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.

March 30, 2007

Provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA

EPA Releases Clean Water State Revolving Fund 2006 Annual Report
The 2006 Annual Report on the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) is now available on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Wastewater Management website.  The report highlights the activities and accomplishments during the last fiscal year of the largest federal funding program for water infrastructure projects.  The report also provides an update on the financial performance of the CWSRF and the ongoing effort to measure the environmental benefits of the program.  The Report describes how state CWSRF programs are reaching out to communities with priority projects through comprehensive outreach strategies and other tools.  You can view or download the report at www.epa.gov/owmitnet/cwfinance/cwsrf/.  (SJH)

EPA Inspector General Report Finds State Use of Bonds to Match Revolving Fund Yields Less Money for Water Projects
According to the EPA's inspector general report issued on March 29, some states are short-changing themselves of funds for clean water and drinking water projects because they use their state revolving funds to pay the principal and interest on bonds that were used to match federal money for infrastructure projects.  The report stated that since the first state revolving fund (SRF) program began in 1987, about $937 million worth of water infrastructure projects have not been started or completed.  Under the clean water SRF program, EPA provides federal seed money in the form of capitalization grants to states based on need. The states then make low-interest loans to wastewater facilities to upgrade infrastructure and fund conservation programs. Based on the fund's success, Congress established the drinking water SRF in the State Drinking Water Act. Amendments of 1996. Money is distributed in a similar fashion for drinking water utility upgrades.  Both SRFs require the states to provide a 20 percent match of the federal capitalization grant. The SRFs are intended to be self-sustaining and provide a continuous source of funding for water projects.

According to the report, however, using bonds for the state match reduces total money available for loans in future years. Consequently, states tap the interest earnings from the SRF loans to pay principal and interest on the bonds rather than plowing those earnings back into more water projects, the report said.  The inspector general recommended that EPA revise its regulations to no longer allow states to use bonds repaid from the SRF to meet state match requirements.  The report, EPA's Allowing States to Use Bonds to Meet Revolving Fund Match Requirements Reduces Funds Available for Water Projects, is available at http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2007/20070329-2007-P-00012.pdf.  (SRT)  

New DVD Highlights Efforts of Local Governments to Address Water Infrastructure Issues
EPA's Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC) has developed a DVD that highlights how local governments are addressing aging sewer and water systems to meet current and future challenges facing communities.  The LGAC is an officially chartered federal advisory that provides advice and recommendations to assist EPA in developing a stronger partnership with local governments. The goals of the DVD are to encourage EPA to continue efforts to promote sustainable water infrastructure funding and to highlight the work being done in local communities.  It also stresses the importance of local leadership in addressing these issues.  The project profiles five real communities and demonstrates how they are meeting the daily needs for repair or replacement of aging systems, coping with population growth, addressing issues related to environmental health, and water security demands. The DVD presents some innovative options that are available and necessary to ensure water quality in the future. To view the video, visit: http://www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure/lgac_video/index.html. (SJH)

EPA Assesses Impacts of Climate Change on POTWs in the Great Lakes
On March 29, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a 30-day public comment period, ending April 28, for the draft document titled, “A Screening Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Costs of Implementing Water Quality-Based Effluent Limits at Publicly-Owned Treatment Works in the Great Lakes Region.”  Prepared by EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD), the draft report describes the potential scope and magnitude of climate change impacts on the cost of meeting water quality-based effluent limits (WQBELs) at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) discharging to rivers and streams in the Great Lakes basin.  EPA describes the report as a "screening level analysis" of the costs of meeting WQBELs for biochemical oxygen demand at all POTWs in the region discharging to currently impaired stream reaches.  EPA states in the draft report that, "the results of this study suggest that climate change could have a significant effect on two of the most important water quality programs in the United States: attaining water quality standards (through WQBELs in general and the TMDL program in particular) and POTW financing."  For more information, visit http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=166366. (SRT)

USGS Releases Report on Streamflow and Nutrient Delivery from the Mississippi River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released a report on March 30 that presents information on streamflow and nutrient delivery from the Mississippi River Basin to the northern Gulf of Mexico.
The Mississippi River Basin drains about 3 million square kilometers or about one third of the land area of the U.S. and discharges to the Gulf of Mexico via the main stem of the Mississippi River and the Atchafalaya River.  The report provides information on streamflow and nutrient delivery for 30 subbasins, including the 5 major subbasins that comprise the entire Mississippi River Basin.  Between 1981 and 2005, the Upper Mississippi and Ohio/Tennessee subbasins contributed 39 and 34 percent of total nitrogen and 27 and 31 percent of total phosphorus, while comprising only 15.7 and 16.7 percent of the land area, respectively.  “Scientists will use this information to investigate causal linkages between the delivery of nutrients and streamflow to the northern Gulf and the magnitude and duration of the hypoxic zone” said Brent Aulenbach, a USGS scientist and lead author of the report.  “Managers also will use this information to identify areas within the Mississippi River Basin that produce the highest nutrient yields, helping to guide management actions for mitigation of problems associated with excess nutrients in local receiving waters, as well as the Gulf of Mexico.”  In a USGS press release, Aulenbach noted that the information will be used by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrients Task Force, which currently is conducting a science assessment of the causes of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico.  To view the Mississippi River Basin report, please go to:  http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/of-2007-1080.html.  To view additional USGS information on nutrients in the Mississippi River Basin and Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, go to http://toxics.usgs.gov/hypoxia/.  (SRT)

