ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XIV, Issue 5 (Week of February 13, 2023)

News

EPA Water Technical Assistance Webpage Updates

As part of EPA’s ongoing efforts to implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), EPA has updated the Water Infrastructure Technical Assistance (TA) website. These updates were informed by discussions with many stakeholders. The new content focuses on the new and existing EPA water TA programs and is intended to make these services more accessible. In collaboration with states, tribes, and territories, the programs will help underserved and disadvantaged communities access BIL funds.

These updates include:

A fact sheet with an overview of TA resources
A simple Water TA Request Form
A list of the types of TA services available to the public
Information on who can receive TA through EPA’s TA opportunities

The Water TA Request Form provides a streamlined process for communities to pursue no-cost, direct water TA services. The form is intended to complement existing methods of identifying communities with water TA needs used by EPA, states, and TA providers. This EPA site is not meant to replace existing tools or sites already in place. It aims to provide a central entry point to EPA water TA programs for communities to use. EPA’s Water TA Request review process will be conducted in close coordination with our regional and state partners, however submitting a request via the water TA Request Form is not a guarantee that services will be provided.

If you have any questions about Water Technical Assistance through EPA, please contact: WaterTA@epa.gov.

NASDA Pushes for Intentional Policymaking

This week the National Association of States Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) voted to encourage EPA to consult with state agriculture agencies “on citizen lawsuits or take actions to reduce the number of lawsuits that often end in settlements altering public policy.” In particular, NASDA noted they “support cooperative federalism and will with EPA to adjust the memo titled NASDA supports cooperative federalism and will work with the EPA to adjust the memo titled “Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements to Resolve Environmental Claims Against the Agency.”” NASDA noted that state agencies are not normally aware of the citizen suits brought to EPA and are not provided an opportunity to help solve issues “impacting states’ natural resources and food production industries.”

This is an issue that has garnered state attention in the past but recently got renewed focus after several environmental groups sued EPA in an effort to force the agency to revise their CAFO regulations and it was determined that EPA had changed their policy on how to handle environmental claims and settlements without conversations with states. EPA has also been petitioned to adopt a position of rebuttable presumption that large CAFOS using wet manure systems actually discharge pollutants under the Clean Water Act. Some water policy professionals believe EPA plans to continue to address animal agriculture and other petitions and lawsuits through closed door negotiations and settlement agreements that do not include input from state programs.

Watershed Academy Hazard Mitigation and WRM Module Live

Watershed Academy’s new Hazard Mitigation Planning and Water Resource Management Module is now available. This module is intended for water quality and hazard mitigation professionals that are interested in integrating water quality issues and/or nature-based solutions into state or local Hazard Mitigation Plans (HMPs), and highlights the benefits of working across water quality and hazard mitigation programs. Modules in this series can be used as training tools to help planners from both worlds explore activities of mutual interest and benefit. Case studies and examples are provided to assist hazard mitigation planners with integrating water resource programs into HMPs and help watershed planners understand the synergies between water resource plans and HMPs.

Visit https://www.epa.gov/watershedacademy/hazard-mitigation-module to begin the course!

Now Available: Latest Update to the TSCA Inventory

The latest Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory is now available on EPA’s website. The TSCA Inventory is a list of all existing chemical substances manufactured, processed or imported in the U.S. This update to the public TSCA Inventory is part of EPA’s biannual posting of non-confidential Inventory data. The next regular update of the TSCA Inventory is planned for summer 2023.

The TSCA Inventory contains 86,685 chemicals, of which 42,170 are active in U.S. commerce. Other updates to the Inventory include new commercial activity data, unique identifier data and regulatory flags (e.g., significant new use rules and test orders). Additionally, several hundred substances are now listed with their specific chemical identities after having been moved from the confidential portion of the Inventory to the public portion as part of EPA’s ongoing TSCA confidential business information (CBI) review efforts.

