News

EPA Rescinds Maui Guidance

On September 15, 2021, EPA formally rescinded the January 2021 Maui Guidance document titled “Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Program.” A copy of the decision can be found here. The two reasons given for rescinding the guidance were: 1) the eighth factor described as “the design and performance of the system or facility from which the pollutant is released” was not consistent with the CWA or the Supreme Court decision; and 2) the guidance was issued without proper deliberation with EPA or with EPA’s federal partners. The rescission memo also noted that “no language in the decision suggests that the existence, or lack, of a state groundwater protection program has any bearing on whether the “functional equivalent” analysis applies. Rather, the focus on the court’s decision is on whether a permit is required to protect surface waters, no to protect groundwater itself.”

ACWA Submits Pre-Proposal WOTUS Comments

ACWA sent a letter this week to the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers outlining the states’ recommendations for developing a revised navigable waters protection rule (NWPR). ACWA’s letter offers five recommendations:

(1) respect the role of the states as co-regulators and provide early, continuous, and meaningful opportunities for dialogue and input as any new rule is developed; (2) respect and follow the science; (3) recognize the geographic, geologic, climatic, hydrologic and leadership diversity among states and craft a definition that provides clarity but also flexibility for state implementers; (4) prepare to provide the states, well in advance, with technical assistance, tools and trainings to assist with implementation of any revised definition; and (5) include a delayed effective date to give state partners ample time to revise state regulations and/or to develop new state policy to cover any changes in coverage as a result of the revised jurisdictional definition.

ACWA Joins Coalition in Highlighting Potential Unintended Consequences of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

A coalition letter from ACWA, ECOS, Western States Water Council, CIFA, and ASDWA highlighting potential unintended consequences that may result from the Infrastructure Investment & Job Act. The letter points out that the requirement for state cash match on appropriations in the bill jeopardizes the ability of states to quickly and efficiently access this federal funding for water infrastructure projects.

EPA Releases New Report on Nutrient Removal Technologies

EPA has posted a new report entitled Innovative Nutrient Removal Technologies: Case Studies of Intensified or Enhanced Treatment on the Wastewater Technologies Clearinghouse. The document can be accessed directly here.

About the Report

The U.S. EPA completed a study and report that analyzed the long-term performance of five municipal facilities in the U.S. and one in Canada that implemented innovative technologies or process enhancements designed to significantly intensify treatment or enhance the removal of nitrogen or phosphorus species. The analysis centered on assessing technology performance at each facility and statistical variability of plant effluent nutrient concentrations over a three-year period. Each case study presents a detailed process description, performance analysis, assessment of process train consistency in meeting permit limits, and lessons learned in process implementation.

Notice of Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15

This week EPA published notice that EPA’s Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 was available for review and public comment. This plan is published every two years, identifies existing industries selected for regulatory revisions, and new industries identified for regulation. To date, EPA has issued ELGs for 59 industrial categories which apply to 40,000 facilities that discharge directly to the nation’s waters, 129,000 facilities that discharge to municipal sewage treatment plants. For Plan 15 EPA is announcing the following actions:

• initiate rulemaking to revise limitations for the Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and Synthetic Fibers (OCPSF) category for facilities that manufacture PFAS.
• initiate rulemaking to revise limitations for the Metal Finishing category to address PFAS discharges from chromium plating operations.
• initiate rulemaking to revise the existing Meat and Poultry Products category and discharge standards for the industry.
• initiate supplemental rulemaking for the Steam Electric Power Generating category.
• initiate studies of PFAS discharges from the Landfills and Textile Mills categories.

The plan also provides updates and solicits input on related activities. For example,

• EPA announced it will not take further action on oil & gas produced water at this time.
• EPA requests stakeholder feedback on the ELG Program’s approach to incorporating Environmental Justice into the plan and future ELG-related activities.

The Multi-Industry PFAS Study – 2021 Preliminary Report, pursuant to prior ELG Plans, was co-released with the plan. The study:

• Summarizes readily available information and data EPA collected and reviewed concerning industrial discharges of PFAS from five industrial point source categories: OCPSF, manufacturing; metal finishing; pulp, paper, and paperboard manufacturing; textile mills; and commercial airports.
• Presents EPA’s estimates of the types and concentrations of PFAS, including legacy long-chain PFAS and replacement short-chain PFAS, present in wastewater discharges from applicable facilities.
• Summarizes the manufacture and use of PFAS at facilities in the five industrial point source categories EPA reviewed.
• Summarizes information and performance data EPA collected on treatment technologies capable of removing or destroying PFAS in water streams.

