Association of Clean Water Administrators

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ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 23 (Week of June 21, 2021)

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News

President Biden Nominates David Uhlmann for AA OECA

(Summarized from White House Press Release)

David Uhlmann is an internationally recognized expert on environmental law, leading authority on criminal enforcement, and a highly regarded advocate for environmental stewardship and corporate sustainability. He is currently the Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program at the University of Michigan Law School, and previously served for 17 years as a federal prosecutor, including seven years as the Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section at the United States Department of Justice. In that role, he led prosecution of environmental and wildlife crimes nationwide, coordinated national legislative, policy, and training initiatives regarding criminal enforcement. Professor Uhlmann received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. in history and political science with high honors from Swarthmore College. Immediately following law school, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Shoob in Atlanta, Georgia.

EPA WIFIA Loans – $1.2 Billion in Loans Closed

Closed loans since March 2021

EPA WIFIA Loans – $5.5 Billion Available

EPA announced $5.5 billion in WIFIA funding and $1 billion in SWIFIA funding available to state water infrastructure programs. This WIFIA/SWIFIA financing will provide communities and states with more opportunities to obtain low-cost water infrastructure loans. Letters of interest in WIFIA financing will be accepted until July 23, 2021. State water infrastructure programs can submit letters of interest until June 25, 2021. For more information, click here.

Cybersecurity Funding Under CWSRF

EPA recently released a new fact sheet that demonstrates how CWSRF funds can be used to fund cybersecurity practices and measures at publicly owned treatment works. It also outlines resources for free vulnerability assessments and cybersecurity trainings, as well as how to report a cybersecurity incident.

Association Updates

ACWA Cybersecurity Survey

ACWA is looking to better understand the current baseline level of activities being employed by states to engage their NPDES permittees on cybersecurity risks and concerns. This survey is 8 questions long and should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Please respond by Friday, July 2, 2021. You can access the survey here.

National Emerging Contaminant Research Initiative: Comments in Response to Request for Information

This week, the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA), and the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) submitted joint comments in response to the Request for Information (RFI): Drinking Water Contaminants of Emerging Concern for the National Emerging Contaminant Research Initiative (NECRI).

The letter is responsive to elements of the Request for Information published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), while also stressing the importance of sourcewater protection from CECs; describing how a NECRI could address challenges states face in areas including analytical methods, toxicity studies, risk communication, and funding; and, urging national adoption of the lifecycle framework for addressing CECs in water as outlined in ACWA and ASDWA’s CEC Recommendations Report.

The letter is available here.

Meetings and Webinars

Water Security: Key Pathways for Climate Resilience

Registration

When: Tuesday, Jun. 29, 2021 at 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT

The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the Bureau of Global Public Affairs are pleased to announce “Water Security: Key Pathways for Climate Resilience.”

Climate change is already affecting the world’s water resources. Climate change can reduce water availability, decrease water quality, impede access to safe drinking water, and impact sustainable development. Despite these links, water security and climate adaptation are often discussed as separate issues with separate solutions. This live webinar will explore the relationship between climate and water and highlight the importance of integrated approaches to strengthen water security and advance climate resilience.

Source Water Collaborative Webinar on Drinking Water Watersheds

The Source Water Collaborative (SWC) has posted the recording of the June 10th webinar on how to engage with NRCS and other partners to identify watersheds for the FY 2022 National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI). The webinar featured presenters from Connecticut and Oregon who shared how the state source water protection program worked with NRCS and other partners to implement drinking water protection projects in NWQI watersheds.

Access the webinar recording by clicking here, then select, “SWP Through Conservation Funding,” from the dropdown menu. The recording is at the bottom of the featured resources.

Tools for Getting Chemical Release Data for Your Community

Thursday, July 8, 2021 | 2:00-3:30pm EST

Get more details and register

Did you know it’s easier than ever to find out about toxic chemical releases from industrial and federal facilities in and near your community using the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)? You can use the TRI Search and TRI Search Plus tools accessible at the bottom of the TRI homepage.

Join EPA for an overview of the TRI program and a demonstration of these tools. We’ll also show you how a community group in South Carolina used TRI to inform their city’s comprehensive plan and identify areas where people may face increased health risks due to chemical releases.

This webinar will be available in English and Spanish. Este webinar estará disponible en inglés y español.

