This Week in Washington is a weekly publication of the Water Environment Federation’s Government Affairs department. It provides updates on the latest legislative and regulatory developments that affect the water and wastewater communities.

Provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA

Congress Completes Interior and EPA FY06 Appropriations before August

For the first time in recent history, Congress will have completed at least two FY06 spending measures nearly two months before the beginning of the fiscal year, including spending packages for the Interior Department and EPA and for the Legislative Branch.  The House passed the Interior and EPA appropriations bill last night on a vote of 410 – 10 and the Senate is expected to pass the measure today. The EPA budget contains deep cuts to the Clean Water SRF program which will receive $900 million in FY06, a 10% cut over this year’s allocation of $1.1 billion, though $170 million more than the President’s budget request.  The CWSRF suffered the steepest cut in the EPA budget.  The Interior/EPA bill contains $1.5 billion in FY05 emergency spending for veteran’s healthcare programs which made passage of the bill urgent.  Congress is committed to finishing the remaining appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year of September 30. (PS) 

Final Transportation Conference Report Leaves out Storm-water:

Congress is expected to finally complete work this week on a long awaited transportation reauthorization bill that first expired in 2003.  The bill authorizes $289 billion over five years for highway and transit projects, $2 billion more than the Administration called for, but $9 billion less than the Senate’s package.  The Administration has hinted at a veto, but thus far it is unlikely that the bill will be vetoed.  The Senate package contained a provision requiring States to set-aside 2% of their allocations to fund projects that mitigate storm-water run-off.  Though the Senate adopted this provision by an amendment offered by Senator John Warner (R-VA), the provision never had the full support of Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, nor from Senator Kit Bond (B-MO), Chair of the Senate EPW Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  The provision was eventually stripped from the final conference report.  (PS)

Senate Confirms Marcus Peacock for EPA

The Senate also confirmed Marcus Peacock to be Deputy Administrator of EPA.  Peacock goes to the EPA after completing several years as Director of Natural Resources for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  The nominations for Susan P. Bodine, named assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response, and Granta Y. Nakayama, nominated to be assistant EPA administrator for enforcement and compliance are still pending.  Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has placed a hold on the nomination of Susan Bodine until her questions regarding human exposure to superfund toxic waste dump sites and clean-up plans are answered.  (PS)

National Study on Residential Impact of Biological Aerosols from Land Application of Biosolids Finds Low Microbial Risks of Infection

A national study was conducted by the University of Arizona (Tucson) on the residential impact of biological aerosols from the land application of biosolids.  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the community risk of infection from bioaerosols to residents living near biosolids land application sites.  The study results led to the conclusion that overall bioaerosol exposure from biosolids operations poses little community risk.  The study evaluated the overall incidence of aerosolized microorganisms from the land application of biosolids and subsequently determined that microbial risks of infection were low for residents close to biosolids application sites.  The study results were published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, 2005, 99, 310-322.  To view the study, visit the National Biosolids Partnership’s web page – www.biosolids.org or http://biosolids.org/docs/National_Study_Bioaerosols_LandApp_2005.pdf. (SJH)

New Data Indicates Improvements in Beach Health

This week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made available on its web site the latest data about beach closings and advisories for the 2004 swimming season.  According to EPA, the data show that only four percent of beach days were lost in 2004 due to advisories or closures triggered by monitoring for bacteria.  In addition, closures were relatively short in duration, with over 2,700 closings for two days or less, and only 59 closings that lasted more than 30 days.  Over 3,500 beaches were monitored in 2004 compared to only 1, 021 in 1997 when EPA first began collecting beach-monitoring program data.  Of the beaches reported in the 2004 data, 942, or 26 percent, had at least one advisory or closing during the season.  The beach-monitoring program is required under the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act. Coastal and Great Lakes states and territories must report to EPA on beach monitoring and notification data for their coastal recreation waters. Summary information for 2004 is available at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/2004fs.html.  (SRT)

