA’s Standing Committees, the 2007 NACWA Open golf tournament, and a
Thursday evening reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The hotel
registration deadline is June 26, 2007. More information about the conference is
now available on NACWA’s Meetings and Conferences webpage at
http://www.nacwa.org/meetings/07summer/.
EPA Announces Clean Water Act Recognition
Awards
Applications are now available for EPA’s 2007 Clean Water Act
Recognition Awards, sponsored by EPA’s Office of Wastewater Management. The
awards recognize municipalities and industries for demonstrating outstanding
technological achievements or innovative processes in their wastewater treatment
and pollution abatement programs. The awards are intended to increase public
awareness of contributions of wastewater utilities to clean water and encourage
public support of effective wastewater management, biosolids disposal and reuse,
and wet weather pollution control. Nominations are due to EPA by June 29, 2007.
More information will be available soon on EPA’s website at
http://www.epa.gov/owm/intnet.htm.
Facility and Collection Systems
NACWA Green Infrastructure Efforts Lead to EPA
Earth Day Event
NACWA participated in a meeting April 25 with EPA staff to plan for further
development and implementation of green infrastructure techniques. The meeting
represents the first step in implementing the goals outlined in the Statement
of Intent on Green Infrastructure that was signed on April 19 at a
Pittsburgh Earth Day event by NACWA, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, the
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Low Impact Development (LID)
Center, and the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control
Administrators (ASIWPCA). The Statement calls for “a collaborative effort
among the signatory organizations in order to promote the benefits of using
green infrastructure,” and outlines a number of steps to be taken in this regard
such as development of models for all components of green infrastructure and
exploring regulatory incentives for the use of green infrastructure.
NACWA also participated in an April 16 forum with EPA and representatives from the Statement of Support signatory organizations to discuss how the Agency can better encourage the use of green infrastructure in communities across the nation. Additionally, 13 members of the House of Representatives forwarded a letter (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2007-04-17greinltr.pdf) to Administrator Johnson endorsing the Statement of Support and encouraging EPA to establish a strategy for utilizing green infrastructure as a way to reduce stormwater and sewer overflows. Additional meetings are scheduled in the coming weeks on this topic, and NACWA will provide updates on any developments.
Regulatory Policy
Congressional Action Being Consider to Address
Regulatory Office Authority
NACWA is closely following the fallout from an Executive Order signed earlier
this year that is now drawing fire from at least four Congressional committees
over concern that the order gives the White House too much control over EPA and
other federal agency rulemaking activity. On January 18, 2007, President Bush
signed Executive Order 13422, which, in part, requires the placement of an
administration-selected official or regulatory policy officer (RPO) at each
federal rulemaking agency. The officers will have the authority to review and
approve all major rulemaking activity at the agency. The Executive Order also
included implementation of provisions from a proposed policy on ‘good guidance’
that was released for comment by the White House’s Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) on November 23, 2005. The proposed guidance was designed to ensure
consistency in how regulatory guidance is developed. NACWA submitted comments (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2005-12-21cmtsombggp.pdf)
in December 2005 that generally supported OMB review of significant guidance
documents, but questioned the process for determining what guidance was in fact
significant.
Most of the recent Congressional concern on the new order seems to focus on the RPOs and whether legislation is warranted to increase the transparency of their work. While NACWA believes that this new review step might serve to better ensure that regulations are fully reviewed and evaluated for their cost impacts before leaving EPA, it does add yet another opportunity for unnecessary delay and political interference in EPA’s regulatory efforts. NACWA will be following this issue and its implications for ongoing efforts such as the peak flow policy that remains under review at OMB.
