Advocacy & Analysis
For more than 40 years, NACWA has been the leader in national clean water advocacy, and the strongest voice for publicly owned wastewater and stormwater utilities. Whether educating lawmakers on key clean water issues in the halls of Congress, advancing critical regulatory priorities with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or other federal agencies, or litigating in courts across the nation on behalf of municipal clean water interests, NACWA is always at the forefront of the advocacy effort, representing clean water utilities, their communities and their ratepayers.
We invite you to learn more about NACWA’s current advocacy initiatives and read in-depth analyses of how current legislative, regulatory, and legal developments will impact public clean water agencies. From late-breaking news in our Advocacy Alerts to more comprehensive coverage of key advocacy priorities in our Updates, NACWA’s resources provide a comprehensive source of clean water information. This page also highlights current NACWA advocacy campaigns and contains critical advocacy tools to help clean water agencies add their voice to that of others around the country in elevating clean water as a national priority.
Advocacy
Alerts
Urge Congress This Week to Invest in Water
As we head into the fall, the debate over investing in infrastructure continues to advance in the U.S. Congress. Majority leadership in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are working feverishly to draft “Reconciliation” packages that could be advanced alongside the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act, which passed the Senate last month and is scheduled for a House vote by Sept. 27th.
As previously reported, the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act includes significant direct investment in clean water infrastructure and valuable reauthorizations. The Reconciliation package provides an opportunity to build on that investment in clean water. Congress’ focus for Reconciliation is on programs and priorities that were not already funded through the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act.
For clean water, this can include funding for the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse grants, which would grow this program and provide grants to municipal utilities for sewer and stormwater investment, and funding for low-income water and wastewater customer assistance, which would build upon the first-ever funding provided for water customers as part of last year’s COVID-19 relief.
NACWA staff has been working closely with Congress as negotiations advance and are pleased with the attention being paid to additional investments in water. However, continued advocacy – including the voices from individual utilities – is key as we move into the home stretch of drafting and marking up bills. We encourage interested utilities to consider the following:
- Email your Congressional delegation THIS WEEK with your support for these priorities. While NACWA works on a bipartisan basis, this current effort is being led by Democrats so it will be most effective to focus on Democratic Members of Congress that represent your service area. If you need email addresses for your Members, just reach out to Jason Isakovic with NACWA for help.
- In your email, feel free to copy/paste the short summaries below.
The ask is for [XXX Democratic Member of Congress] to support funding through the Reconciliation process for these priorities, which were not funded as part of the bipartisan deal. Congressional offices may want to reach out to Congressional leadership and the relevant Committees to weigh in with their support.
Funding Summaries to Copy/Paste: (include the provided list of Committees so your Members of Congress will know who to weigh in with):
Invest in the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants
Sec. 221 is the main grant program EPA has available to help communities invest in sewer overflow control and stormwater management. The program was authorized under the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) (P.L.115-270) and funded for the first time in Fiscal Year 2020. These funds provide grants to municipal entities for critical investments to help communities manage stormwater flows, wet weather events, and water reuse and as such will support utility resilience and climate adaptation. The Bipartisan Senate-passed bill reauthorized but did not appropriate funding for this program, making it a key candidate for further clean water investment through Reconciliation. We also strongly support funding for other utility resilience investments authorized under the Clean Water Act.
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Water Resources Subcommittee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Support Low-Income Water Customer Assistance
We strongly urge Congress to include funding in the Reconciliation package to help low-income water and wastewater ratepayers maintain affordable water services. Clean water agencies are grateful that Congress helped address the challenges households face in paying for critical water service with the first-ever federal funding through last year’s COVID-19 relief legislation. Programs for assisting low-income households with paying for other essential services – like energy, food, and phone/internet – are well-established, but similar assistance had not existed before for water bills. A reliable program would provide greater water security for struggling households, while also helping water systems make critical investments to protect public health and the environment.
