Small Systems Corner

Welcome to WEF’s Small Systems Corner in support of the U.S. EPA and in collaboration with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (or RCAP) training and technical assistance for wastewater treatment works. 

RECENT UPDATES 

August 2023 

• ARTICLE:

Vulnerable and overburdened communities in focus as part of FY2024-2027 OECA priorities

U.S. EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) has selected six priority areas as part of its FY24-27 National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs) announced 17-AUG-2023 (see, https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-08/fy2024-27necis.pdf).

The six NECI priority areas include:

Mitigating Climate Change

Addressing Exposure to PFAS

Protecting Communities from Coal Ash Contamination

Reducing Air Toxics in Overburdened Communities

Increasing Compliance with Drinking Water Standard

Chemical Accident Risk Reduction

The initiatives focus on three cross-cutting goals:

Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis;

Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice; and

Goal 3: Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance.

To advance Goal 2, OECA incorporated environmental justice considerations into each NECI initiative.

According to OECA, neighborhoods located near coal ash facilities are often communities with environmental justice concerns likely to face existing environmental burdens, putting them at greater cumulative risk from the environmental impacts, including threats to drinking water sources. Noncompliance with the coal combustion residuals (CCR) requirements under RCRA appears to be widespread. OECA also notes that many utilities are not complying with the current performance standards, monitoring and testing requirements.  The NECI focuses on conducting investigations, particularly at coal ash facilities impacting vulnerable or overburdened communities; taking enforcement action at coal ash facilities that are violating the law; and protecting and cleaning up contaminated groundwater, surface water, and drinking water resources.

OECA will focus on Increasing Compliance with Drinking Water Standards (CWSs) as an initiative to continue for the FY 2024-2027 cycle that seeks to ensure that Community Water Systems comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).  According to OECA, 18,282 CWSs in 2022 had at least one SDWA violation, and 2,854 of those systems had a health-based violation. Many overburdened communities, including those in Indian country, often face challenges meeting their obligations under SDWA. OECA plans for this next cycle include ramping up its field presence, pursuing strategic enforcement to reduce noncompliance, and offering more compliance assistance to prevent and address public health risks.

OECA will return the following three current initiatives to the standard “core” enforcement program at the end of FY 2023: Reducing Toxic Air Emissions from Hazardous Waste Facilities; Stopping Aftermarket Defeat Devices for Vehicles and Engines; and Reducing Significant Noncompliance with NPDES.  As part of the core program, in collaboration with authorized state programs, OECA and the Regions will continue to conduct inspections and pursue enforcement actions. 

With regard to reducing significant noncompliance with NPDES, OECA began the initiative to improve compliance in the Clean Water Act permitting program.  OECA notes that approximately one out of every five permittees had significant violations of their permit every quarter, every year for decades. Under this core initiative, in partnership with the states, EPA achieved over a 50% reduction in significant noncompliance. Success of the initiative was, in part, attributed to improving completeness and accuracy of NPDES compliance data.

OECA used three criteria in selecting initiatives for the FY 2024-2027 cycle:

1. the need to address environmental issues and violations impacting human health and the environment, particularly in vulnerable communities;
2. a focus on areas where federal enforcement authorities, resources, and or expertise are needed to hold polluters accountable; and
3. alignment with EPA’s FY 2022-FY 2026 Strategic Plan.

• ARTICLE:

  $50 million made available to small systems for stormwater and sewer infrastructure updates

  On 10-Aug-2023, the U.S. EPA announced that the administration is providing $50,000,000 in funding through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program at no cost to small and financially distressed communities. 

  Historically, states and communities would share a fixed amount of costs on all projects funded through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law revised that fixed share, so that 25% of Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program funds now go to available projects in small and/or financially distressed communities. 

  In the past, the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program also limited the ability of states to pass on the burden of cost sharing to these communities. EPA modified the program so that state grantees are no longer required to provide a cost share for these program projects that are located in small or financially distressed communities.  However, community grantees that are not considered small or financially distressed communities will be required to include a cost share contribution.

