News

EPA’s Integrated Planning Report to Congress

On July 12, 2021, the U.S. EPA provided a “Report to Congress on Integrated Plans to Comply with the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) of 2019” to both the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House of Representative’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The EPA’s Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning Approach Framework was developed in 2012 to help municipalities address competing clean water infrastructure investment needs and choose the most beneficial approaches for setting priorities and taking effective actions for achieving water quality goals.

This report is a culmination of a nationwide study conducted from March 2019 to July 2020 to determine how many municipalities have developed an integrated plan and implemented them through permits, orders, or judicial consent decrees.  The report found that twenty-seven municipalities have developed integrated plans in accordance with EPA’s Integrated Planning Framework. Thirteen municipalities’ integrated plans are being implemented through a permit, order, or judicial consent decree.  Brief profiles of the thirteen municipalities are included in the report to Congress as well as the costs and controls associated with these integrated plans.

EPA has partnered with the Environmental Finance Centers to provide free technical assistance to municipalities interested in developing an integrated plan.  To learn more, click here.

Click here to download the report to Congress and thirteen profiles.

View a map of the municipalities who have developed an integrated plan.

For more information about integrated planning visit EPA’s Integrated Planning webpage.

White House Targets EPA Programs for Justice40 Initiative

The White House is targeting a few EPA initiatives as part of a pilot of the Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of such investments flow to disadvantaged communities. The EPA programs involved include the drinking water state revolving fund, the clean water state revolving fund, the brownfields program, the Superfund remedial program, the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program and the reducing lead in drinking water program.

The initiative also identifies “covered programs” as those that make investments in climate change, clean energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, affordable and sustainable housing, related workforce development, remediation of legacy pollution, and critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure.

Within 60 days, the agencies must issue a plan for maximizing the benefits for the program, identify any significant barriers to maximizing the benefits, identify opportunities to address any barriers, and include timelines for achieving milestones.

More resources on this announcement include:

• A blog post from OMB
• A memo to department heads may be found here.

2021 PFAS Action Act Approved by the US House of Representatives

This week, the House approved the 2021 PFAS Action Act (H.R. 2467) by a vote of 241-182. While a companion bill has not been introduced in the Senate, the White House has indicated the President would sign the legislation.

The bill passed with an amendment that, under the authority of TSCA, requires manufacturers of PFAS to provide EPA an analytical reference standard for each PFAS produced. EPA may use that standard to develop information, protocols, and methodologies that may be used to implement or enforce federal requirements and provide an analytical reference standard to states, which in turn may also use those standards to develop methodologies or enforce state requirements.

Of note to state clean water programs, the bill’s other major provisions include:

• Requires EPA every two years to publish a biennial review of PFAS discharges, determine whether to add them to the CWA 307(a) list, and determine whether to establish effluent limitations, pretreatment standards, and human health water quality criteria — which must be promulgated two years later. A grant program to support POTWs implementing the pretreatment standards was authorized at $200,000,000 per year through 2026.
• Requires EPA to investigate methods and means to prevent contamination by GenX of surface waters.
• Consistent with CWA S.307b, requires industrial sources to notify POTWs of the identity, quantity, and treatment potential of the PFAS they are contributing.
• Designates PFOA and PFOS as hazardous under CERCLA, with liability exemptions for airports but not for POTWs.
• Requires toxicity testing under TSCA for all known PFAS.
• Establishes as SDWA MCL — which, if exceeded, cannot incur financial penalty for violations within its first five years after promulgation — and HAs within two years and timelines for other PFAS MCLs based on data availability.
• Bans any PFAS waste incineration that is only partially effective.
• Establishes a Safer Choice Program PFAS label.
• Requires EPA to develop a state-informed PFAS risk communication strategy.

Association Updates

ACWA 2021-2022 Leadership Elections

The ACWA 2021-2022 Leadership Elections are now open and all “members in good standing” may participate in these elections. The “member in good standing” is the formal or primary ACWA representative for the state/interstate agency that paid dues for the previous fiscal year (FY2021). If you are unsure whether your FY2021 dues are paid, feel free to reach out to  Annette Ivey, and we can let you know. Only one vote per state/interstate. Along with the Executive Officers, this year it is the even Regions that are up for election. Please cast your vote no later than July 30, 2021. If you have not received a link to the ballot, please contact Julia Anastasio.

Meetings and Webinars

2021 ACWA Virtual Annual Meeting Updates

The 2021 ACWA Virtual Annual Meeting is just around the corner.  Don’t forget to register today by visiting ACWA’s event page.

This year’s meeting will include a virtual networking session for attendees to participate in on August 4th from 12:30 P.M. E.T. to 1:30 P.M. E.T.  Attendees will select the networking session they would like to participate in when registering.  The networking sessions will focus the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act.  ACWA is planning a series of activities to celebrate 50 years of success and we are hoping to begin gathering success stories from our members.  States are encouraged to identify one or two major milestones (program accomplishments) they would like to see highlighted as part of a long list of successes ACWA’s members identify.