The comment period for the Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 closes October 14, 2021. Find the Federal Register Notice here.

EPA Issues Final 2021 Pesticide General Permit

This week EPA announced issuance of the final 2021 NPDES Pesticide General Permit (PGP) with an effective date of October 31, 2021. EPA is issuing this permit for five (5) years in all areas of the country where EPA is the NPDES permitting authority. EPA issued their first Pesticide General Permit October 31, 2011, in response to the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling vacating EPA’s 2006 Final Rule on Aquatic Pesticides (National Cotton Council of America v. EPA, 553 F.3d 927 (6th Cir. 2009)). EPA received 8 written comment letters on the draft 2021 permit and responded to all significant comments in the Response to Comment Document available in the docket. While the requirements of the 2021 PGP remain mostly the same as those in the 2016 PGP, some minor updates associated with the Endangered Species Act have been added and are discussed in more detail in the 2021 PGP Fact Sheet. The new permit, which applies in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and on federal and tribal lands, will also update CWA 401 state water quality certifications.

USGS Report: Watershed Modeling to Assess Surface Water Nutrient Impairment Across the Pacific Northwest and California 

What is already known on this topic?  

State agencies in the Pacific region, with extensive local knowledge and often with limited resources, have identified over 1,800 nutrient-impaired water bodies based on high nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, nuisance algal or rooted plant growth, low dissolved oxygen concentrations, or elevated pH levels.

What is added by this report?  

The region-wide, reach-scale results from this study provide two new tools that might help water-quality managers. One is an estimate of the total contribution from point and diffuse sources to the loads delivered to nutrient-impaired water bodies. The other is a method to assess potential nutrient impairment based on estimated warm-weather dissolved oxygen and pH conditions. As an example, the data showed that many streams identified as likely habitat for threatened summer steelhead trout do not appear to meet protective thresholds for dissolved oxygen and pH.

What are the implications for water availability?

Water-quality managers can now estimate the nutrient contribution from individual point sources and diffuse sources to any impaired water body. Water-quality managers can also assess the potential impairment of any water body based on estimated dissolved oxygen and pH conditions.

Like those throughout the country, state agencies responsible for managing watersheds within the Pacific region of the United States rely on many types of information to guide their assessments, management, and decision making. While it’s important that these agencies have access to readily available water-quality and watershed data that represent the time period in which they are interested, until recently these data were often incomplete or non-existent.

With the advent of large-scale spatial data sets that describe atmospheric, hydrologic, and terrestrial characteristics, detailed spatial and temporal analyses at the watershed level can now be performed to help inform management decisions. A new USGS study describes how recent SPARROW modeling results, representing water years 2000-2014, and other regional watershed data were used to assess surface-water nutrient impairment in the Pacific region.

The results showed the contribution from both point and diffuse sources to instream nutrient loads and included estimates of warm-weather dissolved oxygen and pH conditions in free-flowing streams. These results can be used by water-quality managers to help identify potential impairment and inform water-quality management decisions needed to confirm and mitigate that impairment. The results described in this report contain the first complete estimates of nutrient, dissolved oxygen, and pH conditions for the Pacific region, and the techniques used provide a framework for integrating watershed data to assess water-quality impairment across other large regions.

For more information, contact: Daniel Wise. Find data used in the study here.

Citation: Wise, D.R., 2021, Using regional watershed data to assess water-quality impairment in the Pacific Drainages of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2021–5087, 29 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215087.

Meetings and Webinars

2021 Virtual Water Quality Modeling Workshop

ACWA, in partnership with USEPA will be holding a 3-day virtual workshop on Water Quality Modeling. This workshop will take place September 20 – September 22, 2021, from 1-5 PM EST.

Sessions will take place through Zoom and registration is required. This workshop is limited to State, Federal, and Tribal participants. We encourage you to distribute this information widely to your partners.

This year’s workshop will feature 2 tracks that attendees may choose from:

• Data Visualization.
• Using Open-source scripting to streamline modeling tasks.