Lastly, TSCA submitters are reminded to regularly check for any correspondence relating to their submissions in EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX). EPA sends critical and time-sensitive information regarding confidentiality claims through CDX, and failing to open this correspondence can delay the Agency’s processing of those claims.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/tsca-inventory.

Association Updates

2023 National NPDES Permitting Meeting

February 28 – March 2, 2023
Washington, DC

IMPORTANT NOTICE: There will be no onsite registration for the 2023 National NPDES Permitting Meeting. This is because EPA needs the registration list in advance so the security contractor can clear people for participation at the meeting taking place inside EPA Headquarters. If you have not registered yet, please do so ASAP and no later than Tuesday, February 21, by 5:00pm eastern. My apologies in advance but failure to preregister by this time may very well detrimentally impact your ability to attend this meeting in person. Thank you for understanding.

More details about the meeting can be found here.

ACWA Mid-Year Meeting, March 15-16: Registration and Lodging Reminder

The 2023 ACWA Mid-Year Meeting is just weeks away! Visit ACWA’s meeting page to see the latest agenda updates and to register. ACWA will be joined by Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox and other EPA and state association partners. Reserve your room before February 28, 2023 as the room rate will not be guaranteed after this date.

Please note that the hotel room block has been extended to February 28, 2023.

2023 Nutrients Permitting Workshop – May 1-3, 2023

The 2023 Nutrients Permitting Workshop will be held May 1-3, in Denver, CO!

This workshop is part of a series of meetings focused on nutrients permitting through a grant between EPA, ACWA, and WEF. The workshop series is intended to help support states and EPA to further identify challenges & barriers to nutrient permitting program implementation, highlight opportunities for program improvement & enhancement, showcase innovations, assist with analysis of training, guidance, tools, and other support material needs, improve administrative efficiencies, clarify roles and responsibilities, promote program streamlining, build stronger linkages to WQS & TMDLs, modernize permit terms and data management, revise program performance measures, identify program areas where targeted technical assistance would be most beneficial, and attempt to solve some of the most intractable nutrients issues.

This is the eighth and final workshop under this grant. This workshop will focus state successes and lessons learned based on a variety of topics covered throughout the previous seven workshops in this series. A portion of the agenda will also look ahead at what States feel is the future of nutrients permitting.

A draft agenda may be found here. Rooms are available at the local per-diem rate here.
This workshop is for ACWA Members, who may register here.

Meetings and Webinars

Upcoming Webinar: 2023 Financial Capability Assessment (FCA) Guidance

February 23, 2023 | 1:00 PM–2:00 PM ET | Register Here

The guidance outlines strategies for communities to support affordable utility rates while planning investments in water infrastructure that are essential for Clean Water Act (CWA) implementation. The FCA Guidance replaces the Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development (1997) to evaluate a community’s capability to fund CWA control measures in both the permitting and enforcement context. The FCA Guidance will supplement the Financial Capability Assessment Framework for Municipal Clean Water Act Requirements (2014). The FCA Guidance will also supplement the public sector sections of the Interim Economic Guidance for Water Quality Standards (1995) to assist states and authorized tribes in assessing the degree of economic and social impact of potential water quality standards (WQS) decisions.

Biosolids Facility Searches and Reports

Date and Time: March 14, 2023 3:00 – 4:00 pm EST
Registration: ECHO Biosolids Facility Searches and Reports Training

This training focuses on the ECHO Facility Searches and Report under the Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program area biosolids. With the implementation of the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule (eRule), facilities in the 41 states where EPA implements the Federal Biosolids Program, and three authorized states (SD, TX, UT) began submitting electronic reports for the first time. This training provides an overview of the electronic reporting of biosolids annual reports, describes the biosolids data available on EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO), and includes a demonstration of navigating the Biosolids Facility and Annual Report search form, search results, and Biosolids Facility Report.

If you need any special accommodations for this webinar, please email Madeline LaPatra.