Committees: House Energy & Commerce Committee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Contact NACWA’s legislative team, Kristina Surfus and Jason Isakovic to discuss further anytime or with any questions about reaching out to your Congressional delegation. Thanks in advance for considering this important and timely outreach this week!
Regulatory Updates
Urge Congress This Week to Invest in Water
As we head into the fall, the debate over investing in infrastructure continues to advance in the U.S. Congress. Majority leadership in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are working feverishly to draft “Reconciliation” packages that could be advanced alongside the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act, which passed the Senate last month and is scheduled for a House vote by Sept. 27th.
As previously reported, the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act includes significant direct investment in clean water infrastructure and valuable reauthorizations. The Reconciliation package provides an opportunity to build on that investment in clean water. Congress’ focus for Reconciliation is on programs and priorities that were not already funded through the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act.
For clean water, this can include funding for the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse grants, which would grow this program and provide grants to municipal utilities for sewer and stormwater investment, and funding for low-income water and wastewater customer assistance, which would build upon the first-ever funding provided for water customers as part of last year’s COVID-19 relief.
NACWA staff has been working closely with Congress as negotiations advance and are pleased with the attention being paid to additional investments in water. However, continued advocacy – including the voices from individual utilities – is key as we move into the home stretch of drafting and marking up bills. We encourage interested utilities to consider the following:
- Email your Congressional delegation THIS WEEK with your support for these priorities. While NACWA works on a bipartisan basis, this current effort is being led by Democrats so it will be most effective to focus on Democratic Members of Congress that represent your service area. If you need email addresses for your Members, just reach out to Jason Isakovic with NACWA for help.
- In your email, feel free to copy/paste the short summaries below.
The ask is for [XXX Democratic Member of Congress] to support funding through the Reconciliation process for these priorities, which were not funded as part of the bipartisan deal. Congressional offices may want to reach out to Congressional leadership and the relevant Committees to weigh in with their support.
Funding Summaries to Copy/Paste: (include the provided list of Committees so your Members of Congress will know who to weigh in with):
Invest in the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants
Sec. 221 is the main grant program EPA has available to help communities invest in sewer overflow control and stormwater management. The program was authorized under the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) (P.L.115-270) and funded for the first time in Fiscal Year 2020. These funds provide grants to municipal entities for critical investments to help communities manage stormwater flows, wet weather events, and water reuse and as such will support utility resilience and climate adaptation. The Bipartisan Senate-passed bill reauthorized but did not appropriate funding for this program, making it a key candidate for further clean water investment through Reconciliation. We also strongly support funding for other utility resilience investments authorized under the Clean Water Act.
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Water Resources Subcommittee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Support Low-Income Water Customer Assistance
We strongly urge Congress to include funding in the Reconciliation package to help low-income water and wastewater ratepayers maintain affordable water services. Clean water agencies are grateful that Congress helped address the challenges households face in paying for critical water service with the first-ever federal funding through last year’s COVID-19 relief legislation. Programs for assisting low-income households with paying for other essential services – like energy, food, and phone/internet – are well-established, but similar assistance had not existed before for water bills. A reliable program would provide greater water security for struggling households, while also helping water systems make critical investments to protect public health and the environment.
Committees: House Energy & Commerce Committee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Contact NACWA’s legislative team, Kristina Surfus and Jason Isakovic to discuss further anytime or with any questions about reaching out to your Congressional delegation. Thanks in advance for considering this important and timely outreach this week!
Legislative
Updates
Urge Congress This Week to Invest in Water
As we head into the fall, the debate over investing in infrastructure continues to advance in the U.S. Congress. Majority leadership in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are working feverishly to draft “Reconciliation” packages that could be advanced alongside the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act, which passed the Senate last month and is scheduled for a House vote by Sept. 27th.
