News

EPA CCR Permit Program Proposed February 20, 2020 (60-day Comment Period)

In December 2016, the President signed the WIIN Act.  The Act amended RCRA and requires EPA to implement a federal CCR permit program in Indian Country and, subject to appropriated funds, a federal CCR permit program in nonparticipating states. With newly appropriated funds, EPA is now proposing to establish a federal CCR permit program in accordance with the requirements of the WIIN Act. This 48-page proposal includes sections on public participation and hearings, related permitting programs, applicability, deadlines for application, duration of permit, general permit provisions, transfer of permit program administration, standard permit conditions, schedule of compliance, permit denial, permit modifications, termination of permit, electronic permitting, economic impacts, and more. The docket for this rule can be found at Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0361. The rule was published on February 20, 2020 and a PDF version of the notice can be found here. The comment period for this rule proposal is 60 days.

EPA Hosting Water Technology Clearinghouse Webinar

EPA is seeking to develop a clearinghouse of information on cost-effective and alternative wastewater recycling and treatment technologies (including onsite and decentralized systems) that would be available to water sector utilities and non-profit organizations for wastewater infrastructure projects. The clearinghouse being developed is mandated in the recent American Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, which requires EPA to provide updates and disseminate new information on wastewater technology, including the cost effectiveness of alternative wastewater treatment, water recycling technologies, and onsite and decentralized systems.

EPA is now seeking input into the development of the clearinghouse and is extending the invitation to participate in an interactive facilitated webinar about the project. EPA’s objective for the webinar is to present some initial takeaways from networking conversations that they have been conducting thus far, walk through potential elements for the clearinghouse, and gather feedback. The webinar will be on Thursday, March 5 at 12:30-1:30 ET. For more details on the webinar please contact Jake Adler.

EPA Announces Preliminary Regulatory Determinations Under SDWA

On February 20, EPA announced its preliminary regulatory determinations for 8 of the 109 contaminants on Contaminant Candidate List 4 (more about that process here). These preliminary decisions include regulating PFOA and PFOS, and not regulating 1,1-dichloroethane, acetochlor, methyl bromide (bromomethane), metolachlor,  nitrobenzene, and RDX.

Additionally, on the basis of the Regulatory Determination criteria, EPA chose to continue its prior decision to delay a preliminary determination for 1,4-dioxane and strontium (not yet concluding whether they meet the regulatory criteria “there is a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction by regulation“) and declined to make a preliminary determination for 1,2,3-trichloropropane (on the basis of needing additional information on its occurrence in public water systems).

60 days of public comments will begin once the notice is published on the Federal Register. Find the entire announcement and technical materials here.

EPA Proposing Changes to MSGP

A pre-publication versions of EPA’s proposed Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) can be found on at EPA’s Industrial Stormwater website here.  EPA plans to take comments on the proposal for 60 days once published in the Federal Register.  Once published, comments can be submitted on www.regulations.gov for docket ID #EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0372.  Key proposed changes in the permit include new requirements for permit eligibility, authorization, monitoring, and updates to the stormwater control fact sheets. Per a 2016 settlement agreement, the agency is also considering recommendations provided by the National Academies of Sciences study.

EPA is planning to host two public informational webcasts.

Webcast 1: Proposed 2020 MSGP
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. (eastern time)
Register

Webcast 2: Proposed 2020 MSGP
Thursday, April 9, 2020
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. (eastern time)
Register

ACWA has also requested a overview be provided to states during the comment period. If your state would like to see ACWA provide comments on this permit, please contact Sean Rolland.

Association Updates

ACWA Webinar – USGS Study on Nitrate loading to the Gulf of Mexico – February 25

Reducing delivery of nitrate to the Gulf of Mexico is critical to decreasing the size of the “dead zone”—an area of hypoxia, or low dissolved oxygen—in Louisiana coastal waters. A new USGS study reports that larger, more widespread decreases in nitrate loading to the Gulf are needed to achieve the target levels of a 25% reduction by 2025. The USGS study quantified trends in nitrate loading from 2002 to 2012 at more than 100 river monitoring sites throughout the Mississippi River basin.

On Tuesday, February 25, 2020 from 3:00 – 4:00 pm Eastern representatives from USGS will present their study and answer questions.

To register for the webinar, go here.

