News
ACWA Submits Comments on USACE Nationwide Permits
ACWA submitted comments on the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Proposal to Reissue and Modify Nationwide Permits (NWPs). NWPS are an important part of the regulatory system and enable efficient and effective regulatory review of construction and development activities that have a minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental impacts. NWPS are permits used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to permit a wide range of activities that, upon incorporation of identified conditions and mitigation measures, have been determined to result in minimal adverse effects to the environment. NWPS are useful for project applicants and states because they streamline the permitting processes necessary for approval. However, the states have several concerns, such as the water quality certification process, removal of the 300 linear foot limit for loss of stream bed and pre-construction notice requirements (PCN) with the changes outlined in the proposal and offered comments on each of these issues.
EPA Invites California, Iowa, Rhode Island to Apply for Water Infrastructure Loans Under SWIFIA
EPA is inviting three state agencies to apply for a total of $695 million in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans through EPA’s new state infrastructure financing authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program. This funding will help states finance infrastructure projects to improve water quality and protect public health in communities across the United States. For this round, California, Iowa, and Rhode Island are invited to apply for funding. EPA’s SWIFIA loans are available exclusively to state infrastructure financing authority borrowers, commonly known as State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs, and will allow these programs to finance more infrastructure projects in their states. The first three selected SWIFIA borrowers are the California State Water Resources Control Board ($500 million), the Iowa Finance Authority ($156 million), and the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank ($39.2 million). These programs will combine state resources, annual capitalization grants, and the SWIFIA loans to accelerate investment in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program 2021 Request for Proposals
Full Proposal Due Date: January 28, 2021 by 11:59 PM Eastern Time
For complete details please visit Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program 2021 Request for Proposals Website
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), FedEx, Southern Company and BNSF Railway are pleased to solicit applications for the 2021 Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration program. This program will award approximately $1.5 million in grants nationwide.
The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration grant program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships focused on improving water quality, watersheds and the species and habitats they support.
Projects include a variety of ecological improvements along with targeted community outreach, education and stewardship. Ecological improvements may include one or more of the following: wetland, riparian, forest and coastal habitat restoration; wildlife conservation, community tree canopy enhancement, water quality monitoring and green infrastructure best management practices for managing run-off.
Projects should increase access to the benefits of nature, reduce the impact of environmental hazards and engage local communities, particularly underserved communities, in project planning, outreach and implementation. This program expects that applicants will represent a mixture of urban and rural communities. NFWF may use a mix of public and private funding sources to support any grant made through this program.
ELIGIBILITY
Eligible and Ineligible Entities
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Indian tribes and educational institutions
- Ineligible applicants include: unincorporated individuals, businesses, international organizations and U.S. federal government agencies
FUNDING AVAILABILITY
Approximately $1,500,000 is available nationwide for projects meeting program priorities. There is one round of full proposals annually for this program. Awards range from $20,000 to $50,000 with an average size of $35,000 and 40-50 grants awarded per year. Grants should span 12 to 18 months with a start date in late summer/early fall 2021.
For complete details please visit Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program 2021 Request for Proposals Website
Association Updates
Weekly Wrap Update – Week of 11/23
Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, there will not be a Weekly Wrap next week.
New ACWA Compliance Assurance and Data Systems Workgroup
The Compliance Assurance and Data Systems Workgroup (CADSW) is a new workgroup under the Permitting & Compliance Committee that will focus on compliance and enforcement initiatives including the SNC National Compliance Initiative, NPDES eReporting Rule implementation, the new NPDES Noncompliance Report, Compliance Monitoring Strategies, violation tracking/scoring, SNC for Minors, ECHO Reports and Dashboards, and the State Review Framework. This workgroup will also assist EPA with identifying and prioritizing work associated with ICIS-NPDES data system enhancements/updates. If you or someone on your staff would be interested in joining this workgroup or offering up your services as one of two Co-Chairs, please contact Sean Rolland.
ACWA Survey: Small Communities, Lagoons, and WQBELs Data Availability
As many of you are aware, small community based systems have enormous challenges meeting ammonia water quality based effluent limits – an immediate challenge – let alone current and future nutrient WQBELs. In fact, there are studies that show facultative lagoon based systems, even when fully optimized, will likely only ever be able to reach effluent concentrations of 10 mg/l (total nitrogen) and 2 mg/L (total phosphorus) respectively. Currently, without a significant investment of money, there is no simple, inexpensive, technological solution that can be integrated into the treatment system that would get the nitrogen and phosphorus reductions needed to meet WQBELs. For most systems, these facilities would need to spend far more money per capita than is likely viewed by rate payers as reasonable. And many would say the human health and environmental benefits might not be worth the enormous price tag of such expenditures.
ACWA would like to have a better understanding of the size of this universe based on population served and treatment technology being utilized. This survey will also help us better understand the types of data states have available. Thank you for your time filling this survey out – we believe it will help tremendously with future conversations. Survey responses should be submitted no later than Friday, December 4, 2020.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Small_Systems_Survey
Association of Clean Water Administrators Leadership Education and Development System (LEADS)
What is it?
The ACWA Leadership Education and Development System (LEADS) is a new Board directed initiative intended to encourage participation in leadership activities and help future leaders in the organization improve their understanding of roles and responsibilities.
Who can participate?
All current state and interstate members and their staff interested in learning more about leadership in ACWA (Committee/Workgroup Chairs, Regional Board Members, Executive Officers) can volunteer to participate in LEADS.
How do I engage?
To learn more about the LEADS initiative, please contact Sean Rolland to get access to a short questionnaire. Upon completing the questionnaire, participants will be provided access to a new Member365 Workspace, which holds materials developed expressly for the ACWA LEADS program.
What if I have more questions?
After reviewing the materials, should a participant have more questions and/or be interested in further discussing future leadership opportunities in ACWA, a volunteer advisor with experience in that leadership role will notified and will reach out to you.
Meetings and Webinars
EPA Creating the Water Workforce of the Future Webinar Series — Technology Adoption: It’s All About the People
December 9, 2020 | 11:00-12:30pm Eastern
Every day, water service providers tackle complex challenges, such as aging water infrastructure, extreme weather events, water shortages, rising costs, increasing customer demands, and cyber security. Water sector utilities serve as “anchor institutions” in their communities and are implementing new and exciting technologies to address these pressing challenges. As utilities adopt these new technologies, they also need to invest in their most important resource: their staff. It is critically important that employees receive training and support to ensure the water workforce remains efficient and resilient.
Please join EPA and speakers from two leading organizations as they discuss the motivations, challenges, and benefits they are experiencing as they work with their own employees and others to ensure their people get the best support possible to meet the technology and water quality challenges of the 21st century.
Job Opportunities
National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Steward — Washington Department of Ecology
Location: Lacey, WA
Apply by: Continuous; Initial Application Screening on November 18, 2020
The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Unit within the Information Technology Services Office (ITSO) at our Headquarters building in Lacey, WA is currently looking to fill a permanent National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Steward (Data Management – Journey) position. In this role as the Washington State NHD steward, you will be working with local, state, and federal stakeholders to help maintain and promote a single, statewide, hydrography framework dataset.
Learn more and apply here.
