Clean Water Current

NACWA Deputy General Counsel, Erica Spitzig co-authored an article for the American Bar Association (ABA) publication, Natural Resources & Environment, evaluating the future of “presumptive approach” as a tool for meeting combined sewer overflow (CSO) controls.  The article, “Presumed Compliant? Meeting Twenty-First-Century Combined Sewer Overflow Goals with (or without) the Presumptive Approach,” looks at legal options for utilities operating under existing decrees using the presumptive approach to either tie compliance to water quality improvements or avoid further enforcement aimed at achieving water quality. The article also compiles recent evidence suggesting that EPA is shifting away from the presumptive approach to wet weather enforcement, and is instead focusing on water quality based compliance targets.  The piece appears in the Spring 2017 issue of Natural Resources & Environment, published quarterly by ABA.