EPA Webinar: Stormwater Infrastructure Funding and Equity Webinar

Date:               Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Time:              2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern
Registration: Webinar Registration – Zoom (zoomgov.com)

On July 27, EPA’s Water Finance Center will host the second in a series of webinars presenting approaches for funding and financing stormwater infrastructure! You are invited to attend a 60-minute webinar that will highlight equity considerations in stormwater infrastructure funding and financing. This webinar features speakers who will share their experiences and expertise. There will also be time for question and answer with the speakers.

Speakers for this second webinar include representatives from the New York Environmental Facilities Corporation, the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland, Moonshot Missions, and Greenprint Partners.

Space for this webinar is limited.  Advance registration is recommended.

Third Coast Water Seminars: Smarter Cities and the Energy-Water Nexus

Wed, July 28, 2021

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT

Register here

The Third Coast Water Seminars are a monthly research series hosted by Current in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Chicago. The series is intended to share the latest research in water and water-related technologies/areas of need to spur collaboration and solve pressing water challenges.

Smarter Cities and the Energy-Water Nexus will be delivered by Dr. Ashlynn S. Stillwell. Cities require energy, water, and other resources to maintain quality of life for habitants, depending strongly on inputs from the surrounding hinterlands. In the move toward smarter cities and infrastructure, these resources and their interconnections face increasing uncertainty under future conditions. How can the energy-water nexus inform smarter cities? We consider water and energy connections at both the city scale and the residential scale, demonstrating the value of data for benchmarking, risk analysis, and conservation and efficiency investments. Our results quantify the energy required for U.S. water and wastewater utilities and estimate the potential resource savings from efficiency measures through disaggregation of residential water use.

Presenters: Dr. Ashlynn S. Stillwell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

U.S. EPA’s Tools for Managing CyanoHABs in Drinking and Recreational Waters

The EPA Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology, is hosting a webinar on Thursday, July 29^th from 1:00 am to 2:30 pm EST, to increase awareness of the available EPA tools and resources for managing cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) in drinking and recreational waters. Presentations will include an overview of the various EPA tools and resources that can be used by public water systems and recreational water managers to manage cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in drinking and surface water, as well as an overview of new or soon to be released resources to prepare to cyanoHABs in freshwater systems. Lastly, an overview of outreach and communication resources on HABs from the states of Ohio, Oregon, New York and California will be presented.

Learn more about the webinar at the EPA CyanoHABs website here.

Please share this information with anyone at your State, Territory or Tribe you think may be interested in this webinar. Registration is not needed. Presentations and recording will be posted after the webinar here.

If you have any questions, please contact Lesley D’Anglada at danglada.lesley@epa.gov

At the time of the webinar, you may use the following Log-In and Audio Information (Microsoft Teams meeting)

Join on your computer or mobile app: Click here to join the meeting | Or call in (audio only) : +1 757-578-1812,12800221# | Phone Conference ID: 128 002 21#

By participating in EPA hosted virtual meetings and events, you are consenting to abide by the agency’s terms of use. In addition, you acknowledge that content you post may be collected and used in support of FOIA and eDiscovery activities.

EPA Resilience Technical Assistance Webinar: Building Resilience and Adapting to Climate Change Impacts for Drinking Water and Wastewater Utilities (Part 2 of 2)

Thursday July 29 2021, 1:00-2:30pm EST
Register here

EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities initiative provides drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater (water sector) utilities with practical tools, training, and technical assistance needed to increase resilience to climate change threats and impacts. Mitigation measures can protect your utility by reducing damages and service disruptions. In this webinar, EPA will pro-vide an overview of the CRWU initiative and its tools and resources. In addition we will discuss two case studies illustrating wastewater utility climate change adaptation.

Presenters include:

• Curt Baranowski, US EPA HQ
• David Coppes, MWRA
• Shaun Livermore, Poarch Band of Creek Indians Utilities Authority

This is Part 2 of our two-part series on Resilience. Part 1, entitled Protecting your Utility from Disaster, was presented on June 24, 2021. If you missed Part 1, you can register to view the recording HERE. Please note that certificates are not available for viewing past recorded webinars.

Constituents of Emerging Concern and the Emerging Technologies to Treat Them: Past, Present, and Future

Mon, Aug 2, 2021 3:00 PM EDT

Register Here

Join The Water Research Foundation for a Moment of Science as we continue our webcast series celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Paul L. Busch (PLB) Award! This award recognizes innovative research in the field of water quality and the water environment. During this webcast, six past Paul L. Busch Award winners will discuss the evolution of constituents of emerging concern and emerging treatment technologies over the past twenty years, how these developments have impacted water industry practices, and what changes they foresee over the next twenty years.