As previously reported, the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act includes significant direct investment in clean water infrastructure and valuable reauthorizations. The Reconciliation package provides an opportunity to build on that investment in clean water. Congress’ focus for Reconciliation is on programs and priorities that were not already funded through the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act.
For clean water, this can include funding for the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse grants, which would grow this program and provide grants to municipal utilities for sewer and stormwater investment, and funding for low-income water and wastewater customer assistance, which would build upon the first-ever funding provided for water customers as part of last year’s COVID-19 relief.
NACWA staff has been working closely with Congress as negotiations advance and are pleased with the attention being paid to additional investments in water. However, continued advocacy – including the voices from individual utilities – is key as we move into the home stretch of drafting and marking up bills. We encourage interested utilities to consider the following:
- Email your Congressional delegation THIS WEEK with your support for these priorities. While NACWA works on a bipartisan basis, this current effort is being led by Democrats so it will be most effective to focus on Democratic Members of Congress that represent your service area. If you need email addresses for your Members, just reach out to Jason Isakovic with NACWA for help.
- In your email, feel free to copy/paste the short summaries below.
The ask is for [XXX Democratic Member of Congress] to support funding through the Reconciliation process for these priorities, which were not funded as part of the bipartisan deal. Congressional offices may want to reach out to Congressional leadership and the relevant Committees to weigh in with their support.
Funding Summaries to Copy/Paste: (include the provided list of Committees so your Members of Congress will know who to weigh in with):
Invest in the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants
Sec. 221 is the main grant program EPA has available to help communities invest in sewer overflow control and stormwater management. The program was authorized under the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) (P.L.115-270) and funded for the first time in Fiscal Year 2020. These funds provide grants to municipal entities for critical investments to help communities manage stormwater flows, wet weather events, and water reuse and as such will support utility resilience and climate adaptation. The Bipartisan Senate-passed bill reauthorized but did not appropriate funding for this program, making it a key candidate for further clean water investment through Reconciliation. We also strongly support funding for other utility resilience investments authorized under the Clean Water Act.
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Water Resources Subcommittee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Support Low-Income Water Customer Assistance
We strongly urge Congress to include funding in the Reconciliation package to help low-income water and wastewater ratepayers maintain affordable water services. Clean water agencies are grateful that Congress helped address the challenges households face in paying for critical water service with the first-ever federal funding through last year’s COVID-19 relief legislation. Programs for assisting low-income households with paying for other essential services – like energy, food, and phone/internet – are well-established, but similar assistance had not existed before for water bills. A reliable program would provide greater water security for struggling households, while also helping water systems make critical investments to protect public health and the environment.
Committees: House Energy & Commerce Committee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Contact NACWA’s legislative team, Kristina Surfus and Jason Isakovic to discuss further anytime or with any questions about reaching out to your Congressional delegation. Thanks in advance for considering this important and timely outreach this week!
Legal
Updates
Urge Congress This Week to Invest in Water
As we head into the fall, the debate over investing in infrastructure continues to advance in the U.S. Congress. Majority leadership in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are working feverishly to draft “Reconciliation” packages that could be advanced alongside the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act, which passed the Senate last month and is scheduled for a House vote by Sept. 27th.
As previously reported, the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act includes significant direct investment in clean water infrastructure and valuable reauthorizations. The Reconciliation package provides an opportunity to build on that investment in clean water. Congress’ focus for Reconciliation is on programs and priorities that were not already funded through the Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act.
For clean water, this can include funding for the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse grants, which would grow this program and provide grants to municipal utilities for sewer and stormwater investment, and funding for low-income water and wastewater customer assistance, which would build upon the first-ever funding provided for water customers as part of last year’s COVID-19 relief.
NACWA staff has been working closely with Congress as negotiations advance and are pleased with the attention being paid to additional investments in water. However, continued advocacy – including the voices from individual utilities – is key as we move into the home stretch of drafting and marking up bills. We encourage interested utilities to consider the following:
- Email your Congressional delegation THIS WEEK with your support for these priorities. While NACWA works on a bipartisan basis, this current effort is being led by Democrats so it will be most effective to focus on Democratic Members of Congress that represent your service area. If you need email addresses for your Members, just reach out to Jason Isakovic with NACWA for help.