  For additional detail, please see the 09-AUG-2023 U.S. EPA memorandum, “Allocation of Federal Fiscal Year 2023 Funding for the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant Program” at https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-08/OSG-FY2023-Allotment-August-2023.pdf.  For the FY 2023 appropriation of $50 million, U.S. EPA exercised the authority listed in CWA Section 221(h)(1) to retain up to one percent of the appropriation for administration costs.  Table 1 of the aforementioned memorandum lists the allocation of the FY 2023 OSG funding amounts per state entity.

July 2023 

• ARTICLE:

  RCAP and UCLA LCI release report on National Drinking Water Quality Compliance Assessment

  The Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) released “Considerations for a National Drinking Water Compliance Assessment” report.  The report is an initial step toward an assessment outline, identifying the potential key phases of the assessment process.  The report notes that there is no comprehensive national assessment of community water systems’ compliance with drinking water quality standards, which they believe is needed in order to “inform what types of issues, solutions and communities should be prioritized to make the greatest positive impact with [the] available [BIL] funding and beyond.”

  U.S. EPA’s Environmental Finance Center (EFC) program expansion that seeks to assist communities with federal funding sources will provide support for RCAP and UCLA LCI to implement in select states the identified methodology from this report.  In operationalizing and expanding upon this methodology, RCAP and UCLA LCI will additionally be working with the University of Illinois to incorporate analysis of communities reliant on private wells and septic systems to identify communities with the greatest need for technical assistance.

  The report findings cover quality compliance definition and identification; spatial location considerations; compliance solutions and their costs; and solution funding and gaps.  Of note, the report discussed the interview process regarding the entity that should host and management this compliance system and “[u]ltimately it was decided that EPA would be the only correct fit, rather than a university, private organization or other government agency. Water systems need to feel they have ownership over this reporting system and be able to easily access and update data. Having the data hosted by a central agency such as EPA will hopefully foster this feeling and participation” (Considerations for a National Drinking Water Compliance Assessment, p. 16).

  U.S. EPA conducts the Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Assessment (DWINSA) to meet the Congressional mandate of an assessment every four years to show a total twenty-year capital improvement need for water systems to continue to provide safe drinking water to the public.   The RCAP/UCLA LCI report provides that a national assessment must take into consideration how to fund solutions to address assessed needs, as well as consider the priority and timeline in which these funds should flow (ibid., p. 34).

  “The Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), the National Rural Water Association (NRWA), and EPA’s Environmental Finance Center network are the largest technical assistance providers at the national scale that connect rural communities and water systems to federal funding programs” (ibid., p. 36).  The efforts of RCAP and UCLA LCI are anticipated to be “. . . advanced and clarified by the 2023 DWINSA, as well as EPA’s Interim Learning Agenda for Drinking Water Compliance, which will be released by 2026” (p. 39).

  For additional information or to download this report, please see https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Considerations-for-a-National-Drinking-Water-Quality-Compliance-Assessment.pdf

• The Nebraska Water Environment Association and the Nebraska Wastewater Operators held the “37th Annual Heart Operators Conference” July 19, 2023, in Kearney, Neb. 

June 2023 

• Podcast:  Wastewater Surveillance for Small Systems
   

• RCAP Solutions and the New England Water Environment Association hosted an in-person workshop for small and rural wastewater utilities to build financial, managerial, and operational capacity for their systems on June 14, 2023, at Upper Blackstone Clean Water in Millbury, Mass.  This in-person gathering was aimed at assisting small and rural wastewater utilities to build financial, managerial, and operational capacity for their systems. 

May 2023 

• Webcast: PFAS Basics for Wastewater Operators
  
  

March 2023 

• Webcast: A Deep Dive into Stormwater
  
  

January 2023 

• Water Reuse for Small Communities– What you need to know!
  
  

• WEF RCAP Train-the-Trainer Workshop was held on Jan. 18, 2023, at the Water Tower, GA