News
EPA Withdraws Meat and Poultry Products ELG
Last week, EPA provided notice the agency is withdrawing the proposed rule “Clean Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Meat and Poultry Products Point Source Category,” which was initially published in the Federal Register on January 23, 2024. The options for the rule included more stringent effluent limitations on total nitrogen, new effluent limitations on total phosphorus, updated effluent limitations for other pollutants, new pretreatment standards for indirect dischargers, and revised production thresholds for some of the subcategories in the existing rule. Additionally, EPA also considered effluent limitations on chlorides, establishing effluent limitations for E. coli for direct dischargers, and including conditional limits for indirect dischargers that discharge to POTWs operating nutrient treatment technologies to remove nutrients. “After considering public comments on the proposed rule, the EPA has decided not to finalize revised technology-based effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) or pretreatment standards for the Meat and Poultry Products (MPP) industry, based on exercise of its statutory discretion and judgment that such revisions would not be appropriate.” The September 3, 2025 Federal Notice can be found here.
SepticSmart Week 2025
SepticSmart Week, September 15-19, 2025, is a nationwide public education effort in conjunction with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), supported by state and local governments, private sector, communities, and academia. This annual event focuses on educating homeowners and communities on the proper care and maintenance of their septic systems.
- Did you know that 1 in 5 U.S. homes have septic systems? Decentralized jobs provide stable employment and a chance to make a meaningful difference in communities. Click here to learn more about career pathways.
- Costs: Septic Systems can be a cost-effective solution to treat wastewater for homeowners in suburban and rural communities. Learn more at https://www.epa.gov/septic
- Public Health: Proper use of septic systems safeguards public health by reducing exposure to pathogens in drinking water and preventing harmful diseases. Learn more at https://www.epa.gov/septic/how-septic-systems-work
- The Environment: Septic Systems use gravity and natural filtration to treat wastewater and replenish groundwater supplies. Learn more at https://www.epa.gov/septic/types-septic-systems
- Funding: Is your septic system aging or needs repair? Now is the time to apply! The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) has provided $11.7 billion in grants and loans to support Clean Water for communities. Learn more at www.epa.gov/septic/funding-septic-systems
- Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap: EPA is assisting underserved rural communities with wastewater sanitation challenges. The technical assistance initiative is helping 150 communities apply for funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address inadequate wastewater infrastructure.
GAO Report: Environmental Justice: Agency Actions to Implement Past Justice40 Initiative
In 2021 federal agencies were directed to take action to address the disproportionately high and adverse human health, environmental, climate-related, and other cumulative impacts on “disadvantaged communities.” The GAO report indicates that as of December 2024 EPA, Interior, and USDA had taken similar actions to implement the Justice40 Initiative including “integrating related goals and strategies into agency plans, taking steps to address barriers underserved communities face in accessing federal programs, issuing internal guidance, and making program modifications.” The agencies also conducted outreach to Tribes, community groups, state and local governments, businesses, and the public to inform these efforts.
However, with the termination of the initiatives in January 2025, the overall results of agency actions remain unknown. By December 2024 EPA, Interior, USDA, and OMB had not reported on what benefits resulted from each program, how those benefits were measured, or what the overall amount of funding or benefits were delivered to disadvantaged communities. The agencies faced a variety of challenges identifying and measuring benefits across programs that operate at various geographic and time scales—benefits that may be difficult to attribute or quantify and may take years to manifest.
A copy of the full report can be found at: GAO-25-107516, Environmental Justice: Agency Actions to Implement Past Justice40 Initiative.
USGS Develops Web Mapping Tool to Highlight Potential Sources of 6PPD-Quinone
USGS scientists have identified 6PPD-quinone, a chemical derived from tire dust, as a contributor to fish die-offs, particularly affecting species like western coho salmon. This compound enters waterways through stormwater runoff and has been found in elevated levels after rain events. To better understand and manage this threat, the USGS Environmental Health Program developed an interactive web mapping tool that highlights potential sources of 6PPD-quinone and overlays them with vulnerable fish species across the U.S.
The tool has already helped prioritize sampling in regions like the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and Pacific Northwest, with plans to expand to the Delaware River Basin. You can view the tool here.
Association Updates
ACWA 2026 Mid-Year Meeting – Lodging Now Available!
Dates: March 25-26, 2026
Location: Alexandria, VA
Reserve your room now by calling 1-800-Hiltons (1-800-445-8668) and using group code 92N, or click here.
Group Rate: $276/night
Check our event webpage for more information.
ACWA 2026 Annual Meeting – Save The Date!
Dates: August 5, 2026 at 8:00 am – August 7, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Board of Directors will meet August 4, 2026.