Security
GAO Releases Report on Vulnerability
Assessment and Chlorine Conversion Costs
On May 1, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a
report, Securing Wastewater Facilities: Costs of Vulnerability Assessments,
Risk Management Plans, and Alternative Disinfection Methods Vary Widely (http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07480high.pdf)
requested by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee. Several NACWA members were involved in providing GAO
with data for the report, which demonstrates the wide range of costs to perform
vulnerability assessments and switch to alternative disinfection methods. GAO
found that costs to prepare vulnerability assessments ranged from $1,000 to
$175,000, and costs to prepare risk management plans ranged from under $1000 to
over $31,000. The costs depended mostly on whether the assessment was conducted
in-house or performed by a contractor, not on the facility size. Conversion
costs ranged from $650,000 to over $13 million for the 38 large utilities
interviewed by GAO that converted from chlorine gas to alternative disinfection
methods. Most facilities converted to delivered sodium hypochlorite, which was
more economical than other methods such as generating sodium hypochlorite
on-site or using ultraviolet light. NACWA believes the report demonstrates that
a one-size-fits-all approach to security-related issues is not appropriate for
publicly owned treatment works because of the unique, site-specific needs of
each utility.
Utility Management
NACWA Signs Statement of Support on Effective
Utility Management Effort
NACWA and five other associations representing the U.S. water and
wastewater sector, in collaboration with EPA, announced the release of a new
report, Findings and Recommendations for a Water Utility Sector Management
Strategy, on May 8 during the NACWA/WEF 2007 National Clean Water Policy
Forum. Designed to advance effective utility management practices, the
report culminates a 12-month effort focused on excellence in water and
wastewater utility management. The release of the report is accompanied by a
statement of support and an action list from the collaborating organizations as
well as a fact sheet for utility managers (http://www.nacwa.org/private/umfi.cfm).
Formalized in a joint Statement of Intent in May 2006, the Effective Utility
Management Collaborating Organizations – the American Public Works Association (APWA),
American Water Works Association (AWWA), Association of Metropolitan Water
Agencies (AMWA), National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), National
Association of Water Companies (NAWC), the Water Environment Federation (WEF)
and EPA – appointed a steering committee of sixteen water utility leaders from
across the country to develop recommendations for a joint water utility sector
management strategy applicable to water, wastewater, and combined
water/wastewater utilities.
The report’s findings and recommendations provide guidance for optimizing water system management and include the definition of ten attributes of effectively managed utilities and keys to management success, a list of existing resources linked to the attributes, and suggested performance measures to improve utility management. The report’s release was referenced by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson during his remarks at the Policy Forum.
Water Quality
EPA Holds Experts Workshop on Recreational
Water Quality Criteria
More than 40 scientists, academics, regulators, and others met at a
March 26-30 EPA workshop to begin the process of developing new,
scientifically-based recreational water quality criteria that protect human
health. The main topics discussed at the workshop, which was not open to the
public, were pathogen and fecal contamination indicators, implementation
approaches for the new criteria, and assessment of human health risks. EPA hopes
to use the feedback from the experts to develop the criteria, which are required
by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000 (BEACH
Act). EPA missed the BEACH Act deadlines for issuing criteria and was sued by
the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). NACWA intervened in the case,
Natural Resources Defense Council v. EPA (http://www.nacwa.org/private/littrack/#nrdcepa)
and will be involved in setting new deadlines that will allow the Agency to
develop reasonable criteria.
Charles McGee of Orange County Sanitation District, a NACWA member agency, was the only representative of the municipal clean water community participating in the workshop. A list of all workshop participants is available on NACWA’s website (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=Participant_List_Expert_Workshop.pdf). NACWA members can contact Chris Hornback at (202) 833-9106 or chornback@nacwa.org for more information. NACWA will keep members informed about the progress in developing recreational water quality criteria.
EPA Clearinghouse on the Great Lakes Watershed
On May 7, EPA announced the availability of an online resource for
information on toxicity data and other supporting documents used in developing
water quality standards in the Great Lakes watershed. The Great Lakes Initiative
(GLI) Clearinghouse contains information relevant to regulatory and
nonregulatory programs. It can be used to help establish water quality criteria,
permit discharge limits, total maximum daily loads, remedial action plans, and
lakewide management plans within the Great Lakes Basin.
Data in the clearinghouse can be viewed online or downloaded in spreadsheet format. The clearinghouse includes PDF versions of "fact sheets," which provide methodology information on how state agencies and EPA derive criteria and guidance values. The clearinghouse also includes links to GLI-related documents, including Federal Register notices and technical support documents, as well as formulas that allow users to calculate criteria according to GLI methodologies. To access the clearinghouse go to http://www.epa.gov/gliclearinghouse.