- In your email, feel free to copy/paste the short summaries below.
The ask is for [XXX Democratic Member of Congress] to support funding through the Reconciliation process for these priorities, which were not funded as part of the bipartisan deal. Congressional offices may want to reach out to Congressional leadership and the relevant Committees to weigh in with their support.
Funding Summaries to Copy/Paste: (include the provided list of Committees so your Members of Congress will know who to weigh in with):
Invest in the Clean Water Act Sec. 221 Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants
Sec. 221 is the main grant program EPA has available to help communities invest in sewer overflow control and stormwater management. The program was authorized under the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) (P.L.115-270) and funded for the first time in Fiscal Year 2020. These funds provide grants to municipal entities for critical investments to help communities manage stormwater flows, wet weather events, and water reuse and as such will support utility resilience and climate adaptation. The Bipartisan Senate-passed bill reauthorized but did not appropriate funding for this program, making it a key candidate for further clean water investment through Reconciliation. We also strongly support funding for other utility resilience investments authorized under the Clean Water Act.
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Water Resources Subcommittee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Support Low-Income Water Customer Assistance
We strongly urge Congress to include funding in the Reconciliation package to help low-income water and wastewater ratepayers maintain affordable water services. Clean water agencies are grateful that Congress helped address the challenges households face in paying for critical water service with the first-ever federal funding through last year’s COVID-19 relief legislation. Programs for assisting low-income households with paying for other essential services – like energy, food, and phone/internet – are well-established, but similar assistance had not existed before for water bills. A reliable program would provide greater water security for struggling households, while also helping water systems make critical investments to protect public health and the environment.
Committees: House Energy & Commerce Committee; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Contact NACWA’s legislative team, Kristina Surfus and Jason Isakovic to discuss further anytime or with any questions about reaching out to your Congressional delegation. Thanks in advance for considering this important and timely outreach this week!
Advocacy Priorities
Click to Select:
Stormwater
As the nation’s leading advocacy voice for municipal stormwater utilities across the country, NACWA is dedicated to protecting water quality; addressing large scale watershed impacts, such as flooding and erosion; and solving related modern-day challenges, such as water quality impairment from stormwater runoff and land-use impacts.
The Association and its individual members are committed to advancing robust, innovative programs and working collaboratively with regulators and stakeholders. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) MS4 General Permit Remand Rule, issued in early 2017, represents a change in the development and issuance of National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s).
COVID-19 Congressional Advocacy Resources
Since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, NACWA has been working with our clean water agency members and our partner organizations across the water and municipal sector to urge Congress to act to provide federal relief to utilities and assistance to households unable to pay their water bills. NACWA’s ongoing advocacy encompasses direct funding for utilities for lost revenues and COVID-19-related expenses, assistance to households unable to pay their water bills, support for essential employers and workers, stabilizing and improving municipal financing tools, and engaging with the utility perspective in the conversation around water shutoffs.
With the pandemic persisting far beyond initial expectations, Congress has continued to negotiate the terms of another round of major COVID-19 relief, with many twists and turns over the summer and fall. As of late October 2020, differences between Congress and the White House appeared irreconcilable until after the election. NACWA remains engaged with Congressional staff in the meantime as is preparing for further action on the next round of “relief” or “recovery” in late 2020 or early 2021.
Climate Adaptation & Resiliency
Climate change impacts are already affecting clean water agencies and are projected to grow in the years ahead. Increased intensity of storm events and flooding, the threat of sea level rise at treatment works—traditionally located on low-lying coastal land in a community—and increased attention to water scarcity and reuse are just some of the ways in which clean water agencies are seeing impacts from a rapidly changing climate. As the public and government at all levels becomes more concerned, legislative, regulatory and legal pressures to control greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change impacts will grow. Given the critical services clean water agencies provide in their communities, our sector needs to be closely engaged in climate and resiliency conversations.