Venue: The Eldorado Hotel and Spa, Santa Fe, NM
Check back here for more information regarding registration, lodging, and agenda.
ACWA Water Quality Modeling Workshop
Dates: September 16-19, 2025
Location: Atlanta, GA
Registration is available here.
View the track agendas here.
ACWA, in partnership with USEPA, will be holding the 2025 Water Quality Modeling Workshop in Atlanta, GA, the week of September 15, 2025. The 2025 Water Quality Modeling Workshop supports implementation of state programs by continuing to build a community of practice among state agency staff who use or want to use water quality modeling in state water quality programs.
This year we will be offering hands-on training on LSPC and EFDC, as well as a Modeling 201 track, a course featuring hands-on components, presentations, case studies, and discussions. The workshop will start Tuesday, September 16 and wrap up around noon on Friday, September 19. The workshop will take place at the EPA Region 4 Offices at 77 Forsyth St SW #500, Atlanta, GA 30303.
This workshop is for state program managers and staff involved in water quality modeling, as well as for both Regional and Headquarters-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency managers and staff.
2026 Water Quality Standards Workshop – Save the Date!
Dates: April 21-23, 2026
Location: Little Rock, AR
We are excited to announce that the 2026 WQS Workshop will take place April 21-23, 2026 in Little Rock, AR!
This workshop is a national meeting organized by ACWA for state staff involved in state water quality standards programs, as well as for both Regional and Headquarters-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency managers and staff. The workshop will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Little Rock. A room block at the local per diem rate will be available soon. ACWA does anticipate having travel support for state staff. When available, more information can be found on ACWA’s events page.
Meetings and Webinars
Ask Me Anything SRF Office Hours
This initiative will expand your knowledge and enhance your ability to navigate the SRFs. These sessions are tailored for state agencies, utility operators, and stakeholders who support water infrastructure projects. Each session will open with a specific theme, providing clarity, strategies, and practical insights for preparing and managing an SRF-funded project. The remainder of the session will be devoted to ‘Ask Me Anything’. Participants can attend all sessions or select those that best meet their needs. Submit your questions in advance or bring them to the session for real-time support from our experts.
Wed., 10/1, 11-1 EST: Shrinking Capitalization Grants and the Future of SRFs
Wed., 11/5, 11-1 EST: What is an Intended Use Plan?
Meeting Registration – Zoom
Mon., 9/15, 2-4 EST: Set-Asides: what are they and how can they be used?
Mon., 10/20, 2-4 EST: What is this thing called Equivalency?
Mon., 11/17, 2-4 EST: Summary of what was covered over the AMA sessions
Meeting Registration – Zoom
Managing Your Roadway Stormwater Assets to Reduce Pollution, Achieve Water Quality Objectives, and Protect Communities from Flooding
September 17, 2025 from 2:00-3:30 PM (Eastern)
REGISTER HERE
Stormwater assets – the drainage systems and control measures installed to manage stormwater – are vulnerable to system failures that cause upsets, flooding, and system damage if they are not properly maintained and upgraded when necessary. Cities, counties, and states manage roadway stormwater assets to keep waterways clean and prevent localized flooding. Stormwater asset management planning is a proven approach that helps provide reliable levels of service to customers, helps plan system renewal and upgrades, and minimizes the total cost of owning and operating the assets. In this webinar, speakers from three state Departments of Transportation will showcase a variety of approaches to stormwater asset management in the roadway context. To request accessibility accommodations for this webinar, please email goss.heather@epa.gov by September 2, 2025.
Speakers:
- Heather Goss, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Kellie Thom, Minnesota Department of Transportation
- Jon Prier, Ohio Department of Transportation
- Richard Heineman, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
Artificial Intelligence in Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
Date & Time: September 17, 2025 03:00 PM
REGISTER HERE
Green Infrastructure for Small Systems: Exploring Real World Examples
Date and Time: September 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM (EDT)
REGISTER HERE
Green infrastructure is often seen as a “nice to have” bonus part of a project or as a strategy to manage stormwater that is only available to larger, urban utilities. But a growing number of smaller more rural communities are busting this myth. These communities are successfully integrating green infrastructure into their projects to improve quality, reduce localized flooding, and achieve ecological benefits.
This webinar will showcase Lancaster, PA, Harrisburg, PA, and Caledon, ON as leading examples of smaller communities relying on green infrastructure to help meet their stormwater challenges. Representatives from these communities will explain how their green infrastructure programs work and share their successes and lessons learned. The program will also feature how other communities inspired by these examples can access technical assistance to prepare and apply for funding for green infrastructure projects.