Registration and agendas for each track may be found on ACWA’s events page.

You may contact Jasper Hobbs with any questions: jhobbs@acwa-us.org

2021 Virtual Nutrients Permitting Workshop

ACWA will be holding a virtual Nutrients Permitting Workshop: Permitting for Restoration
October 26-28, 2021, 1-5 PM EST.

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 obstacles to nutrient permitting program implementation, highlight opportunities for program improvement, showcase innovations, and assist with analysis of training, guidance, tools, and other support material needs.

This workshop will have days dedicated to the restoration of lakes, rivers, and estuaries.

Registration and a draft agenda may be found on ACWA’s events page.

You may contact Jasper Hobbs with any questions: jhobbs@acwa-us.org

EPA Webinar: Industrial Pretreatment Program Audits of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants: What to expect, how to prepare, and common findings

Date:               Wednesday September 22, 2021
Time:              1:00-2:30pm EST
Registration: Click here

EPA’s Office of Compliance invites you to a free webinar on September 22, 2021 as part of EPA’s ongoing Technical Assistance Webinar Series: Improving CWA-NPDES Permit Compliance at Small Wastewater Treatment Systems titled Industrial Pretreatment Program Audits of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants: What to expect, how to prepare, and common findings, featuring Justin Pimpare, Jan Pickrel, Amelia Whitson, and David Phillips – all Pretreatment Coordinators for different US EPA Regional or HQ offices.

Pretreatment programs protect municipal wastewater treatment plants from operational interference or pass-through due to non-sanitary pollutants from industrial and commercial sources. In this webinar, EPA presenters will describe the steps that are involved by EPA or the State in conducting a pretreatment audit of a POTW. Equally significant, the presenters will advise what POTWs can do to prepare for an EPA audit of its authorized pretreatment program. Both small and large system operators and program coordinators will benefit from the information, as well as those POTWs that do not yet have a pretreatment program but may need one.

We also have a new website to announce future webinars and archive past webinars. It takes some time to get the webinars posted, so check back frequently to find the most recent recordings.

Regarding certificates: Registered attendees receive an automated follow-up email from GoToWebinar 24 hours after the conclusion of the live webinar which includes a link to download a certificate of attendance. Check your inbox or spam folder for this email. Discuss eligibility of continuing education credits with your specific certification authority – sometimes the certification authority requires advanced notice of the webinar to allow credit. EPA does not guarantee credits. Also, certificates are not available for viewing past recorded webinars.

EPA Webinar: Smart Sewer Systems and Smart Data Infrastructure

Register:  October 14, 2021, 01:00 PM, Eastern Time

Register:  Dec 7, 2021 01:00 PM, Eastern Time

Description: U.S. EPA is hosting a two-part webinar series on smart sewer systems and smart data infrastructure. Smart sewer systems use real-time monitoring and other advanced technologies to improve decision-making regarding capacity, management, and operation and maintenance programs. Smart data infrastructure is the ecosystem of technology tools and solutions focused on the collection, storage, and/or analysis of water-related data. Both webinars will highlight how communities have implemented these approaches to improve their sewer system management and decision-making.

Speakers: Reese Johnson from the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kieran Fahey from City of South Bend, Indiana, will speak on October 14, 2021.

O.J. McFoy from the City of Buffalo, New York, Sewer Authority and Stacia Eckenwiler from City of Columbus, Ohio, will speak on December 7, 2021.

Disclaimer
The views expressed in these presentations are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Any mention of trade names, products, or services does not imply an endorsement by the U.S. Government or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA does not endorse any commercial products, services, or enterprises.

SepticSmart Week 2021 Starts Next Week

In Geauga County, Ohio, the Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District and Geauga Public Health are hosting an informational discussion, as part of their 2021 Clean Water Starts at Home education series. This fantastic event and informational series can be modelled by other counties across the country.

EPA is hosting a Decentralized Wastewater MOU Partnership webinar on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET. The webinar, titled “Using Nationwide and Local Data Sources to Address Decentralized Wastewater Infrastructure Challenges in the Contiguous U.S. and the Caribbean,” will explore the collection, use, and application of data on septic systems in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. You can register here.

