December 2025/January 2026 Regulatory Update
Regulatory Perspectives
The Next Nutrient Bill. Is It Worth It?
A quietly released U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) peer-reviewed study using data over a 30-year period revealed the clean water community improved water quality, protecting aquatic life and mitigating nutrient pollution – even when communities are seeing serious population growth. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology towards the end of 2025, is a positive finding by EPA’s Office of Research and Development (now defunct), but it underplays the significant investment clean water utilities have made – shelving out billions of ratepayer dollars to reign in sources of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) largely out of their control and often driven by environmental NGO litigation.
The study used EPA’s National Nutrient Inventory, a large data set that analyzes N and P flows from 1987 to 2017 and tracks sources across agriculture, cities and wastewater treatment, air pollution, and natural systems. Its key findings include that over this period air pollution improved, wastewater nutrient loading remained stable while population grew, and the agriculture community—while still a key source of unregulated pollution— became more efficient at producing more food without increasing excess nutrients.
Notably, the study found “despite urban expansion and a 40% population increase since 1987, improvements in wastewater treatment technologies restrained increases in national point source N loads to only 9% from 1987 to 2017 and resulted in a reduction in P loads (by 19%). While the study acknowledged that most waters in the U.S. are impaired for nutrients and surface water nutrient pollution remains persistent, it challenges the idea that “contemporary surpluses” could be a driving factor and suggests that legacy overfertilization from agriculture – where hundreds of kilograms of surplus nutrients were applied per hectare for decades – continue to persist in upstream sources. And “these sources stored in farm fields, riparian areas, wetlands and stream beds, have the potential to mask the benefits of contemporary nutrient input reductions.”
This report comes at a timely moment. At our Winter Conference in Miami next week, NACWA’s Water Quality Committee will be exploring high stakes nutrient debates, stretching from Puget Sound to the Atlantic, that will have consequential impacts on communities for decades. Driven by increasingly complex and consequential modeling assumptions that often fail to fully account for accelerating effects of climate change, clean water utilities that should be celebrated for their strategic part in keeping nutrients in check amid a dramatic 40% population increase as shown by the nutrient inventory now face the next generation of decision-making and significant pressure to invest more, but will the environmental payoff be as significant?
Members wanting more information can contact Emily Remmel, NACWA’s Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs to learn more.
Top Stories
Water Sector Associations Discuss Cybersecurity Advocacy Strategy
NACWA hosted a meeting with several other national water sector associations on January 22 to discuss opportunities for joint legislative and regulatory advocacy to improve cybersecurity at drinking water and wastewater utilities. The groups discussed their priorities and their efforts to support bills that have been introduced in Congress.
NACWA was joined by staff from the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), and the National Rural Water Association (NRWA). The associations focused on areas of alignment and agreed to work together to support bills that would be beneficial to the entire sector.
As a first step, the associations plan to send a joint letter to the leadership of the relevant House and Senate Committees of Jurisdiction identifying a common platform of cybersecurity-related bills, and why they would be beneficial to the water sector. The groups plan to meet again within the next few months to discuss additional legislative priorities. A Senate hearing on the issue has also been proposed for early February.
Members with questions about cybersecurity may contact Cynthia Finley, NACWA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs.
NACWA, along with colleagues from the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), met with the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on December 11 to discuss the success of the temporary Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) and urge support for a permanent program.
LIHWAP was first established and funded by Congress in Fiscal Year 2021 and received two tranches of federal funding totaling $1.14 billion. Over its three years of operation, starting during the COVID-19 pandemic, LIHWAP provided critical assistance for 1.6 million households struggling to pay water bills. This funding helped numerous households address water affordability concerns and allowed utilities to collect much needed additional revenue.
NACWA has been working urgently to support a permanent program that builds on this success. Much of that focus is on Congress, which needs to pass legislation authorizing and funding the program. However, buy-in from the Trump Administration is key as well, and NACWA appreciated the opportunity to meet with political leadership from HHS to discuss the program’s vital role in helping low-income households and protecting public health.
HHS staff were interested in the scope of the water affordability challenge and how unaffordable water services affect households, including spillover impacts on issues important to HHS such as supporting children and families.
Members with questions may contact Kristina Surfus, NACWA’s Managing Director of Government Affairs.
NACWA Encourages EPA to Adopt Affirmative Defense Provisions in Clean Air Act Rules
NACWA filed comments on December 8 encouraging EPA to adopt new affirmative defense provisions in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the Secondary Lead Smelting source category (Secondary Lead Smelting NESHAP) under Clean Air Act section 112. While NACWA does not have direct interest in lead smelting, the issues involved in this NESHAP could impact sewage sludge incinerators.
Affirmative defense provisions allow operators of stationary sources to temporarily exceed Clean Air Act emission standards if malfunctions are unavoidable. The EPA has acknowledged this can happen even when the sources, including sewage sludge incinerators operated by public clean water utilities to manage biosolids, are appropriately maintained and operated. Read the full story in the Clean Water Current.
Contact: Amanda Aspatore, 202-833-1450.
NACWA Submits Comments on PFAS Reporting, WOTUS Rulemaking
NACWA submitted two comment letters in late 2025 and early 2026 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — one on expanded reporting requirements for PFAS manufacturers and producers and another on the proposed update to the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) definition. If finalized as proposed, both rules could affect public clean water utility operations and create potential permitting disputes over stormwater and/or water recycling discharges.
In comments to EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, NACWA joined with the Water Environment Federation (WEF) in support of the Agency’s continued effort to use its authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to require manufacturers and producers to report PFAS use. While only a one-time reporting requirement, this publicly accessible data could provide the clean water sector with vital information on upstream users and help with source control.
In a different regulatory initiative, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently proposed an updated WOTUS definition. NACWA is grateful for EPA’s effort to clarify that waste treatment systems are fully excluded by proposing to codify that “all components” of a wastewater treatment facility are shielded from unnecessary WOTUS jurisdictional disputes. If finalized, this clarification ensures that public clean water utilities can continue carrying out their essential work to protect clean water, public health, and the environment. Read the full story in the Clean Water Current.
Contact: Emily Remmel or 202-533-1839.
Security and Emergency Preparedness
Water Sector Coordinating Council Meets on Cybersecurity, Other Issues
The Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC) met on Dec. 4 to discuss issues related to the security and emergency preparedness of the water sector, particularly cybersecurity. The meeting also included discussions with the Water Government Coordinating Council (GCC), which is made up of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), other federal agencies, and the states.
The GCC provided presentations on the security-related projects that are currently underway at the federal agencies. The WSCC provided input on these projects, as well as input on how future work might be shaped to best benefit drinking water and clean water utilities. Although cybersecurity remains the primary focus for improving security at utilities, preparedness and recovery from natural disasters is also a major area of concern.
On Dec. 5, a working group of WSCC and GCC members met to plan how the various water sector associations and government agencies can communicate and coordinate their work on cybersecurity, in line with the recommendations of the Cybersecurity Task Force that was convened in 2024. Read the full story in the Clean Water Current.
Contact: Cynthia Finley, 202-533-1836.