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.

July 7, 2006

Provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA

EPA Announces Drinking Water SRF Allotments and Additional Grants for Drinking Water Programs
On July 5, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that states, territories and tribes will share more than $940 million from three EPA grant programs to support the quality and security of the nation's drinking water.  Over $837 million will support Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) programs.  Texas and California have the highest share of state funding in allotments for fiscal year 2006 and tentative allotments for fiscal year 2007.  The Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to allot grant funding to each state based on its proportional share of total eligible needs.  Shares are based on a formula, and each state must receive a minimum of 1 percent of the funds available to all states.  The tentative allotments for 2007 are based on the amount of President Bush's fiscal year 2007 DWSRF budget request, $841.5 million. An additional $98 million in grants will fund the Public Water Supervision System. This system operates under the Safe Drinking Water Act and provides resources to implement and enforce drinking water regulations and programs.  Finally, EPA will provide $5 million in FY 2006 counter-terrorism grants to states and territories.  For more information, visit: Public Water Supervision System: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/pws/grants/  and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwsrf/allotments/.  (SJH)
 
Revised Rule Proposed for Lead in Drinking Water
EPA announced on July 6 that it plans to strengthen its rules for lead in drinking water by revising the Lead and Copper Rule of 1991. The proposal would revise monitoring requirements, require that utilities receive state approval of treatment changes, revise public notification requirements, and require systems to reevaluate lead service lines that may have previously been identified as low risk after any major treatment changes that could affect corrosion control.  The proposal is an outgrowth of EPA's March 2005 drinking water lead-reduction plan, which was developed after analyzing the efficacy of the regulation and how states and locals were implementing it.  The proposal will be published in the Federal Register in the near future. The proposal and information about lead in drinking water is located at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead.  (SJH)

Court Rules EPA Failure to Regulate Stormwater at Construction Sites Violates CWA
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) failure to establish pollution standards for stormwater from construction sites violates the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The ruling resulted from a September 2004 lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other environmental groups challenged EPA’s decision not to promulgate national effluent guidelines and new source performance standards for stormwater runoff from construction sites.  "The EPA isn't protecting our water, it's protecting asphalt," said Nancy Stoner, director of the Clean Water Project at NRDC. "The parking lot lobby may be happy about that, but Americans who like to swim, fish, and drink clean water are out of luck. Now the EPA has to do its job to safeguard public health."  The court rejected EPA’s argument that the CWA gives the agency discretion to determine if national guidelines are appropriate for construction sites and stated that 33 U.S.C. Section 1314(m) requires the agency to set standards for all identified point sources of toxic and nonconventional pollutants.  According to a written statement from the agency, EPA will study the decision to determine its next steps.  A copy of the decision is available at http://docs.nrdc.org/water/wat_06062901A.pdf. (SRT)

EPA Announces Public Meetings on Revisions to CAFO Rule
EPA announced in the July 3 Federal Register that it will conduct five public meetings on proposed regulatory revisions under the Clean Water Act for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) published on June 30. The purpose of the meetings is to enhance public understanding of the proposed regulations. The meetings are not a mechanism for submitting formal comments on the proposal. The meetings will consist of a brief presentation by EPA officials on the proposed regulations followed by a question and answer session.  Advance registration is not required. Meetings will be held on the following dates and locations:  July 24 - Fayetteville, NC; July 25 - Ames, IA; August 1-Golden, CO; August 2-.Dallas, TX; and August 3-Sacramento, CA.  To view the Federal Register notice, visit: http://www.myspy.us/cgi-bin/nph-paidmember.cgi/111011A/http/www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2006/July/Day-03/w10426.htm.  (SJH)

Quote of the Week: “Water has become a highly precious resource. There are some places where a barrel of water costs more than a barrel of oil.” ~Lloyd Axworthy, Foreign Minister of Canada (1999 - News Conference)

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/GovernmentAffairs/TWIW/.