The EPA septic outreach toolkit can be found here.

Valuing Aquatic Ecosystem Health at a National Scale: Modeling Biological Indicators Across Space and Time

Wed, Sep 29, 2021 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT | Register Here

EPA estimates the benefits of preserving aquatic resources using the water quality index, WQI. WQI metrics relate to human uses like recreation, but fails to fully capture aspects important to nonuse values of aquatic ecosystems, such as existence values. State preference surveys can quantify the nonuse values of waterbodies but require an appropriate index of biological health to be able to measure and compare biological condition.

In a recent effort, EPA researchers identified an appropriate biological health index to be applied in a forthcoming national state preference survey that will estimate nonuse values of streams and lakes throughout the conterminous United States. Through literature review and focus groups, researchers compared two aquatic indices that are regularly used to quantify biological health by EPA’s National Aquatic Resource Surveys: 1) multimetric indices and 2) observed to expected ratio of taxonomic composition (O/E). This webinar will discuss this comparison, implications for estimating benefits of preserving aquatic resources, and forthcoming work to link O/E with water quality and habitat models, which would forecast changes in O/E resulting from future regulatory action.

TRI Webinar: Accessing & Using the Toxics Release Inventory’s P2 Data

Friday, September 24 at 2:00 pm ET | Register Here

As part of EPA’s Pollution Prevention (P2) Week celebration, join us for a free webinar to learn how the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program collects P2 information from industrial and federal facilities about projects they have implemented to eliminate or reduce the creation of chemical waste.

Community members, local government representatives, facility personnel, and others can access this information through multiple online resources and use it to further the identification and advancement of P2 opportunities.

The webinar will include topics like:

• What data facilities are required to report.
• Examples of P2 projects implemented at manufacturing facilities.
• A live demo of how to find P2 data for specific chemicals or industry sectors.
• Resources for and benefits of implementing P2 projects at facilities.

This webinar is also part of a series of webinars to mark the 35th anniversary of the TRI Program.

TRI Webinar: Introduction to Using the RSEI Model

Tuesday, September 21, 2021 2:00 pm | Register Here

Did you know that EPA’s Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model can provide important information about the potential health-related impacts of toxic chemical releases from facilities in your community that report to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)?

Join EPA for a webinar on Tuesday, September 21 at 2:00 pm EDT to learn more about the RSEI model, including:

• How to access RSEI for beginning/new users.
• How RSEI provides context for TRI data.
• How to interpret RSEI results.
• The value of RSEI for communities, researchers, policymakers, and others.

EPA’s RSEI model helps policy makers, researchers, and communities explore data on releases of toxic substances from industrial and federal facilities. It incorporates information from TRI on the amount of toxic chemicals released, together with factors such as the chemical’s fate and transport through the environment, each chemical’s relative toxicity, and potential human exposure.

This webinar is part of a series of webinars to mark the 35th anniversary of TRI and to help inform stakeholders about this valuable resource.

Public Webinar on Ambient Water Quality Criteria to Address Nutrient Pollution in Lakes and Reservoirs

September 30 at 3:00pm EDT| Register Here

EPA is hosting a public webinar to help members of the public better understand the criteria and how they can be used. EPA recently published revised ambient water quality criteria under the Clean Water Act to address nutrient pollution in lakes and reservoirs. The agency’s criteria recommendations serve as important resources that states and authorized tribes can use to protect public health, pets, and aquatic life from certain adverse effects of excess nutrients, including harmful algal blooms. The recommended criteria are based on the latest science and replace EPA’s previously recommended criteria for lakes and reservoirs that were published in 2000 and 2001. EPA developed national statistical models that provide a flexible approach for identifying appropriately protective numeric nutrient criteria. States, territories, and authorized tribes can use the national models or incorporate local data into the national models to help develop numeric nutrient criteria that are consistent with national relationships while accounting for unique local conditions.

Following the webinar, EPA will post the presentation slides on EPA’s website.

Building Resilience and Adapting to Climate Change Impacts: Training for Drinking Water and Wastewater Utilities

September 21, 10-12 MST | Register Here

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative is providing a series of free webinars for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater (water sector) utility owners and operators, as well as other water sector stakeholders. These webinars focus on building resilience to the impacts of climate change, as well as the identification and implementation of adaptation options, and utility infrastructure financing.