Group Issues Report on Farm Bill and the Great Lakes
On March 29, a coalition of groups led by the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Wildlife Federation announced the release of a report calling on the U.S. Congress to expand and fully fund provisions of the Farm Bill designed to protect and restore the Great Lakes. The report, "Cultivating Restoration: How Farm Bill Conservation Programs Help Heal Our Great Lakes," outlines wildlife habitat and wetlands restoration successes around the Great Lakes due to the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, more commonly known as the Farm Bill. "This new report illustrates how important Farm Bill conservation programs are to Great Lakes farmers, water quality, and wildlife," said Jeff Skelding, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which released the report. The report comes as the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees, chaired by Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Sen. by Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), prepare legislation to reauthorize the Farm Bill. The report is available at http://restorethelakes.org/FINAL_HOW%20Report.Cultivating%20Restoration.pdf. (SRT)

EPA Forms New Water Program Climate Change Workgroup
Although climate change continues to gain momentum in the American political arena, coverage of its effects on the nation’s watersheds has been a less heavily addressed issue.  In response, the EPA Office of Water plans to bring this missing link to the public and policy makers’ attention by forming a new National Water Program Climate Change Workgroup.  Springing from a March 1 memo on climate change and the national water program signed by Ben Grumbles, EPA Assistant Administrator for Water, the workgroup will develop a national strategy on climate change and water programs, which it plans to implement later this year. The National Water Program Climate Change Strategy will focus on five impact areas:  atmospheric temperatures; rainfall and snowfall levels and distribution; storm intensity; coastal and ocean characteristics; and sea level rise. To see the memorandum, visit http://www.epa.gov/water/downloads/climate_change_03-01-07.pdf. For more information regarding the EPA’s stance on climate change, please visit http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/. (MB)

EPA Issues Final Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for Biological Pollutants in Wastewater and Sewage Sludge
EPA announced in the March 26 Federal Register a final rule modifying the Agency's Guidelines that establish approved bacterial testing procedures for analysis and sampling under the Clean Water Act.  These changes include approval of new methods for monitoring microbial pollutants in wastewater and sewage sludge, including EPA methods, vendor-developed methods and methods developed by voluntary consensus bodies (VCSB) as well as updated versions of currently approved methods. The addition of new and updated methods to the wastewater regulations provides increased flexibility to the regulated community and laboratories in the selection of analytical methods.  The rule is effective April 25.  To view the Federal Register notice, visit: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2007/March/Day-26/w1455.htm.  (SJH)

Sewer Overflow Control Grants Bill Introduced in Senate
Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the Water Quality Investment Act of 2007 (S.836), a bill almost identical to H.R. 569, which passed the House March 7.  The bill would authorize $1.8 billion in grants over 5 years to aid treatment works in intercepting, transporting, controlling, and treating municipal sewer overflows.  The bill has been referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  Visit http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-836 for the full text of the bill. (MB)

WEF Releases Tool Kit for Third-Party TMDLs
On March 29, WEF released a new publication to support the development of TMDLs by organizations other than lead water quality agencies.  The Third-Party TMDL Development Tool Kit provides a step-by-step approach third parties can use to effectively lead the development of TMDLs in their watershed.  Developed under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S EPA, the document is available at no charge.  For more information, visit www.wef.org/ThirdPartyTMDL. (SRT)

EPA Inspector General Report Finds Performance Track Program in Need of Improved Design and Management
According to an EPA Inspector General Report issued on March 29, the Agency's voluntary Performance Track program does not clearly link activities with goals and does not have performance measures to demonstrate if it achieves expected results.  The program's goals are linked to four commitments by members. But the inspector general found that members did not make sufficient progress in meeting those commitments, it said in the report, Performance Track Could Improve Program Design and Management to Ensure Value.  According to the report, only two of 30 sampled Performance Track members met all of their environmental improvement commitments.  Furthermore, most Performance Track members' compliance and toxic release records were better than average, but some were not.  The program, launched in 2000, aims to achieve environmental results greater than those achieved through traditional regulatory approaches by offering incentives to companies that voluntarily exceed minimum federal requirements.  The report is available at http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2007/20070329-2007-P-00013.pdf.  (SJH)

Quote of the Week:
“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”
~Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933)

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; MB - Maya Buchanan (703) 684-2416, mbuchanan@wef.org. This Week in Washington is available on-line at  http://www.wef.org/GovernmentAffairs/TWIW/.