2017 Mid-Year meeting is HERE
The ACWA 2017 Mid Year Meeting begins Monday, March 20!
For those traveling, please be aware that the weather report for the District of Columbia for Monday and Tuesday calls for a high around 60 degrees and a low in the mid to high 30s. You may still register for the event on site.
ACWA’s block of rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn are full. Rooms are available at the Hyatt Place – NoMA a few yards away from the Hilton. Click here to reserve a room or call 202-289-5599.
Ask for the special government per diem rate.
March 14, 2017 Tribal Treaties and Environmental Law Webinar Follow Up
On Tuesday, March 14, ACWA held a webinar on the intersection of tribal treaties and rights and environmental law.
Professor Elizabeth Ann Kronk, Director of the Tribal Law and Government Center at the Univ. of Kansas School of Law and Attorney Ben Fenner of Frederick Peebles & Morgan LLP in Washington, DC presented during the webinar.
The presenters focused on the variety of issues facing tribes and the nuances of tribal treaties and law and how they relate to environmental programs. For more information, please contact Mark Patrick McGuire.
March 15, 2017 Variance Webinar Follow Up
On Wednesday, March 15, ACWA’s Monitoring, Standards, and Assessment Committee held a webinar on variances.
Amanda Minks from the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources presented on Wisconsin’s recently approved Multi-Discharger Variance program for phosphorous.
To view her presentation slides, go here.
Barbara Bennett and Bret Icenogle from the Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment presented on Colorado’s Discharger Specific Variances.
To view their presentation slides, go here.
ACWA Rep. Goodmann (R4) and Anastasio participate in ASDWA Member Meeting
Board of Directors representative Peter Goodmann (R4) and Ex. Dir. Anastasio participated in the spring ASDWA member meeting to discuss coordination and integration between CWA and SDWA programs. Goodmann discussed Kentucky’s source water protection program, innovative practices including volunteer monitoring, using TMDLs to protect source waters, focusing permitting in source water/watersheds on protections for nutrients, TOCs, other pollutants of concern/precursors, and provide incentives and tools for watershed-scale reduction of nutrients from both point and non-point sources.
Anastasio provided an overview of ACWA’s efforts at promoting the Source Water Collaborative and the learning exchange among our members and discussed an upcoming joint ACWA, ASDWA and GWPC meeting on CWA/SDWA Coordination. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss where states are making progress with CWA/SDWA and related program coordination and collaboration, identify challenges/barriers that impede progress on these activities, and to brainstorm next steps to continue to make progress on CWA/SDW collaboration to better protect source of drinking water (both groundwater and surface water) and improve water quality.
ACWA, ASDWA, GWPC send letter on EPA OMB Passback
Earlier this week, ACWA, ASDWA, and GWPC sent a letter to EPA Administrator Pruitt and OMB Director Mulvaney concerning the EPA-OMB Budget Passback and potential cuts to grant programs which provide crucial funding to state environmental agencies.
The letter explained the importance of funding such as STAG grants and SRF programs to daily implementation of the Clean Water Act at the state level and also emphasized that federal funding provides a significant portion of total state funding for water programs.
We need your feedback on ACWA Workgroups!
ACWA’s Cooling Water Steam Electric Workgroup, Rural Workgroup, and Stormwater Workgroup are all interested in identifying future conference call topics and better understanding program implementation challenges.
Please take a few minutes to provide your feedback. Thank you!
Overview of White House Proposed FY18 Budget
On Thursday, OMB released a budget outline for federal agencies for FY18 titled ,“America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again”.
The document is a broad overview of budgetary changes in each federal agency. It also identifies priorities for the administration and offers brief explanations for some budget increases/decreases. ACWA has put together a short 2-page summary of information contained in the budget outline which may be relevant to state water programs. You can read it here.
For more information, contact Julian Gonzalez.
Welcome Frances!
ACWA welcomes Frances Bothfeld to the staff as an Environmental Analyst.
Frances comes to ACWA after a fellowship with NOAA’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. She has a BA in Biochemistry from Grinnell College and an MS in Water Science and Policy from the University of Delaware.
Frances can be reached at fbothfeld@acwa-us.org.