This introductory webinar focuses on the Northern Great Plains climate regions of the nation and is being conducted in coordination with the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Association of Water Companies and National Rural Water Association.

WEBINAR OBJECTIVES

• Provide information about how climate change, such as drought and flooding, impact drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities in the Northern Great Plains climate region of the nation;
• Introduce CRWU tools and resources, including our Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT), a utility risk assessment application for climate change (Community water systems that use EPA’s Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool (VSAT) to comply with the risk and resilience assessment requirements in Section 2013 of America’s Water Infrastructure Act can export VSAT results into CREAT to better assess the long-term impacts of their natural disaster threats); and,
• Present a local utility case study on resilience planning efforts and adaptation activities using CREAT.

CREDIT HOURS / CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS (CEUs) for certified drinking water operators and certified wastewater operators from select states may be available for participating (applications pending). To receive credit hours / CEUs, you must register and attend the entire webinar (2 hours) and complete the survey provided after the webinar.

In-Depth Training Series on CREAT

Register Here

To complement the Building Resilience and Adapting to Climate Change Impacts: Introductory Session webinar scheduled for September 21, 2021, EPA is also providing a detailed training on CREAT. This training will help drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities:

• Begin to develop their own climate change risk assessment
• Identify and share information on adaptation strategies to build utility long-term resilience
• Share information on available resources for financing resilience and adaptation

SESSION 1: Tuesday, October 19, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MST

This webinar provides a training overview, as well as details on the use of CREAT Module 1: Climate Awareness, which covers inputs of basic utility information to increase awareness of climate change impacts and CREAT Module 2: Scenario Development, which covers understanding utility risk and designing scenarios of threats based on climate change projection data.

SESSION 2: Thursday, October 21, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MST

This webinar provides details on the use of CREAT Module 3: Consequence and Assets, which covers outlining potential consequences and cataloging critical assets and Module 4: Adaptation Planning, which covers how to inventory current actions that develop resilience and how to design adaptation plans.

SESSION 3: Tuesday, October 26, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MST

This webinar provides details on the use of CREAT Module 5: Risk Assessment, which covers assessing risk from a changing climate and evaluating adaptation plans. Additionally, the webinar includes a presentation on resources for financing adaptation options.

SESSION 4 (Optional): Tuesday, November 9, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. MST

This webinar provides an opportunity for attendees to ask questions related to climate change, risk assessment, financial resources, or any other items, as well as more details on financing adaptation options.

As part of the training, you will complete short homework assignments that reinforce skills for conducting your own climate change risk assessment. To prepare for the training you are encouraged to attend the Building Resilience and Adapting to Climate Change Impacts: Introductory Session Webinar for Drinking Water and Wastewater Utilities (September 21, 2021). If you cannot attend, we encourage you to view a recording of the Introductory Session Webinar once it is available on EPA’s CRWU website.

Archived Webinar |Working Together to Improve Citizen Science Data Quality: A Webinar for Government Agencies

To view the archived webinar, please register here. The archived webinar will be available until September 14, 2022. Please pass this link along to any colleagues that may be interested in registering for the archived webinar.

Resources related to this webinar that you may be interested in are the US EPA Quality Assurance Handbook and Guidance Documents and the newly-developed Citizen Science Quality Assurance Toolkit, which includes an orientation guide for government agencies and resources for citizen science groups.

Contact Marisa Barley (marisa.barley@aphl.org) with any registration questions.
Contact Sarah Wright (sarah.wright@aphl.org) with any content-related questions.

Funding for Stormwater Operations and Maintenance Webinar

Tuesday, September 21, 2021, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EST | Register Here

On September 21, EPA’s Water Finance Center will host the third in a series of webinars presenting approaches for funding and financing stormwater infrastructure! You are invited to attend a 60-minute webinar that will highlight approaches to funding stormwater operations and maintenance (O&M) activities. This webinar features speakers who will share their experiences and expertise. There will also be time for question and answer with the speakers.

Speakers for this third webinar include representatives from OptiRTC, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, and PowerCorps PHL.

