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Rural Water Washington (News & Public Statements)

 

 

 

February 3, 2010

Appropriations Update – Senate Dear Colleagues update, 4th bullet, first column (see more).

 

February 2, 2010

Chemical Security Webinar – the main feedback we received; don’t quit your day job for news casting, resources:

 

AWWA Breakdown of EPA’s Budget Request – released yesterday (more).

 

February 1, 2010

Rural Water Funding Levels in President’s FY2011 Budget (more).

 

January 31, 2010

The President's Budget Released Tomorrow - we will post the budget levels for rural water priorities tomorrow – here.  The President will be hosting a YouTube interview on the budget he’s filing.  The President has signaled that his budget will freeze most domestic discretionary spending and make cuts in 120 programs (some Corps projects, preservation programs, NASA, etc.)

 

Senate to Take Up Jobs Bill this Week - Senate Democrats are expected to announce the details of a jobs package this week – as encouraged by the President in his State of the Union address.  The package will likely include several energy incentive provisions with funding in four major job creation categories: small business export promotions and lending, energy efficiency, infrastructure, and the public-service sector - an approximately $80 billion package (see outline of possible proposal).  The latest proposal does not appear to include water infrastructure funding (EPA or USDA).  Concerned that the jobs bill may not provide any funds to EPA’s water infrastructure program, two key members of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) are seeking to include a $6 billion boost for the programs when the bill is crafted and debated in the coming weeks.  Senators Cardin (MD) and Whitehouse (RI) are urging for $3 billion each to EPA’s wastewater and drinking water state revolving loan funds (SRF) in the jobs bill.  The House version of the bill included $1 billion each for EPA’s wastewater and drinking water SRF programs, with provisions for green infrastructure, prevailing wage rules and Buy American requirements like the 2009 stimulus package.

 

EPA Continues to Require Misleading Public Notices – this week a NC water systems was compelled to issue the following statement, "Unfortunately, confusing language which the EPA required the city to use in the public notice about not meeting turbidity standards created unnecessary alarm among the city's water customers (more)." 

 

KY Attorney General Warms Consumers of Mail Solicitation from Home Service USA – that look like a notice from their local water utility. The notice is actually a solicitation from a private business offering what appears to be a warranty service.  The mailer suggests that the recipient is required to pay an additional fee for the maintenance and repair of their water line (more).

 

New Small Cities Association Evolves (their homepage)

 

Rural Water and Climate Change Policy – rural water NH Board Member, Paul Whittemore was in DC this week to attend the International Water Association's (et. al) conference on water supply and climate change (more).  One of the keynote speakers at the conference was a former professor at the University of East Anglia who demonstrated a computer model for small water supplies on how to plan for climate change using his own personal water supply, which relies on a cistern capturing runoff water from his home's roof (more).  This week, Paul is headed to Las Vegas to attend the EPA National Drinking Water Advisory Committee panel on the impacts of climate change on water supplies, which will make recommendations to the agency on the issue.

 

January 28, 2010

House Dear Colleague Letter Circulated in House (click Dear Colleague letter, first column)

 

Non-sequitur; EPA Mandates Water Supplies to Add Hexavalent Chromium and Aluminum to Drinking Water (more) – claiming it is safe, but requires communities to remove naturally occurring arsenic and can not say what levels of arsenic are unsafe (more).

 

January 26, 2010

Impact of President Spending Freeze - The White House announced this week a plan to freeze non-military, discretionary spending for the next three years but cautioned that it would not be an across-the-board chill.  OMB has gone line by line through the budget to identify programs that are not working or a lower priority.   All rural water funding is "discretionary" spending.  Details of the spending proposal won't be released until next week, when the White House releases its budget for fiscal year 2011.  The White House will provide a list of programs to Congress, but it will be up to lawmakers to decide whether to move forward with any spending cuts.

 

EPA Administrator Travels to Rural Mississippi – and reassures consumers that brown tap water is not dangerous (more).