ITRC: Overview of the Tire-Derived Chemicals 6PPD & 6PPD-quinone Training
Tuesday, October 7, 2025, 1:00PM-2:30PM EDT
REGISTER HERE
In October 2024, ITRC released the 6PPD & 6PPD-quinone Guidance Document to provide environmental professionals and communities with information about the current science and regulatory framework of 6PPD and 6PPD-quinone (6PPD-q). 6PPD-q is a contaminant of emerging concern and is a transformation product of the tire anti-degradant (6PPD), an antiozonant used in tires.
Join us for this ITRC training course to get a basic overview of the science and policy measures surrounding the Tire Anti-Degradants 6PPD and 6PPD-q. Attendees will gain insight into the current state of knowledge on topics such as: background and use of 6PPD in tires, toxicity in aquatic species and humans; occurrence, fate, and transport; measuring, mapping, and sampling; mitigation measures; and policy, regulations, and laws.
Currently, 6PPD is used in all tires and can contaminate stormwater and surface water anywhere tires are used. 6PPD-q was identified as a chemical fatal to coho salmon in 2020. Since that time, it has been documented as acutely toxic to multiple trout species found throughout the United States. 6PPD and 6PPD-q have been found in waterways, aquatic organisms, soils, air, and humans.
This training will introduce you to the ITRC 6PPD & 6PPD-quinone Guidance Document which provides more technical detail than can be covered in this training course.
ITRC: PFAS Chemistry Training
Thursday, October 9, 2025, 1:00PM-3:00PM EDT
REGISTER HERE
The Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) is presenting an introductory training on the basics of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemistry. This training supplements the ITRC PFAS Introductory training and ITRC Beyond the Basics Training sessions. You can find ITRC PFAS training resources online at https://pfas-1.itrcweb.org/pfas-training/.
PFAS are an emerging group of contaminants that present unique challenges in many areas including: widespread use and presence in the environment, sampling and analysis, fate and transport, and remedial approaches. This training session will provide PFAS practitioners with an understanding of the unique aspects of PFAS chemistry that guide fate and transport, treatment, regulations, and decision-making on PFAS sites.
Key focus areas of the training include the following:
- Why are PFAS different from other organic chemicals?
- How are PFAS defined?
- How are PFAS manufactured and why does that matter?
- What are the differences between perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances?
- What are the naming conventions used for the different types of PFAS?
- How are short-chain and long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) defined?
- What are precursors and why are they important?
- What are some of the unique chemical properties of PFAS and why do they matter?
Resources and further details included in this training are in the ITRC Guidance Document (PFAS-1).
ITRC: Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) Identification Framework Training
Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 1:00PM-3:00PM EDT
REGISTER HERE
In 2023, the ITRC Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) Framework was published to help environmental regulatory agencies and other stakeholders identify, evaluate, and manage CEC’s while acknowledging uncertainties in their environmental fate and transport, receptor exposure, and/or toxicity. Such an approach can be conducive to improved allocation of regulatory response resources and provide a foundation for communicating potential risk to stakeholders.
The ITRC framework is comprised of a white paper and four associated fact sheets. In the white paper, CEC are defined as: “substances and microorganisms including physical, chemical, biological, or radiological materials known or anticipated in the environment, that may pose newly identified risks to human health or the environment.” The framework is meant to help environmental regulatory agencies and other stakeholders by providing examples of CEC monitoring programs and guiding the user through the process of identifying CEC key characteristics, how to communicate real and perceived risk from CEC to the public, and how laboratory analytical methods can be used in the identification process.
The ITRC CEC training presents this entirely new framework for identification, prioritization, and communication of CEC. This course includes the following topics:
- An overview of the framework, how and why it was developed, the factors that influence the creation of CEC management units at the state level, and a listing of existing CEC monitoring programs.
- A discussion of key variables that may be used as criteria to identify and prioritize CEC for response actions. This portion of the course includes a case study that illustrates how the identification and prioritization process works with an “unknown” chemical CEC.
- Practices and methods for stakeholder messaging and how to share incomplete information on CEC that could impact human health and the environment. This portion of the short course builds upon the ITRC Risk Communication Toolkit by providing additional detail addresses communications plans, message maps, and audience identification.
- A paradigm for how laboratory methods can be used to identify CEC ranging from:
- “Is compound X in the sample and at what concentration?” (i.e., known knowns) to
- “Which compounds from the list are in this sample?” (i.e., known unknowns) to
- “What is in the sample?” (i.e., unknown unknowns).
CEC are typically compounds or substances whose occurrence or effect is unknown but may or may not be understood through similar compounds or substances. This module includes a discussion of the use of targeted and untargeted analysis to identify a CEC.
