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NACWA Priority Issues - Wet Weather Programs - Sanitary Sewer Overflow |
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While municipalities have made significant progress in improving water quality since the creation of the Clean Water Act, the wet weather arena demands a more consistent regulatory and enforcement framework, specifically relating to sanitary sewer overflow (SSOs). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that $88 billion is needed over the next 20 years to control SSOs and even more may be required if the Agency continues to take a “zero tolerance” stance for SSOs. A critical issue that must be addressed by EPA is the need for a flexible SSO policy. NACWA believes that a national SSO policy should recognize the risk posed by SSOs nationally and be modeled after EPA’s Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Policy to provide flexibility necessary to address adverse impacts when manifested at a local level and to direct resources to those areas that will have the most impact. To succeed in this goal EPA should:
- Develop a national SSO policy that enables the use of holistic, watershed-based approaches that will ensure available, limited resources can be targeted to the wet weather overflow problems that will yield the maximum environmental and public health benefit.
- Establish a national municipal collection system permitting program, including satellite systems, using the management, operation, and maintenance (MOM) concept as the standard for measuring compliance and include a capacity assurance standard.
- Conduct any additional scientific studies necessary on the issue of environmental or public health impacts to ensure sound regulatory and enforcement policy.
- Congress should provide grant funding for SSOs and other wet weather projects.
Click here for NACWA’s SSO Action Plan (once complete).
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Clean Water Advocacy