ECHO Recorded Webinars

Intro to the PFAS Analytic Tools (January 10, 2023);
Intro to Modernized Water Pollutant Loading Tool (November 28, 2017);
ECHO Biosolids Facility Search (October 10, 2017);
Intro to ECHO Map Filter (January 24, 2017);
ECHO EPA/State Dashboards and Comparative Maps (May 31, 2016);
Intro to the Acts (March 22, 2016)

ECHO Trainings: NNCR and Violations

The registration links for the 6 NNCR webinars are now available on the ECHO Training page. They will be restricted to gov-only access until we do the public notification, so if states cannot see the trainings, they may need to login first.

Wednesday, 3/8 from 1-2 pm eastern: Quarterly NNCR Training
Tuesday, 3/14 from 1-2 pm eastern: Quarterly NNCR Training: DMR Reporting Violations
Wednesday, 3/16 from 2-3:30 pm eastern: Quarterly NNCR Training: Effluent Exceedance Violations
Tuesday, 3/21 from 3-4 pm eastern: Quarterly NNCR Training: Schedule Violations
Wednesday, 3/22 from 1-2 pm eastern: Quarterly NNCR Training: Single Event/Other Violations
Thursday, 3/23 from 3-4 pm eastern: Annual NNCR Training

EPA Webinar: Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15

Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2022
Time: 1:00pm – 2:30pm eastern
Registration: https://usepa.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_RwG8GWqGQ4iv6w7ZP47AcA

EPA’s Office of Compliance invites you to a free webinar on Tuesday February 28, 2023, as part of EPA’s ongoing Technical Assistance Webinar Series: Improving CWA-NPDES Permit Compliance at Small Wastewater Treatment Systems. Back by popular demand – this month’s webinar is a repeat of the January 31, 2023, webinar titled, Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15. In case you missed it last month, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters staff provided an overview of EPA’s effluent guideline planning process as well as the contents of Effluent Guideline Plan 15. This webinar will be repeated live featuring Doruntinë Rexhepi, Environmental Engineer in US EPA’s Office of Water, among others. EPA will provide an overview of EPA’s effluent guideline planning process as well as the contents of Effluent Guideline Plan 15, including up-dates on EPA’s reviews of industrial wastewater discharges and treatment technologies, EPA’s 2021 annual review of effluent guidelines and pretreatment standards, and EPA’s continued focus in evaluating the extent and nature of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) discharges and assess opportunities for limiting those discharges from multiple industrial categories, as outlined in EPA’s 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap. See the attached detailed announcement for a more detailed description and/or CLICK HERE to register.

Job Opportunities

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency- Summer College Intern Opportunities

Surface Water Modeling
Location: Columbus, OH
Closing date: February 27, 2023

Engineering
Location: Bowling Green, OH
Closing Date: February 27, 2023

Fish and Bug
Location: Groveport, OH
Closing Date: February 27, 2023

Surface Water- Multiple Locations
Locations: Dayton, Columbus, Twinsburg, OH
Closing date: February 27, 2023

Water Quality- Multiple Locations
Locations: Bowling Green, Logan, OH
Closing date: February 27, 2023

Storm Water- Multiple Locations
Locations: Logan, Twinsburg, OH
Closing date: February 27, 2023

Groundwater Characterization Geologist | Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

Job Location: Richmond, VA
Closing Date: Open until filled
For more information and to apply, click here.

Public Works Technician

Location: Stevensville, MT
For more information and how to apply, click here.

Research and Monitoring Seasonal Intern | New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC)

Dates: March 1, 2023 through December 29, 2023

For more details on how to apply, click here.

Hydropower Aquatic Resource Compliance and Research Scientist (Natural Resource Scientist 3)

Locations: Lacey, Union Gap and Spokane, WA
Closing Date: February 22, 2023

For further information and how to apply, click here.

Data Coordinator – Water Supply Planning & Analysis

Location: Richmond, VA
Closing Date: February 17, 2023

For further information and how to apply, click here.

Business Analyst – Water Planning Division

Location: Richmond, VA
Closing Date: February 17, 2023

For further information and how to apply, click here.