EPA Water Research Webinar on Road Salts and Freshwater: “Salinization Syndrome: An Emerging Water Quality Threat”

Wednesday, June 30th from 2:00-3:00pm ET

To register, please click here.

Streams throughout the US and worldwide have increased in salinity due to multiple processes, including road salt and human-accelerated weathering of impervious surfaces, reductions in acid rain, and other anthropogenic legacies. This freshwater salinization, in turn, mobilizes chemical cocktails via ion exchange and other biogeochemical processes.

This webinar will examine fate and transport of salts and chemical cocktails, describe the litany of environmental impacts, and discuss the use of real-time sensor data to characterize trends of nutrients and metals using long-term data from urban streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Finally, presenters will discuss approaches to managing this growing environmental and health problem.

Environmental Law Institute Summer School Series Underway

This series is free, but please register for the individual sessions so that we can plan accordingly! All events are held 12-2 p.m. Eastern Time. There is no CLE available for this series.

ELI is excited to announce the schedule for this year’s complimentary summer school series, which will be held via webinar:

These popular seminars are taught by experts in their fields and introduce the audience to the major environmental statutes, land use law, and environmental justice. Faculty will also incorporate major regulatory and judicial updates to the laws.

The series offers undergraduates, law students, graduate students, and working professionals new to or looking for a refresher course in environmental law a unique opportunity to learn, hear updates, ask questions, and network. Click here to learn more.

State & Local Listening Sessions: Climate Change and Related Equity Concerns

U.S. EPA’s Office of Research & Development (ORD) will host two virtual state and local listening sessions to inform research planning on climate change and related equity concerns. The sessions will be held on July 7 at 2-4 p.m. Eastern for states in EPA Regions 1-5, and on July 8 at 3:30-5:30 p.m. Eastern for states in EPA Regions 6-10. ORD requests that each agency designate one person to present on behalf of the agency, although others can register and participate.

Multi-Agency Water Reuse Programs: Insights in Interagency Collaboration (Webcast)

July 7, 2021 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST

Register here. There is no fee to attend.

Join a panel of experts for a lively discussion of lessons learned through a year-long effort to interview and document the work it takes to bring multi-agency water reuse projects to fruition. Under the National Water Reuse Action Plan, the Action 2.16 team reviewed existing case-studies and literature to select and conduct informational interviews with key water reuse players across the country. The webcast will cover the lessons learned by these practitioners as they worked with Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Trinity River Authority, Pima County, and Monterey One Water. The audience will learn about governance, regulations, economic and financial barriers, technical and operational issues and leadership. The panel will share the valuable insights and replicable strategies garnered from the work.

Speakers

  • Felicia Marcus, Stanford University
  • Dr. Robert Raucher, Raucher LLC
  • Eric Rosenblum, Water Resource Consultant
  • Dave Smith, EPA Region 9
  • Shannon Spurlock, Ochotona LLC

Webinar: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Overview & Tribes as Cooperating Agencies

Date & Time:  July 21, 2021, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM (PT), 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM (ET)

Register here.

This webinar will provide an overview of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the foundational federal environmental law enacted in 1969, and will include a presentation on a tribe’s experience serving as a cooperating agency for a NEPA review. This webinar is part of the U.S. EPA Environmental Justice Webinar Series for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples – to build the capacity of tribal governments, indigenous peoples and other environmental justice practitioners, and discuss priority EJ issues of interest to tribes and indigenous peoples. Please note that the webinar is planned to be recorded and is expected to be available on the following EPA website a few weeks after the webinar, available here.

Panelists:

  • Stacy D. Myers III, Tribe’s Senior Scientist and Governmental Liaison, Seminole Tribe of Florida
  • Julie Roemele, NEPA Compliance Division, Office of Federal Activities (OFA), U.S. EPA
  • Jake Widner, NEPA Compliance Division, OFA, U.S. EPA
  • Chris Yesmant, NEPA Compliance Division, OFA, U.S. EPA
  • Connell Dunning, Environmental Review Branch, Tribal, Intergovernmental & Policy Division, Region 9, U.S. EPA
  • (Facilitator) Danny Gogal, Tribal and Indigenous Peoples Program Manager, Office of Environmental Justice, U.S. EPA