 

Security Measures Report - the Water Sector Coordinating Council's (WSCC, with two rural water appointees) released their metrics report.  According to the report:

* 87% of drinking water and 85% of wastewater utilities have integrated security and preparedness into budgeting, training, and manpower responsibilities;

* 88% of drinking water and 85% of wastewater utilities receive screened, validated, and timely security threat information from one or more sources;

* 93% of drinking water and 92% of wastewater utilities secure and monitor the perimeter of areas containing hazardous materials;

* 94% of drinking water and 94% of wastewater utilities secure and monitor the shipping, receipt, and storage of materials for the facility.

 

January 22, 2010

Movie: Flammable Tap Water – GASLAND, a film on natural gas drilling.  The producer sets off on a 24 state journey to uncover the consequences of natural gas drilling including water that can be lit on fire, chronically ill residents, pools of toxic waste, and gas explosions (movie trailer).

 

NRWA/AWWA Webcast on Reducing Electric Costs in Water Supplies (Jan 27) – water utilities typically use a lot of energy to deliver drinking water to customers. This webcast presents ways to most efficiently integrate water system load control practices with power supplier operations and pricing rules (more).

 

January 18, 2010

EPA Forms Climate Change Advisory Committee – to assess the impacts on water supplies and what should be done about it.  NRWA’s New Hampshire Board Member has been appointed to EPA panel – next meeting is scheduled for February 3-4 (see announcement, agenda, and minutes from previous meeting).

 

Florida Becomes First State Regulated by EPA’s Phosphorus/Nitrogen Standards - in the waters of a state (EPA announcement).  EPA released proposed water quality standards for Florida, the first such standards proposed for any state and are the result of legal action by environmental groups, which led the EPA to agree to draw up these proposals.  Could Alabama and Wisconsin be next? TMDLs and Good Intentionsarticle submitted to rural water magazine.

 

EPA Stimulus Funding Obligation Deadline Looming – many are concerned that their states will not spend the ARRA funding by the February 17th deadline including this California Congressman (more).  California may lose millions of ARRA funds allocated to the SRFs.  According to EPA, California has been slow to spend ARRA funding.  The state was obligated $283,116,500 for the CWSRF, but has only $181,073,759 under contract and $18,880,616 in project outlays. The State was obligated $159,008,000 for the DWSRF, but has only $74,376,300 under contact and $667,323 in outlays.  California must have the remaining CWSRF and DWSRF funding under contract by February 17th.  We will post the spending for each state tomorrow.

 

The NRWA Hosted 2010 Water Summit, a Success – the largest national water organizations convened in DC last week to discuss the future of water from the policy and public perspective (see agenda and concept paper).  The forum resulted in agreement among the associations to begin the process of crafting a joint policy on a national water strategy for the next 50 years.

 

1926(b) Under Attack, Again - The OK Municipal League (OML) resolution proposing legislation that would remove the monopoly enjoyed by rural water districts was adopted by the National League of Cities in their meeting held in November in San Antonio.  The resolution seeks to amend federal law to enable OML members to compete with rural water districts abutting the municipality (see statement from OML).

 

Lead 1926(b) Attorney Urges Rural Water Systems – to take action to thwart OML’s 1926(b) initiative (see statement).

 

Key Governors and Mayors Push for Federal Infrastructure BankBuilding America’s Future (BAF), co-chaired by Gov. Schwarzenegger, Rendell, and Mayor Bloomberg is advocating for the development of a large national infrastructure bank and will soon host a press conference featuring Governor Rendell and several members of Congress to encourage Congress to act now on the development of national infrastructure bank that covers many sectors, including water and wastewater.

 

EPA Administrator Jackson Outlines Administration’s Agenda on Thursday - before the Women’s National Democratic Club in Washington (see video).

 

January 8, 2010

No Water in Perry County KY – no water for hundreds when a major supply main from the nearby city of Hazard failed. Emergency management officials provided cartons of drinking water to the area as quickly as possible, but the supply ran out fast (more). 

 

January 7, 2010

Senate to Take Up More Water Funding in Coming Weeks – key Senators plan to wrap-up work on job-creation legislation and appear set to ignore a House-passed measure and pass their own bill.  Just before the holiday break the House passed their version of a jobs bill that included $2 billion in EPA Water Funds - and none for USDA's rural water grant and loan program.  It looks like the Senate will press for passage of the package shortly after final Senate passage of healthcare legislation, which could occur as soon as late January.