NACWA believes that climate change is primarily a water issue. The Association’s advocacy focuses on the interrelationships between water resources and climate change. NACWA is also committed to ensuring that greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment are accurately estimated, and that any efforts that impact the wastewater sector are reasonable.
Toilets Are Not Trashcans
NACWA's Toilets Are Not Trashcans campaign is focused on protecting the pipes, pumps, plants, and personnel of wastewater utilities across the nation by reducing the materials that are inappropriately flushed or drained into the sewer system.
Products such as wipes, paper towels and feminine hygiene products should not be flushed, but often are, causing problems for utilities that amount to billions of dollars in maintenance and repair costs—costs which ultimately
pass on to the consumer. Other consumer products contain ingredients, such as plastic microbeads and triclosan, which may harm water quality and the environment. Fats, oils and greases (FOG) and unused pharmaceuticals should also be kept
out of the sewer system.
Nutrients & Farm Bill
Pursuing New Tools to Address Nutrient-Related Water Quality Challenges
Nutrient pollution remains a substantial challenge to the water resources of the United States. Deficiencies in the federal regulatory and policy framework, as well as the lack and inflexibility of financial resources, have constrained needed progress. These factors are driving a strong interest across nutrient management stakeholders in developing and implementing alternative nutrient management approaches.
At the same time, as outlined in more detail below, NACWA played a leading role in securing legislative language in the 2018 Farm Bill that will help public clean water utilities better engage upstream with agricultural partners to achieve meaningful water quality improvements through a holistic, watershed approach.
Integrated Planning
Over the last 45 years, communities have been responding to a growing list of Clean Water Act (CWA) regulatory mandates to improve the nation's water quality. Often taking on compounded wastewater and stormwater responsibilities, many communities are struggling to adequately allocate strained financial resources to these clean water needs.
Thanks to advocacy efforts by NACWA, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and others, EPA recognized the regulated community’s need for flexibility, and developed its Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning Approach Framework (IP Framework) in 2012. NACWA and its members have been working with EPA and state water regulators ever since to ensure the Framework can be utilized by communities when appropriate.
Affordable Water, Resilient Communities
There is no issue more central to NACWA’s advocacy than increasing the availability of infrastructure funding for public clean water utilities, which includes increased federal funding to support this critical infrastructure sector.
Originally founded in 1970 as an organization focused on ensuring appropriate distribution of federal construction grant dollars under the Clean Water Act, the Association has maintained a strong commitment to advancing federal clean water funding.
At the same time, NACWA has also evolved over the years to recognize the importance of other water infrastructure funding mechanisms including municipal bonds, innovative financing approaches, and public-private partnerships.
PFAS
Publicly owned clean water utilities are “passive receivers” of PFAS, since they do not produce or manufacture PFAS but de facto “receive” these chemicals through the raw influent that arrives at the treatment plant. This influent can come from domestic, industrial, and commercial sources and may contain PFAS constituents ranging from trace to higher concentrations, depending on the nature of the dischargers to the sewer system.
Although the influent is not generated by the utility, the utility is responsible for treating it under the Clean Water Act. Municipal clean water utilities were not traditionally designed or intended with PFAS treatment capabilities in mind. Today, there are no cost-effective techniques available to treat or remove PFAS for the sheer volume of wastewater managed daily by clean water utilities.
NACWA’s advocacy priorities on PFAS include urging source control, empowering the Clean Water Act pretreatment program, preventing public utilities and their customers from unintended liabilities and costs of PFAS management, and advancing research to support sound rulemaking that protects public health and the environment.
Congressional Toolbox
NACWA encourages all of its public utility members to arrange regular meetings with their Senators and Representatives.