Meetings

2020 ACWA Mid-Year Meeting – March 17–18, 2020

Reserve your room now! Use group code MWC to reserve online here. The guaranteed room rate ends February 21.

To register for the meeting and view the draft agenda, go here.

2020 National Pretreatment Meeting – May 11-13, 2020

The 2020 National Pretreatment Meeting will take place May 11-13 in Nashville, Tennessee.  To view the draft agenda, go here.  Monday, May 11 will be a series of training sessions from 1-5 pm; Tuesday, May 12 will be an all-day states and EPA-only meeting; and Wednesday, May 13 will be an all-day meeting partnered with NACWA at the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University.

To register, go here.

Lodging is available at the Holiday Inn Nashville Vanderbilt.

Save the Date! – ACWA Nutrients Permitting Workshop – June 2-4, 2020

ACWA’s next Nutrients Permitting Workshop will take place June 2–4, 2020 at the Best Western Premier Park Hotel Madison, in Madison, Wisconsin.  This is the fifth workshop in a series of seven.  This workshop will focus on nutrients permitting flexibilities such as water quality trading and other market based methods, integrated planning, and more.

Attendees will include:

• State program staff involved in managing nutrients and permitting programs
• EPA Headquarters and Regional staff involved in nutrient and permitting program management
• Partnering state and federal agency staff that provide technical and/or regulatory assistance to the nutrient and permitting programs
• Invited guests

To register, go here.

Lodging is available at the Best Western Premier Park Hotel Madison.  ACWA has secured a block of rooms for workshop attendees at the government rate of  $131 (plus applicable taxes) for a single-person room.  To secure your lodging at this rate, please make your reservations by May 2, 2020.  To make your reservations, go to this link or call 1(800) 780-7234 and request the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA) room block.

ACWA is able to organize this meeting because of a Cooperative Agreement with EPA.  Included in the agreement are funds to assist with state travel.  If you plan to request travel support from ACWA, please do your best to provide an estimate of the cost categories and total expenses (e.g., airfare, lodging, per diem, miscellaneous) you will need. Requests for travel support should be sent to Mark Patrick McGuire by  Friday, March 27.

2020 ACWA Modeling Workshop – October 20-23, 2020

ACWA will be holding a Modeling Workshop, October 20-23, 2020 at the EPA Region 5 facilities in Chicago, Illinois. This workshop is aiming to build off of last year’s EPA-led workshop in Dallas. We have a great planning team of state and EPA representatives working hard to put together an agenda. There will also be a Pre-Conference Workshop on Monday, October 19 designed as an introductory course for those new to modeling or interested in a refresher.

Please stay tuned for more information regarding travel, lodging, and content.

Job Opportunities

New Mexico: Municipal Team Supervisor within the Point Source Regulation Section

This position is located in Sante Fe, Mexico.  The New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau is looking for candidates to fill the Municipal Team Supervisor position within the Point Source Regulation Section. This position is responsible for the protection of the State’s surface water quality through implementation of the Bureau’s Point Source Regulation Program and works with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review and certify National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to ensure compliance and conformance with the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), the New Mexico Water Quality Act (WQA), the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, the New Mexico Ground and Surface Water Protection Regulations (20.6.2 NMAC), and the New Mexico Standards for Interstate and Intrastate Surface Waters (20.6.4 NMAC). This position also serves as a point of contact to disseminate information about the NPDES program to regulated entities. This position reviews NPDES permits and activities of permitted or unpermitted municipalities and industries, and assists EPA with surface water-related compliance evaluation inspections including enforcement actions for entities not meeting State and Federal discharge requirements. This position also involves direct supervision of two employees including review of technical work and documents generated by the team, performance evaluations, time reporting and approval, and recommendation for hiring or discipline.  To view the position details and apply, go here and search Municipal Team Supervisor (NMENV/WPD #38201).  If you have questions, contact Sarah Holcomb, PSRS Program Manager (sarah.holcomb@state.nm.us or 505-827-2798).

Coming Soon…

Watersheds Committee Call
February 27, 2020, 2:30 – 4:00 pm Eastern
This webinar will feature case studies and discussion on the Alternatives goal of the 303(d) VISION.
For further agenda and call-in information, contact Jasper Hobbs.

Legal Affairs Committee Quarterly Call
March 5, 2020, 2:00 – 3:00 pm Eastern
For agenda and call-in information, contact Mark Patrick McGuire.