 

New Fact Sheet from EPA – Small Water Systems A Vital Component of WARNs.  Maryland and Virginia recently agreed to a WARN systems (more form AWWA).  And EPA’s Emergency Response Homepage for your review.  EPA has released a 2-page description summarizing their role under the National Response Framework (NRF) and their support roles in Emergency Support Function Annexes.

 

NPR Features Water This Week – today covering “water refugees” from the drought in the Middle East and the coming conflict over water (more).

 

Help Wanted in the Water Business – A 2005 water industry study suggested that nearly 40% of our workforce (in U.S. public treatment plants and water utilities) is going to be retiring in the next 10 years (more).

 

January 2, 2010

New Water Book – makes a case that many 21st-century conflicts will be fought over water.  In Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization, Steven Solomon argues that water is surpassing oil as the world's scarcest critical resource (more from NPR).

 

EPA to Lower the Water Quality Criteria for Ammonia - potentially cutting current values in half.  According to environmental engineer Bill Kramer, “this is probably going to affect a lot of wastewater systems.”  EPA’s conservative determinations, as they apply the water quality criteria, are discussed in the proposal but basically EPA takes the position that the one hour in-stream concentration cannot exceed the acute criteria value and the 4 day average cannot exceed the chronic criteria value – and both of these events cannot occur more than once every three years.  Kramer said, “The problem with this is that the acute test is a 48-96 hour test.  The endpoint for the test is when 50% of the test organisms are killed.  They expose various organisms to a series of dilutions of the pollutant to find the concentration at which 50% of the organisms die at the 48 or 96-hour test endpoint.  With chronic it is a 28-day test.  So saying you can’t exceed acute criteria more often than once per hour over a three year period is far away from an exposure level that would cause any harm.  The criteria are based upon constant exposure for 2 to 4 days.  Likewise 4 days vs. 28 days on the chronic side.” (EPA announcement).

 

Indiana Environmental Group Sues State Over Clean Water Programs - for allowing CAFOs to spread manure on farm land as fertilizer and ignoring that most farm fields have pipes or drainage tile that can transport manure into waterways (more).

 

December 31, 2009

EPA Rejects FOIA Request to Release Arsenic Deliberations (EPA letter) – on Dec. 4 in response to a request from Dr. Steven Lamm, who has published studies on the analysis of EPA Data that contradict EPA claims that arsenic in drinking water is more dangerous than previously concluded by the agency (that resulted in the 10ppb drinking water standard).  Earlier this summer, EPA drafted a new hazard assessment for arsenic that sets a new cancer slope factor that is a 20-fold increase over the current slope factor.  Dr. Lamm made the FOIA request because EPA has not released the science (their new analysis) that lead to this new conclusion.  Dr. Lamm studied the same data set and found no similar scientific finding (this analysis has been submitted for peer-review and publishing - see Dr. Lamm’s analysis and request to EPA).

 

December 30, 2009

Rural Water Seeks Membership on EPA’s Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Committee – to press for more environmentally progressive and more economical implementation of EPA TMDL programs (more).

 

Federal Court Rejects Using RCRA (or Superfund) to Sue to Stop Non-point Source Pollution – a federal judge in Oklahoma dismissed RCRA claims in suit against chicken processors along the Illinois River watershed. (Oklahoma v. Tyson Foods Inc., 12/15/09).  Tyson had argued that poultry litter did not meet the law's definition of solid waste.  OK AG said, “This has been a good two days for the polluters and a bad two days for the Illinois River Watershed… the peril facing the Illinois River Watershed due to the reckless disposal of poultry waste. Saving this important natural resource is the goal of our lawsuit and that remedy remains available to the court.”

 

USDA Announced $116.9 Million in Water Projects - funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Altogether, USDA has announced $ 2.08 billion for Recovery Act water and environmental project loans and grants, benefiting people throughout the country (more).  In Selma, AL, the grant will expand the water system to approximately 100 new residential customers in an unserved area.