NRDC Report Highlights Increases in Beach Closings

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on Thursday released an annual report on beach closings.  According to the report, the number of beach closing and health advisory days across the country in 2004 jumped 9 percent, from 18,224 days in 2003 to 19,950 days in 2004.  In a press release on the report, called Testing the Waters 2005, NRDC stated one reason for the increase is that "improved monitoring spurred by previous reports is now uncovering the true extent of the pollution problem."  The report covers ocean, bay, and Great Lakes beaches.  "Instead of closing our beaches, let's clean up the water," said Nancy Stoner, director of NRDC's Clean Water Project. "Authorities have gotten better at finding the problems. Now they need to stop the pollution at its source by repairing and replacing leaky sewage and septic systems, and cleaning up contaminated runoff."    States with the biggest jump in closing and advisory days compared with 2003 were Texas (1,074 percent), Washington (700 percent), Maryland (405 percent), Minnesota (333 percent), Michigan (174 percent), New York (117 percent) and Illinois (102 percent). Hawaii went from no closing or advisory days in 2003 to 1,169 in 2004; Maine went from none in 2003 to 56 in 2004.  The report states that 85% of the closing and advisory days were prompted by dangerously high bacteria levels.  The report is available on the web at http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/ttw/titinx.asp.  (SRT)

Availability of Funds for EPA 2005 Operator Training Grants

EPA announced on July 28 the availability of a memorandum entitled Allocation of Funds for Fiscal Year 2005 Operator Training Grants.  The memo was originally issued to Regional Water Management Division Directors on June 2 and provides national guidance for the allocation of funds used under Section 104(g)(1) of the Clean Water Act.  Section 104(g)(1) funds are intended to be used to provide on-site technical assistance for operators and municipal employees that operate, maintain, and manage POTWs.  The memo provides guidance to states on the selection of candidates and types of activities that can be funded.  The memorandum is available at http://www.epa.gov/OW-OWM.html/mab/104gallocmem05.pdf. (SJH)

WERF to Develop Protocol for Investigating Reports of Alleged Health Impacts Associated with Biosolids Land Application

The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) announced on July 25 that it is soliciting proposals from researchers who can help develop a protocol that will allow for collecting, acting on, and maintaining data on reports of alleged health symptoms by people living near municipal wastewater treatment biosolids land application site. The data collected may help answer the question as to whether or not a causal link between biosolids land application and health effects exists. This research responds to a July 2002 report from the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences. Although the NRC report found no documented scientific evidence that the part 503 rules have failed to protect public health, it did recommend that EPA update the scientific basis of regulations governing biosolids, improve knowledge of chemicals and pathogens, and evaluate concerns about health effects and exposure. WERF will play a role in helping to fill these scientific gaps and will provide its findings to EPA. The WERF funding for Phase 1 of this program is $150,000. The complete research program includes the development of a protocol (Phase 1), the pilot testing and refinement of the protocol (Phase 2), and a methodology for its implementation and use by the appropriate agencies (Phase 3). The funding amounts for Phases 2 and 3 will be established while Phase 1 is underway.  For more information about this and other WERF research, visit the WERF website at www.werf.org (SJH) 

EPA Office of Water Launches New Watershed Discussion Board

The EPA Office of Water launched a new on-line Watershed Discussion Board to give watershed protection practitioners and citizens a platform to exchange ideas.  EPA hopes to engage watershed leaders from around the country in a series of interactive, on-line discussions.  The Forum currently includes the following six categories: community involvement, smart growth/low impact development, source water protection, stormwater best management practices, sustainable financing, and watershed planning tools.  Visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/forum/forum.html to register to post messages and receive customized updates. (SJH)

Quote of the Week: “When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water"  -- Benjamin Franklin

This Week in Washington is provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA. To receive This Week in Washington by e-mail, contact Lisa Jones, (703) 684-2400 ext. 7741, ljones@wef.org . For more information on this week's stories, please contact the WEF staff whose initials appear at the end of the item in which you are interested. TW - Tim Williams (703) 684-2437, twilliams@wef.org ; SRT - Sharon Thomas, (703) 684-2423, sthomas@wef.org ; SJH - Sam Hadeed (703) 684-2418, shadeed@wef.org ; PS-Patricia Sinicropi (703) 684-2416, psinicropi@wef.org . This Week in Washington is available on-line at http://www.wef.org/PolicyAction/USGovernmentAffairs/TWIW/.