Clean Water Current

The “Water Coalition Against PFAS” – which includes the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, American Water Works Association, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Rural Water Association, and Water Environment Federation - sent a letter February 3 to Congressional offices to formally introduce the Coalition and provide additional information about our collective policy priorities.

NACWA joined with other water, state, and environmental organizations on a February 2 letter to the Biden Administration urging full funding for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) in the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Proposal. The President’s Budget Proposal is anticipated to be released in early March and will help guide Congressional spending negotiations.

NACWA submitted comments to EPA on February 3 supporting the Agency’s proposed rulemaking to change the reporting requirement for PFAS under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The proposed rule will add certain PFAS to the list of Chemicals of Special Concern and will eliminate the de minimis exemption that allowed some manufacturers, processors, and users of PFAS to escape reporting if PFAS concentrations were below 1% in mixtures or other products imported, processed, or used.

EPA’s Office of Wastewater Management hosted an informational webinar on January 18 for wastewater utilities about the $1 billion in federal funding made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for clean water agencies to address emerging contaminants.

Over objections from NACWA as well as numerous water sector and municipal organizations, EPA finalized its revised Financial Capability Assessment (FCA) Guidance on February 1. The pre-publication version of the document is available on EPA’s website, and NACWA issued a strong press release in response.

The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), an association representing state environmental regulatory agencies, released a new report on January 27 outlining various state thoughts on the policies, testing, research gaps, and risk communication challenges relating to PFAS in biosolids.

A group of water sector associations, including NACWA, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan on January 25 asking the Agency to withdraw its draft memo to state drinking water administrators to include cybersecurity in the Sanitary Surveys that drinking water utilities undergo every three years.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report January 25 examining combined sewer overflow (CSO) issues in the United States. GAO interviewed a number of associations and utilities as part of the report, including NACWA and NACWA members.

NACWA joined 12 other organizations in a letter to Congress last week outlining the critical importance of ensuring communities across the nation have the resources needed to be more resilient to the threats of flooding, major disasters, and other natural hazards.

American Rivers, a grassroots advocacy organization with which NACWA frequently collaborates, recently released its annual community-driven budget and appropriations report entitled the River Budget: National Priorities for Healthy Rivers and Clean Water of Fiscal Year 2024.

EPA released its final Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 on January 20, which announced a study of PFAS in publicly owned treatment work (POTW) influent. The Plan is published every two years to outline EPA’s planned studies and rulemakings related to effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) and pretreatment standards for industrial dischargers. The Plan, an FAQ, and other documents are available on EPA’s website.

EPA recently announced that it is extending the deadline for submission of data for its current Clean Watershed Needs Survey (CWNS) to April 28, 2023. The original deadline had been the end of February.

NACWA’s Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) Task Force met last week with EPA staff to discuss considerations related to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for combined sewer system (CSS) communities that have completed an LTCP pursuant to EPA’s 1994 Combined Sewer Overflow Control Policy (CSO Policy).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)’s new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) definition hit the Federal Register today, January 18, and will go into effect in 60 days on March 20, 2023.

EPA’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) recently released guidance, Cumulative Impacts Addendum to EPA Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice, outlining the Agency’s legal authorities provided under its various programs to address cumulative impacts on overburdened, disadvantaged communities.

EPA issued a 41-page Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) last week to help states, authorized tribes and territories adopt and implement the 2021 Recommended Ambient Water Quality Criteria to Address Nutrient Pollution in Lakes and Reservoirs.

The 118th Congress has officially been sworn in and has started its legislative work. NACWA has begun outreach to the new Congress, especially newly elected members, to educate them about our priority issues and advance our advocacy initiatives.

NACWA has partnered with Stantec’s Institute for Water Technology & Policy to deploy a comprehensive, national cost analysis to estimate the impacts of PFAS on the public clean water community.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water held its first in-person meeting with water sector association staff for 2023 on January 6. The meeting provided an opportunity for Office of Water Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox, joined by key political and career staff, to outline the office’s priorities for the coming year.

A group of water sector associations met with the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on January 10 to discuss EPA’s proposal to include cybersecurity in the sanitary surveys that drinking water utilities undergo every three years.