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.

Voinovich Urges EPA Aid to Halt Unfunded Mandates
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) urged EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson Feb. 11 to provide more funding and flexibility for cities that are under consent decrees to reduce overflows from combined sewer systems or halt those mandates because the communities cannot afford to comply without federal assistance. In a letter to Johnson, Voinovich said EPA had estimated national needs for wastewater treatment systems at $193.5 billion. In Ohio alone, EPA estimates the needs total $11.7 billion, Voinovich noted. Many communities in Ohio and across the nation do not have the fiscal capacity or the federal aid needed to upgrade their water and wastewater systems as mandated by EPA, he said. "If the federal government is going to impose costly mandates on struggling state and local governments, then it should provide funding for compliance with those mandates, Voinovich said, decrying the EPA fiscal year 2009 budget request of $555 million for the clean water state revolving fund program, a source of low interest loans that most municipalities have tapped to finance upgrades to wastewater systems.  A copy of the letter is available on Voinavich's website at this link.

EPA Provides Tools to Help Communities Increase Water System Sustainability
EPA announced on February 14 that it is providing tools and timely information to help communities improve sustainability of their water systems. Two new documents that describe how EPA is carrying out efforts to help are the National Capacity Development Strategic Plan and Analysis on the Use of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Set-Asides: Promoting Capacity Development. EPA works with a number of partners, including organizations that provide technical assistance to small public water systems, to improve technical, managerial, and financial capacity of systems.  The National Capacity Development Strategic Plan describes how EPA, state drinking water programs, drinking water system owners and operators, and technical assistance providers will work together to achieve the objectives and anticipated outcomes of the national capacity development program. The strategy outlines how EPA and its partners will promote proactive communication and outreach to help ensure that water systems have the capacity to demonstrate long-term sustainability. Funding made available through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program can be critical in advancing capacity development programs at the state level.

EPA's report, Analysis on the Use of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Set-Asides: Promoting Capacity Development, provides information on how states have used their funds and will help state drinking water personnel, drinking water system owners and operators, and technical assistance providers to better understand how the DWSRF can support supporting capacity development programs and EPA's sustainable infrastructure initiative.  For information about capacity development, visit: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsys/ssinfo.htm.

WaterISAC Establishes New Pro Service for the Purpose of Public Safety
WaterISAC – the U.S. EPA-sponsored national water security network for drinking water and wastewater utilities announced on February 4 the creation of a new Pro service level to give its subscribers access to “sensitive” and “For Official Use Only” information and threat warnings.  WaterISAC is the only national security information resource serving the water sector.  Its purpose is public security and the protection of utility operations.  WaterISAC Pro subscribers have special access privileges to an online secure portal that provides time-sensitive information on threats to the nation’s water systems.  WaterISAC also provides a free and valuable service called WaterISAC Basic.  The Basic subscriber receives important information from the federal government, which fosters greater awareness of security issues.  Drinking water and wastewater utilities are encouraged to learn more about WaterISAC and its Basic and Pro services, which can be found at www.WaterISAC.org.  WaterISAC offers water sector professionals a complimentary demonstration of the Pro service and the online secure portal. 

EPA Gives Big Money to Small Research
The U.S. EPA has awarded $7.34 million in grants to universities to investigate potential adverse health and environmental effects of manufactured nanomaterials.   Nanotechnology uses particles that are 1/100th the width of a human hair, but it has the potential to create ultra-small devices that could carry out vital engineering or medical functions at a molecular level.  The 21 grants have been awarded through EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research grants program.  Nine of the grants are for research on potential toxicity and the other twelve grants are for exploring the technology’s potential and transport of nanoparticles in the environment.  A list of the grant awardees is available at:  http://es.epa.gov/ncer/nano/2008recipients.html.

Quote of the Week:
"I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has."
- Abraham Lincoln

To receive This Week in Washington via e-mail, contact Martha Ravenhill at mravenhill@wef.org.