Water has certainly caught the attention of our nation's policymakers and the public at large, as reports of water main breaks, emerging contaminants, droughts, and water quality deterioration are appearing in headlines and being broadcast across the airwaves.
The growing awareness of the quality and quantity problems associated with water and the potential repercussions on all aspects of society have caused a flurry of action at the federal level, where lawmakers and regulators are seeking solutions to the challenges facing life's most precious resource.
During the 109th Congress, there were over 100 bills introduced in both the House and Senate addressing water issues. 27 drinking water and 51 wastewater legislative bills in particular would have directly impacted future demand for water and wastewater products and services. They ranged in scope from local and regional issues, such as Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia River and the Great Lakes clean up programs, to national initiatives governing ballast water, lead prevention and small systems regulatory relief. The majority of these bills died in committee.
There were several areas where Congress could have made important inroads in helping advance the environment, but failed to act.
Of most immediate concern is that of funding, specifically for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This program provides low-interest loans to communities to pay for their wastewater infrastructure needs. The President's fiscal 2007 budget proposal would have slashed funding for this program by nearly 50 percent from just three years ago when it received $1.2 billion. The House went along with the President's proposal, providing only $675.5 million for the program in fiscal 2007. The Senate was expected to do the same, though at the time of this writing no final bill had been passed for EPA's fiscal 2007 budget.
Hopefully, funding for this critically important program will be restored in the future, given the nearly $1 trillion in needs facing our nation's water and wastewater infrastructure.
Some other noteworthy environmental legislative measures that had hopes of passage but failed to be enacted during this last congressional session included:
- Clean Water Investment and Infrastructure Security Act (H.R. 1708) removing water and wastewater facilities from the state volume cap for tax-exempt private activity bonds, thereby encouraging private sector investments in these public-purpose projects.
- Rural Water Supply Act (S. 895 / H.R. 4418) creating a $20 million annual loan guarantee program to be administered by the Bureau of Reclamation for water infrastructure.
- Water Resources Development Act (S. 728 / H.R. 2864) authorizing $12 billion for several hundred lock and dam, wastewater treatment and ecosystem restoration projects.
- Water Resources Research Act Amendments (S. 1071 / H.R. 4588) authorizing $94 million over five years in grants for water resources research and technology institutes focused on water problems.
- Cleanup of Inactive and Abandoned Mines Act (S/ 1848 / H.R. 5404) offering protection under applicable environmental laws, and an expedited permitting process, for Good Samaritans to remediate inactive or abandoned mining sites.
- Energy-Water Efficiency Through Research, Development, and Transfer Program Act (S. 1860) creating a new program within the U.S. Department of Energy to promote technology dealing with the relationship between water and energy, including desalination.
- Wastewater Treatment Works Security Act (S. 2781) authorizing $245 million over five years in 50 percent grants to publicly-owned treatment works for security-related activities.
The 110th Congress, which convenes in January, is expected to be more environmentally friendly.
On the Regulatory Front . . .
Several major regulatory developments in 2006 impacting the drinking water and wastewater treatment industry also deserve note:
Affordability Criteria
The most significant - and potentially devastating - development in the drinking water program was a proposal to create a two-tier public health standard for large vs. small communities. This proposal would revise the national affordability methodology for small drinking water systems serving a population of less than 10,000, lowering the threshold of what is considered the maximum cost affordable to customers serving small systems.
Furthermore, these systems would be able to use variance technologies that would permit up to 3X the maximum allowable level of any contaminant and still be considered "protective of public heath." WWEMA opposed this measure, which is still undergoing internal review at EPA.
Arsenic
January 23, 2006 was the deadline for 54,000 community water systems to meet the new drinking water standard for arsenic of 10 parts per billion (ppb). Several states have indicated their intention of offering exemptions to the rule to allow additional time for compliance.
Perchlorate
In the absence of a maximum contaminant level for perchlorate, which is used as a primary ingredient of solid rocket propellant, EPA issued guidance in January 2006 recommending a preliminary clean up goal of 24.5-ppb. Massachusetts was the first state to adopt a cleanup standard of 2-ppb.
Ground Water Rule
EPA signed into law on October 11 the long-awaited Ground Water Rule, establishing a risk-based approach to target systems vulnerable to fecal contamination. Affected systems will have to conduct regular sanitary surveys, do source water monitoring when a positive sample occurs, take corrective action for significant deficiencies or evidence of fecal contamination, and conduct compliance monitoring to ensure 99.99 percent (4-log) inactivation or removal of viruses. There are approximately 147,000 ground water systems in the U.S.
Effluent Guidelines
In the wastewater side of the business on the industrial side, EPA is conducting studies of airport deicing operations and drinking water systems to determine if they need to establish new effluent guideline regulations governing their residuals.
In addition, a federal court just ruled that EPA was negligent in failing to establish storm water pollution standards for construction and development sites. Polluted runoff from parking lots, highways, and rooftops is the fastest growing source of water pollution in the nation. EPA is studying this decision to determine its next step.
Ballast Water
EPA was also just hit by another court ruling vacating a long-standing federal rule that exempts ballast water discharges from the NPDES program. The courts have instructed the EPA to develop, within two years, a program to regulate ballast water discharges from marine vessels visiting U.S. ports. This action coincided with a decision by California's governor requiring that ballast water treatment systems be in place on all ships by 2020.
Cooling Water Intake Structures
EPA published a final rule in June setting standards for cooling water intake structures at new oil and gas extraction facilities that withdraw at least 2-mgd, either at offshore or coastal locations. The rule will apply to an estimated 124 new rigs and platforms expected to be built over the next two decades.
Blending
On the municipal side, one of the most significant developments to occur this past year had to do with a policy for managing peak wet weather flows. This policy would allow wastewater treatment plants to divert a portion of peak wet weather flows around secondary treatment units and recombine the flow with flow from the secondary treatment units, disinfect, and discharge it. This would apply only to systems serving sanitary sewer collection systems. EPA expects to release the final policy by the end of 2006.
Resource Management
Lastly, if there is any doubt that work remains to be done in managing our water resources, EPA just released its first "Wadeable Steams Assessment" report, indicating that 42 percent of stream miles were in poor condition and another 25 percent in fair condition. Nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment runoff were identified as the primary contributing factors affecting the health of streams.
What's Ahead
Looking ahead at 2007, on the drinking water side expect greater attention to be given to understanding the threat presented by endocrine disruptors, a tightening of the lead content rule for plumbing fixtures, as well as the development of standards for perchlorate and MtBE.
On the wastewater side, heightened concern with nutrients and phosphorous will drive tighter water quality standards, and control over pathogens will become increasingly important as we move toward greater reuse of our water supplies.
No doubt the year ahead will be an interesting one!
Pumps and Systems, January 2007