Moderators:
David Sedlak, PhD, Plato Malozemoff Professor of Environmental Engineering at University of California Berkeley and Director of the Berkeley Water Center (2003 PLB Winner)
Paige Novak, PhD, Professor and Joseph T. and Rose S. Ling Chair in Environmental Engineering, University of Minnesota (2007 PLB Winner)

Presenters: 
Nancy Love, PhD, Borchardt and Glysson Collegiate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan (2001 PLB Winner)
Andy Schuler, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Mexico (2008 PLB Winner)
Jaehong Kim, PhD, Henry P. Becton Sr. Professor of Engineering and Chair of Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University (2009 PLB Winner)
Shaily Mahendra, PhD, Professor and Samueli Fellow, Environmental Engineering, University of California Los Angeles (2017 PLB Winner)

EPA ICIS Training

ICIS NPDES Effluent Violation Training – August 3rd, 3-4:30 pm EST
Click HERE to register

ICIS Business Intelligence(BI) Reports Advance Training – August 10th, 1-2:30 pm EST
Click HERE to register

Global Change Explorer: Identifying and Downloading Climate Change Information using LASSO

August 5, 2021

EPA’s Global Change Explorer (GCX) is a collection of web-based tools that describe and visualize scenarios of future environmental change, provide access to underlying spatial data, and promote adaptation and resilience planning. This training webinar will provide an overview of the GCX, then focus on the Locating and Selecting Scenarios Online (LASSO) tool, which was designed to provide fast, easy access to climate change information that informs a specific question or concern.

Register for the Global Change Explorer Webinar.

Sustainable Financial Management Planning for Water Utilities

Thursday, August 5, 2021

1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Eastern

Register Here

Many water sector utilities across the nation are addressing mounting financial challenges by projecting revenue expectations, capital improvement needs, and expenses years into the future. These sustainable financial management practices often work in support of, and are also supported by, improved asset management. Key activities like improved capital budgeting can help utilities achieve stronger financial footing while enabling them to maintain and replace aging infrastructure well into the future.

During this 75-minute webinar, you will hear experiences from Columbus Water Works in Georgia and Union Sanitary District in California. This webinar will feature presentations where speakers will share their experiences and reflect on lessons learned as well as answer questions from participants.

EPA Webinar: Advanced ECHO Tools

Date:                   Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Time:                   1:30pm – 2:30pm eastern
Registration:      Webinar Registration – Zoom (zoomgov.com)

Join U.S. EPA for its next Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) webinar on Tuesday, August 10, 2021, 1:30-2:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time. This advanced webinar will explore water tools and reports available on ECHO, such as:

• Water Facility Search
• Detailed Facility Report
• Effluent Charts
• Water Pollutant Loading Tool
• Data Downloads and Web Services

These ECHO tools allow users to access and analyze EPA data for water pollutant discharges and facility compliance related to the Clean Water Act. The case studies will demonstrate how to conduct advanced analyses of permitted water features and interpret information.

EPA Tools & Resources Webinar: PFAS Technical Support and Scientific Advancements

August 18, 2021

This webinar will share examples of EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) projects conducted in collaboration with and designed by states and tribes to use ORD’s expertise to identify and improve the understanding of what PFAS are present within various media in local areas of concern. Projects range from environmental sampling around manufacturing facilities to evaluation of the effectiveness of well and wastewater treatment.

Register for the PFAS Technical Support and Scientific Advancements webinar.

2021 Virtual Water Quality Modeling Workshop

SAVE THE DATE – ACWA, in partnership with USEPA will be holding a 3-day virtual workshop on Water Quality Modeling. This workshop will take place September 20 – September 22, 2021, from 1-5 PM EST.

Sessions will take place through GoToWebinar and registration is required. This workshop is limited to State, Federal, and Tribal participants. We encourage you to distribute this information widely to your partners.

This year’s workshop will feature 2 tracks that attendees may choose from:

• Data Visualization.
• Using Open-source scripting to streamline modeling tasks.

When available, more information may be found on ACWA’s events page: http://www.acwa-us.org/events/.

You may contact Jasper Hobbs with any questions: jhobbs@acwa-us.org

Job Opportunities

DEP Program Administrator – Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Location: Tallahassee, FL

Closing Date: August 3, 2021

The incumbent directs the activities of the Water Quality Standards Program, which is responsible for administration of the State’s Water Quality Standards Program, the Quality Assurance Program, and Bioassessment Training. Supervises two section administrators and one administrative assistant.  Provides direction on program priorities, establishes program administrative procedures, provides technical and policy input on program rulemaking activities and rule implementation, and ensures that section and program expenditures are consistent with available budget.

For more information, click here.

Civil Engineer – Oregon Department of Development & Public Works

Location: Springfield, OR

Closing Date: August 15, 2021

The City of Springfield is looking for a team-oriented, energetic Civil Engineer with great communication skills to join our Environmental Services Division team. Work includes project management/delivery of planning, design and construction projects; conducting engineering studies and preparing cost estimates; project coordination; preparing procurement documents; inspecting projects; working together as a team; and related work as required. This position will provide project delivery services for the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) which services the Eugene/Springfield area. Work is performed under the general supervision of a Managing Civil Engineer.

For more information, click here.