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WaterTechOnline.com
WASHINGTON — The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) has announced its support of Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) for their leadership in introducing the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act (S.3561) in the U.S. Senate, according to a press release.
The legislation seeks to increase green infrastructure (GI) in stormwater management by creating a program within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide resources for the planning and construction of GI projects.
The legislation also seeks to authorize a dedicated source of federal assistance for the planning and implementation of GI projects to help meet challenges posed by stormwater flows, one of the largest and growing sources of pollution entering U.S. waters, the release stated.
“I have seen first-hand the water quality benefits of Green Infrastructure projects,” said NACWA President Kevin Shafer. “NACWA strongly supports the work of Senators Udall and Whitehouse in raising the profile of these important projects and we look forward to helping garner additional support for this effort." |
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E & E Greenwire
Paul Quinlan, E&E reporter
U.S. EPA would create a new green infrastructure program to research and promote the use of soil, plants and vegetation to catch and filter stormwater under a new bill introduced by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
The bill (S. 3561) calls for EPA to use a competitive grant program to establish three to five research centers at universities or similar institutions across the United States to develop new techniques and technologies for capturing rain where it falls, rather than piping it into waterways.
The legislation would also create a green infrastructure program within EPA's Office of Water to coordinate and promote the use of new rain management techniques. EPA's regional offices would make similar efforts. The bill calls for setting aside "such funds as are necessary" each year from 2011 through 2014, without specifying a price.
Oil and chemical-laced runoff from parking lots, city streets and other urban features is one of the chief sources of fish-killing, water-fouling pollution to bodies like the Chesapeake Bay. Scientists believe green substitutes for the traditional rain gutters, sewer pipes and concrete culvert systems -- such as porous pavements and rooftop gardens -- could go far to heal the nation's increasingly imperiled waterways and replenishing badly needed ground water supplies in dry states like Udall's home state of New Mexico.
"Water quality is an issue facing states across the country, but in particular those of the arid southwest like my home state of New Mexico, where water is always in limited supply," Udall said in a prepared statement. "By promoting greener design of stormwater infrastructure, we can create jobs, save on construction costs, and help recharge our aquifers, all while reducing pollution and flooding of our scenic rivers."
The technology is also seen as a way to reduce flooding during heavy rains that tend to overwhelm the nation's aging stormwater systems, as was the case in Whitehouse's state of Rhode Island, where March and April flooding prompted President Obama to declare an emergency and order in aid.
A partial estimate of the nation's stormwater management needs over the next 20 years pegged the cost at $42.3 billion, according to EPA's 2008 Clean Water Needs Survey.
Udall and Whitehouse's bill, which has been referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on which they sit, also calls for local wastewater utilities to receive technical assistance and project grants to upgrade their systems.
"In the wake of the March floods, it's become clear that we need improved techniques to handle storm water runoff," said a statement from Whitehouse. "This legislation will help improve green infrastructure, create good jobs and help control future floods."
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies said the bill was a "key step" toward ensuring communities get credit for implementing green stormwater technology and praised the push to dedicate federal money and attention to the effort.
"NACWA strongly supports the work of Senators Udall and Whitehouse in raising the profile of these important projects," Kevin Shafer, the group's president, said in a news release.
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DC Channel 9
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WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- The water main repairs that last week caused water use restrictions for nearly two million WSSC customers in Prince Georges and Montgomery counties have raised questions about the state of water infrastructure and its ability to handle growing water demand.
Now a blast of hot weather that one meteorologist describes as a once in a decade heatwave is raising the same questions about the electric infrastructure that provides so much of the nation's power needs.
The WSSC said Monday it awaits the results of water and structural tests to see if the water main repairs are strong enough to handle regular demand.
"After we get those results, we will make a determination on lifting the water restrictions," said WSSC spokeswoman Lynn Riggins. As of Monday night, those restrictions remained in place.
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies believes spending has to increase markedly on water infrastructure to keep up with coming demand. It estimates needed spending at about half a trillion dollars in the next 20 years.
"If we don't we're going to experience issues and problems like we've seen in Montgomery County...more often," said the association's Ken Kirk.
"We have not taken care of our infrastructure," he told 9NewsNow.
"We all need to value water to a much higher degree," he said.
Area utilities said Monday they were prepared for a week of record-breaking heat, but asked consumers to conserve.
Among recommendations designed to prevent shortages, the power companies are telling customers to keep their shades lowered during the day, to limit the use of big power using items until night, and to try to live with thermostats set at 78 degrees. |
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BNA
Legislation approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee June 30 would require the federal government to pay local fees for treating and managing stormwater runoff.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said in a statement June 30 that the legislation “will remove all ambiguity about the responsibility of the federal government to pay the normal and customary stormwater fees administered by local governments forced to deal with this pollution.”
Initially introduced June 10 as a separate bill (S. 3481) by Cardin, the legislation was rolled into the broader Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 (S. 1816), approved by the committee June 30. (See related story in this issue.)
According to Cardin, the legislation is a response to written decisions that left ambiguous or rebuffed the need for federal agencies to pay such fees (112 DEN A-7, 6/14/10).
In April, three federal agencies—the General Services Administration, the Defense Department, and the Government Accountability Office—told the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority they would not pay new fees set to take effect in 2011 because they considered them a tax, not a fee for services rendered.
Water bills from the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority now include an impervious surface fee to pay for the costly replacement of the city's antiquated combined sewer/stormwater system with separate systems. The fee would apply to federal properties for the first time in 2011.
The Senate legislation states that “reasonable service charges … include any requirement to pay a reasonable fee, assessment, or charge imposed by any state or local agency to defray or recover the cost of stormwater management in the same manner and to the same extent as any nongovernmental entity.”
Such a fee, assessment, or charge “shall not be considered to be a tax or other levy subject to an assertion of sovereign immunity, and may be paid using appropriated funds,” Section 5 of the bill states.
A recent survey by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies found that while a majority of federal facilities currently pay for local clean water services, a growing number are contesting these charges as unconstitutional.
NACWA has written to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. for a ruling on whether the federal government is subject to local fees charged to support the collection and disposal of stormwater runoff. The association sent copies of its letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and other officials (84 DEN A-13, 5/4/10).
By Linda Roeder |
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