Participants will learn the elements of the CEC framework and gain an understanding of the framework application from case studies. Participants are encouraged to review the ITRC CEC Framework prior to the class.
ITRC PFAS Introductory Training
Thursday, November 6, 2025, 1:00PM-3:00PM EST
REGISTER HERE
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large and complex class of anthropogenic compounds whose prevalence in the environment are an emerging, worldwide priority in environmental and human health. The ITRC PFAS Team, formed in 2017, has prepared readily accessible materials to present PFAS information to stakeholders, regulators, and policy makers. The PFAS team represents a diverse cross-section of expertise and experience working on PFAS.
This training will include emerging science on PFAS, including topics such as Properties of PFAS, Fate and Transport, Sampling and Analysis, and Treatment Technologies. The technical presentations will be focused on those who are relatively new to PFAS. The training will last approximately 90 minutes and include time for questions.
ITRC: Microplastics Training
Thursday, November 13, 2025, 1:00PM-3:00PM EST
REGISTER HERE
In response to one of the biggest emerging environmental concerns, ITRC formed the Microplastics Team in 2021 to develop the Microplastics Guidance Document. Plastics have become pervasive in modern life and are now used in a wide range of commercial and industrial applications. Microplastics may result from the degradation and fragmentation of larger plastics, or they may be intentionally produced for specific applications and products. Regardless of their origin, microplastics are now ubiquitous in our environment. Because of their small size and pervasiveness in the environment, microplastics, along with any other contaminants which are adhered to the microplastics, may be inadvertently consumed by humans and other organisms.
The online ITRC Guidance Document is geared toward an audience with reasonable level of scientific understanding, but not microplastic-specific knowledge. The guidance provides a user with information on microplastics and the state of the applied science without having to go to the scientific literature.
The target audience for the guidance and this training course includes state regulators and environmental consultants, as well as community and tribal stakeholders.
The guidance and this associated training course uses a conceptual site model to navigate microplastics in the environment and explore the following general areas:
- An introduction to microplastics, their sources, and worldwide distribution
- The pathways through which microplastics can enter and travel in the environment and their distribution in various media (water, soil, sediment, air, and biota)
- A current look at the most common techniques and best practices for sampling and analyzing microplastics
- Potential human health and ecological risks associated with microplastics in the environment
- An overview of existing regulations related to microplastics and macroplastics at the state, federal, and international levels
- Examples of prevention and mitigation strategies and best management practices to reduce microplastics from entering the environment and the emerging technologies to abate, treat, and remediate microplastics once they exist in the environment
- Identification of data gaps and the need for further research
- Several case studies illustrating a range of current microplastics-related topics
Prior to attending the training class, participants are encouraged to view the associated ITRC Microplastics Guidance Document.
Job Opportunities
Environmental Analyst – Source Water Specialist
Location: Albany, NY
Closing Date: September 1, 2025
To apply, submit your cover letter, resume, and a brief writing sample by email to jobs@neiwpcc.org by September 1, 2025. Please reference #25-NYS-SW-DOH-002 in the email subject line. Accepting applications until the position is filled. A full position description and benefits may be viewed at: https://neiwpcc.org/about-us/careers.
Environmental Analyst – Long Island Sound Regional Coordinator
Location: Stony Brook, NY
Closing Date: September 14, 2025
To apply, submit your cover letter, resume, and a brief writing sample by email to jobs@neiwpcc.org by September 14, 2025. Please reference #25-NYS-LIS-DEC-002 in the email subject line. Accepting applications until the position is filled. A full position description and benefits may be viewed at: https://neiwpcc.org/about-us/careers.
Construction Stormwater Program Coordinator
Location: Salt Lake County, UT
Closing Date: Continuous
The Utah Division of Water Quality Construction Stormwater Program Coordinator oversees Utah’s more than 5,000 construction stormwater UPDES permits. You will serve as the state’s technical and policy expert on construction stormwater permitting by preparing permits, inspecting sites, and providing technical assistance and outreach to permittees.
For more information and to apply online click here.
Science Communicator – Long Island Sound Partnership
Location: Lowell, MA
Closing Date: October 5, 2025
To apply, submit cover letter, resume, and two writing samples by email to jobs@neiwpcc.org by October 5, 2025. Please reference #25-LIS-Lowell-001 in the email subject line. Accepting applications until the position is filled. A full position description and benefits may be viewed at: https://neiwpcc.org/about-us/careers. Additional information about LIS Partnership can be found at: https://lispartnership.org/.
Be sure to check out other opportunities on ACWA’s Job Opportunities page.