 

Gaseous Chlorine Fire at Small Water Supply - (see news coverage and video).

 

EPA to Regulate Pharmaceuticals Under SDWA - shifting course on their long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation's drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some...  listing some pharmaceuticals as candidates for regulation in drinking water... EPA has put 13 pharmaceuticals on the Contaminant Candidate List.  Commercial interests selling the equipment to manage waste drugs said the EPA should be more aggressive about enforcing hazardous waste laws (more from AP news, EPA’s new list, and FDA’s Flush list).

 

NYTimes’ Photos of a Thirsty Planet (more).  “The problem is that you have growing population, greater consumption of water per person and expanding deserts due to global warming,” said Times’ photojournalist.

 

December 22, 2009

House Passes Jobs Bills with $2 Billion in EPA Water Funds - the jobs bill, which House lawmakers originally hoped to attach to a must-pass fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations bill but opted to pursue as a stand-alone measure after Senate opposition, includes $1 billion for wastewater projects and $1 billion for drinking water projects.  Senate lawmakers will certainly address the issue early next year.  The Senate has not crafted a jobs bill to date.  The House passed bill adopts funding conditions that mirror those contained in the economic stimulus law that policymakers enacted earlier this year, including eliminating state matching requirements, requiring 20 percent of the funds to be spent on “green” infrastructure, requiring projects to procure American-made products, setting strict timelines for the monies to be spent and allows EPA to fund projects without requiring states to provide matching funds but also requires EPA to take back any funds from states where projects are not under contract or construction within eight months of enactment.  The House did not include funding for the USDA rural water grant and loan program.  This issue will be reconsidered in the Senate (more).

 

December 18, 2009

Privatization - From the private water companies, "seems like everyone’s talking about public-private partnerships (PPPs) these days, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors is no exception.... one mayor explained how he was once intrigued by the prospect of partnering with a private identity but the combative actions and accusations of what he called 'a whacked-out national group' soured him on the idea. He challenged the presenters to utilize the power of one of their own national groups to distribute positive stories of how PPPs are helping in the fight to rebuild city water infrastructure." (more)

 

Former Wisc. Rural Water Employee to Head ASDWA - Jill Jonas elected president of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (more).

 

EPA Stimulus Money Not Being Spent? (more)

 

New York Times Slams SDWA – many drink contaminated water in U.S. (full article).

 

New York Times Reporter Featured on NPR Interviewed (listen).

 

December 13, 2009

EWG Releases Data Showing Widespread Contaminants in U.S. Water Supplies (report and media coverage).

 

AWWA’s Comments on EWG Data Release (more).

 

The Green Debate – Krauthammer says environmentalism is the progeny of communism and climate change is the parallel to central planning (more in Post), Byron York says green economics is a failure (more), VP Gore blast Gov. Palin on climate change and calls the issue a moral issue (more). Congressman Markey and Senator Inhofe have it out over IPPC and Copenhagen (Fox News Sunday).

 

December 10, 2009

Enviro Working Group and NYTimes – EWG is releasing its drinking water contamination database at 5 p.m. on Sat. On Sun. the New York Times will run another article in its Toxic Waters series which will profile the work of water utilities and possibly highlight the number of contaminants in drinking water while using the EWG tap water database as a component of that article (more info from AMWA).

 

Gene Whatley (OK Rural Water) Stands Up for Rural Water – before the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

 

EPA Announces New Small Community Policy At Senate Heading – centered on consolidation of small communities (more).

 

Rural Water Analyst Submits Article to NYTimes – disputing the claims in the paper’s claims (more).

 

AWWA’s Response to New York Times Drinking Water Article.  Utah’s correspondence and data explanation to the New York Times.

 

EPA’s Nutrient Water Quality Standards for Florida  - twenty-five Florida Congressman signed a letter to EPA on their state controversy over EPA’s nutrient standards for Florida.  Fla. rural water says the EPA plan will have a crippling effect on many small communities and possibly cause some to have to shut down and require customers to revert back to septic systems.  For example, one member, with a population of only 100 to spread the costs over and the other two are larger with populations of 2700 and 16,500.  The small system would incur a cost of over $3 million to comply and it would raise the monthly rate per connection an unacceptable amount of $257.85.  Two system members would incur a cost of over $20 million and $40 million with increases in monthly rates of $25 and $12.  As you can see, the smallest systems are not going to be able to afford to pass the cost of compliance onto their customer base (more from FRWA).