National Academies Virtual Workshop | Communities, Climate Change, and Health Equity: A New Vision

October 12, 11-4pm EST and October 14, 12-4pm EST | Register Here

As the climate crisis intensifies extreme weather events, increases global temperatures, and accelerates sea level rise, communities least able to respond are bearing the largest burden.

This two-day virtual workshop will bring together people with lived experience, environmental health experts, resilience practitioners, and climate scientists to outline the disproportionate impact that climate change has on communities experiencing health disparities and environmental injustice. 

The workshop will address three critical questions: Where are we now? How did we get here? Where do we want to go? Speakers and participants will share their visions for the future and suggest specific policies decision-makers can implement today to address the intersecting crises of climate change and health inequity.

Visit the event webpage for more information. A full agenda will be posted soon. This workshop is public and free to attend.

Putting the Brakes on Water Pollution: A story of industry and government collaboration for copper-free brakes

Webinar: Oct 6, 2021 02:00 PM Eastern Time

Register here

In January 2015, EPA, states, and the motor vehicle industry signed an agreement to reduce the use of copper and other materials in motor vehicle brake pads. The agreement calls for reducing copper in brake pads nationwide to no more than 0.5 percent by weight by 2025. In addition to copper, this voluntary initiative reduces mercury, lead, cadmium, asbestiform fibers, and chromium-six salts in motor vehicle brake pads. The initiative will reduce runoff of these pollutants from roads into the nation’s streams, rivers, and lakes. The webinar will explore how this voluntary initiative and these partnerships developed, the roles of the signatories, and the progress made so far. Speakers will highlight lessons learned and considerations for organizations considering future voluntary source control partnerships. For more information about the copper-free brake initiative, visit Copper-Free Brakes. If you need reasonable accommodations or closed captioning for this webinar, please email goss.heather@epa.gov by September 22, 2021. This webinar will be recorded and posted at a later date; a notification with the URL will be sent to all registrants once it is available.

Speakers:

• Rachel Urban, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Laurie Holmes, Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association
• Leigh Merino, Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association
• Aaron Lowe, AutoCare Association
• Don Welsh, Environmental Council of the States

Job Opportunities

Program Director | Coastal States Organization

Location: Washington, DC

Closing Date: October 15, 2021

The Coastal States Organization (CSO) is looking for an energetic, team-oriented person to advance the mission of CSO and its members on coastal, ocean and Great Lakes issues. CSO seeks a person with exemplary project management skills, excellent communication, and a good working knowledge of state and federal coastal program operations.

CSO is a 501(c)4 not-for-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 1970. CSO represents the interests of the Governors of the nation’s coastal states and territories on legislative, regulatory, policy and program matters related to coastal, ocean and Great Lakes resources.

For more information, click here.

Civil Engineer | City of Troutdale

Location: Troutdale, OR

Closing Date: September 30, 2021

Provides a wide variety of technical Professional Engineering services at the senior level, requiring substantial professional responsibility and independent judgment pertaining to planning, design, contract administration, construction inspection, program management, policy development, customer service and related matters for sanitary sewer, storm water, potable water, parks, and transportation systems, and environmental compliance.  This position is distinct from the lower level Engineering Associate position due to the size, breadth and complexity of projects and programs assigned, professional responsibility for projects and programs, application of significant independent engineering judgment, independent decision-making, and the requirement for a Professional Engineer License.

For more information, click here.

Environmental Engineer IV | Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

Location: Boston, MA

Closing Date: First consideration given to applications received before September 29

MassDEP Wetlands Program is seeking applicants for the position of Environmental Engineer (EEIV) within the Bureau of Water Resources. This position will report to, and work in coordination with, the Program’s Major Projects and Policy Unit Supervisor. Responsibilities will be in two main areas.

• Policy/regulatory/guidance – Assist with technical analyses and support for developing and implementing Wetlands Program initiatives.
• Project review and permitting – Provide support for major projects under the Wetlands Protection Act (310 CMR 10.00) and Water Quality Certification (314 CMR 9.00) regulations, many of which require regulatory Variances. The major project portfolio includes transportation system improvements such as railways, airports, and multi-use trails; utilities maintenance and improvements (e.g., electric, natural gas); and other statewide infrastructure projects, with the exception of MassDOT highways. In particular, this position will conduct review of stormwater calculations, floodplain modeling, and stream crossing design.

For more information, click here.