Clean Water Current

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a new environmental justice speaker series by featuring The Mapping Inequality Project on March 4, 2021 at 12:00 – 1:00 pm EST.

EPA announced last week that it is now accepting applications for grants under its new Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Grant Program. Applications will be accepted until March 26, 2021.

NACWA was thrilled to congratulate Radhika Fox last week on her appointment as Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. Fox will serve as the office’s senior political leader until an Assistant Administrator is nominated by the Biden Administration and confirmed by the Senate.

Days before the start of the new Biden Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed and issued a pre-publication notice of the 2021 Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for industrial stormwater discharges on January 15.

In one of its last actions before the inauguration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized its guidance memorandum, “Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Program.”

In a one-page, per curiam decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last week overturned the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which loosened carbon dioxide emission guidelines for coal-fired power plants. The rule had been challenged by environmental and health organizations as well as a number of states.

The 117th Congress began on a somber and disconcerting note for the country last week. Undaunted, Members of Congress and their staff are moving forward in a bipartisan fashion with important policy work. There is hope and optimism throughout the water sector to build on the success at the end of last year and advance key clean water legislation over the next two years.

NACWA partnered with the WateReuse Association this week to file comments on EPA’s recently released draft guidance memorandum, “Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Program.”

NACWA is getting significant utility interest in the new funding provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act signed into law December 27th, 2020 – including a historic first time appropriation of federal funding to aid water ratepayers.

It has been almost 15 years since the first ever comprehensive National Biosolids Survey was conducted.

EPA announced its Final Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 14 in the January 11 Federal Register. The Plan is published every two years to outline EPA’s planned studies and rulemakings related to effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards for industrial dischargers.

Members of Congress old and new arrived in Washington this week to begin the 117th Congress. With Democrats winning both Senate races in Georgia on January 5, they will now control the Senate as well as the House and the White House. This will create a very different political dynamic in Washington and will present new opportunities and challenges for the public clean water sector.

Just before the holidays, EPA published an interim guidance document on PFAS destruction and disposal and is seeking public comment by February 22, 2021. NACWA is closely reviewing the document but is also interested in any member feedback.

NACWA filed another brief this week in ongoing litigation over a challenged nutrient variance in Montana.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a pre-publication version this week of its final reissued and modified streamlined Clean Water Act Section 404 permits, known as “nationwide permits” (NWPs), which included key NACWA recommendations.

NACWA submitted its formal transition letter to the incoming Biden-Harris EPA transition team this week outlining the Association’s advocacy priorities for the incoming association.

The Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC) released a December 14 memo encouraging water and wastewater utilities to contact their state and local public health agencies about prioritization of their staff for COVID-19 vaccinations.

As of press time, Congress was scrambling to complete negotiations on its final Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) appropriations package and reach agreement on more federal COVID-19 relief.

NACWA and the Montana League of Cities and Towns (League) filed a brief last week asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana to stay its recent order compelling the State of Montana to adopt a new compliance timeline for its nutrient variance for municipal dischargers despite the appeals over that very timeline from the State of Montana, NACWA, the League, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Spurred on by recent criticisms of the national biosolids program and concerns that EPA may need to invest more in its biosolids efforts, EPA virtually convened the first National Biosolids Stakeholder Meeting since 2010 on December 8, 9 and 10.