 

New Mexico Congressman Raises Questions About Unreasonable TMDLs (see letter) – that are very costly but not helping the environment.  Where is the utilization of EPA’s pollution trading initiative in implementing TMDLs.

 

New Mexico State Says 2/3 of State’s Groundwater Contaminated by Farm (Diary) Animals (more from NPR).

 

December 7, 2009

Rural Water Before U.S. Senate This Week - rural water and EPA's top water officials this week will explain how they are tackling pollution in the nation's drinking water supplies, especially in schools.  Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in October expressing "deep concern over the adequacy of drinking water protections" in schools.  The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 10, at 10 am.  Witnesses: Peter Silva, EPA assistant administrator; Cynthia Giles, EPA assistant administrator for enforcement; Matthew Larsen, USGS; Jerome Paulson, professor at the GWU; Michael Baker, ASDWA; Gene Whatley, Oklahoma Rural Water Association; and Jeffrey Griffiths, Tufts University.

 

Environmentalists Ask Federal Government to Crack Down on State Environmental Regulators - accusing them of going easy on water pollution discharged from businesses, sewage plants, farms and developments (more).

 

Iowa Rural Water District Financial Woes Continue – at the Xenia Rural Water - the central Iowa water provider faces an $871,000 revenue shortfall so far this year while expenses have been $634,000 over budget. Together this represents a $1.5 million shortfall with a month left in the year (more).

 

Global Climate Change Negotiations – start this week in Denmark.  According to some big thinkers, “any agreement that comes out of Copenhagen must promote viable alternatives that ensure a fair share of [water] for all. And this means ensuring that increasing water shortages and the lack of access to water are addressed immediately.”(full article)

 

The History of Private vs. Public Water - Wisconsin RWA's Ed Morse sets the record straight with insight like this, "it was clear that a basic conflict existed between a company's primary goal of maximizing profits and the best interests of the community." (full article from WRWA magizaine)

 

More Suits to Push For Numeric Nutrient Criteria - environmental organizations are continuing their push for numeric water quality criteria by filing a suit against EPA over the agency's failure to promulgate such criteria in Wisconsin.  This comes just after a subcommittee of EPA's Science Advisory Board Nov. 19 released a draft report for comment saying currently used EPA guidance on how to develop nutrient criteria for water pollution limits is neither defensible nor adequate. The board plans final deliberations over the draft report on a Dec. 3 conference call, after which the report will be presented to the full committee.

 

Clean Water America Alliance Advocates Major Changes to Federal Water Policy - a group including key former EPA officials and the wastewater industry is advocating a broad range of changes to encourage regional water planning and green infrastructure, an immediate inventory of the nation's water resources, and other measures (see their report).  The water group's membership includes four former EPA assistant administrators for water, major companies, etc.  The group suggests that energy projects need to better account for water use impacts.

 

Senator Lautenberg (NJ) Plans to Introduce Chemical Security Legislation - any day. The bill could a strict provision requiring companies to switch to using inherently safer technologies (IST) to reduce risks from chemical releases in the event of an attack (i.e. gaseous chlorine).  Senator Lautenberg is expected to soon introduce a companion bill to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act that passed the House last month. That bill would create a new Department of Homeland Security program to improve security at chemical plants and would also mandate that EPA draft a similar new security program for water facilities.

 

White House (CEQ) Water Resource Plan Places New Focus On Social, Economic Goals - in just-proposed water resource planning principles and guidelines for federal projects.  The policy includes first-time requirements that agencies give equal consideration to environmental, social and economic benefits, a clear break from the existing guidance (see new proposed principles).  The proposal includes a number of measures backed by environmentalists, including consideration of the effects of climate change, a factor that the four agencies under the current guidelines do not consider in water resource planning.

 

 

 

 

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