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Presentations from the 2008 CSO Workshop have been posted here.
WA Municipal Stormwater Decision, 4/3/08
EPA Environmental Appeals Board rules that State compliance schedule requirements are binding on EPA and that EPA cannot change permit language that was not identified in a public notice or which is not a logical outgrowth of public comments. Both rulings are important to all WWP members. Read more…..
Check here to see CSOs in the News. This section of the website tracks CSO news articles of interest nationwide. Also, our CSO Page has links to several communities' CSO homepages.
Sample rainleader disconnect ordinances for several communities have been added here.
11/27/07 - The November 2007 General Counsel's Status Update is now available on the Members Only page. It addresses the following items of interest:
- Wet Weather Partnership Website Update
- Partnership Launches Green CSO Infrastructure Library
- Partnership Website Tracks CSO Articles Nationwide
- General Counsel Advice Regarding CSO/Storm Water Enforcement
- Congressional Update
- EPA Releases Report to Congress on CSOs in Lake Michigan Basin
- EPA Region III Withdraws Favorable MS4 Permit Modification for District of Columbia
- Environmental Appeals Board to Hear Challenge regarding CSO Compliance Schedules
- American Rivers Report Criticizes State Sewer Overflow Reporting
- Sewer Overflows Top EPA Enforcement Priority List
- Annual Troubled Waters Report Lists Facilities in Noncompliance with NPDES Permits
- Richmond Launches E-mail CSO Alert
- EPA Guidance on CSO Controls in Small Communities
- Major Agreement to Promote Green Infrastructure
- EPA Publishes Report on TMDLs with Stormwater Source
Check out our new Green Infrastructure Library!
10/13/07 - October 2007 EPA Green Infrastructure Update Bulletin with Example Projects
9/19/07 - Testimony from September 19 Senate Water Quality Subcommittee Heaing on Water Infrastructure Needs, Opportunities and Challenges. This testimony generally supports restoring federal investment levels for our nation's water and sewer infrastructure. While EPA (see Grumbles testimony) continues to advocate for "full cost pricing" as the major solution to the national funding gap, it appears that Congress continues to believe that restoring a greater federal financial role toward protecting and enhancing water quality is warranted.
In addition to funding the testimony (see Grumbles and Stoner Testimony/powerpoint) supports a significantly expanded green infrastructure program, especially to help control wet weather sources of pollution such as municipal storm water and sewer oveflows.
Many of these issues will be addressed in detail in April 2008 during the WWP's Chicago CSO Workshop.
8/31/07 - Information on Kansas City's Rain Garden Workshop is available here - their program is an excellent example. Also you can go to their website to find more information.
8/28/07 -
Wet Weather Partnership Files Brief in Support of DC WASA Arguing that Compliance Schedules are Required in Permits to Implement LTCPs
The Wet Weather Partnership filed a brief with the U.S. EPA Environmental Appeals Board on August 22, 2007, supporting the position of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA) in a long-running dispute with EPA and environmental groups over WASA’s NPDES permit at its Blue Plains treatment plant. The brief, jointly filed with the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), supports DC WASA’s challenge to its permit, because the permit does not include a compliance schedule for implementing WASA’s approved Long Term Control Plan to address its combined sewer overflows. The brief argues that a compliance schedule is legally required in the permit, based on the District’s regulations setting water quality standards, and that EPA erred in not including one.
This case is important to WWP members because an adverse ruling could jeopardize the investments WWP members have made toward complying with the CSO-related requirements in their NPDES permits. The incorporation of compliance schedules in permits rather than in administrative enforcement orders is of critical importance to communities. Generally, a community’s LTCP specifies the performance standards that must be met in order for CSO discharges to comply with the state’s water quality standards as translated into NPDES permits. A provision such as the one contained in WASA’s permit, which requires a permitee to comply with the District’s water quality standards through implementation of the LTCP controls but does not contain a compliance schedule, poses serious compliance issues for communities, and exposes communities to enforcement actions that could disrupt implementation of their approved LTCPs. Even though a community may be in full compliance with a LTCP approved by a state or EPA, a suit could be brought arguing that the entity is not in compliance with the general water quality standards compliance language in its permit. Even CSO communities with State or federal consent decrees must ensure they obtain compliance schedules in their permits to avoid allegations of current and future permit noncompliance.
A hearing is scheduled in this case before the Environmental Appeals Board on November 15, 2007. If you'd like to see the brief, please go to our Litigation page.
8/7/07 - USA Today Article on NRDC Stormwater Report
6/9/07 - 2007 Guidance from Indiana Regarding Ten-Year, One-Hour Storm Control Option. This 2007 guidance from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management alerts Indiana communities to another CSO control option - borrowed from Michigan. This options focuses on developing treatment plant and storage capacity to capture and treat the ten year one hour storm event. Storms of greater magnitude/intensity are simply required to be given any treatment that may be feasible with the available WWTP and wet weather infrastructure.
6/3/07 - The recent ALCOSAN Consent Decree is posted in our Consent Decree library.
April 2007 DC WASA Phase II Permit Language
April 2007 General Counsel's Report
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On April 5, 2007, EPA Region III republished the Phase II CSO permit for DC WASA. EPA took out the narrative water quality standards requirement and, instead, made the performance measures in DC’s approved CSO LTCP the water quality-based effluent limits in the permit. Moreover, EPA removed the numeric TMDL compliance requirements for the Anacostia TMDLs and stated that the CSO Performance Measures in the LTCP were also the appropriate water quality limits to meet the TMDLs.
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Questions about Phase II permitting of WASA can be directed to Dave Evans (804/775-4317 - McGuire Woods/WASA Counsel) or Paul Calamita.
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This is a very positive development and the modified permit should be a significant precedent for all CSO communities nationwide in terms of proper Phase II permitting.