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Water Headlines for March 10, 2008Benjamin H. Grumbles Water Headlines is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water. In This Week’s Water Headlines:
EPA Proposing Additional Options for Animal Feeding Operation RuleEPA is proposing additional options to a 2006 proposal for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) under the Clean Water Act. This supplemental proposal has been published and is open for public comment until April 7, 2008. A webcast is scheduled for March 14, 2008, 12 to 2 pm ET. "The combination of clean water permits and no-discharge certifications will increase stewardship and deliver better environmental results for communities and watersheds," said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. "This high-priority regulation will include flexibility with accountability so livestock operators can choose the most effective way to prevent water pollution and improve manure management. We're committed to finalizing a strong and flexible rule by the summer." Under current law, if CAFOs do not discharge pollutants to waters of the United States they do not need a Clean Water Act permit. This proposal would, for the first time, allow CAFOs to certify that they do not discharge. EPA is also proposing three different approaches for nutrient management plans (NMPs) that could be used by permitting authorities and CAFOs to determine application rates of manure, litter and wastewater to be incorporated into the permit. An NMP specifies the amount of manure that can be applied to crops so nutrient runoff to water bodies is minimized. EPA has been regulating CAFOs for more than 25 years. In response to a February 2005 federal court decision vacating some portions of a 2003 CAFO rule, EPA proposed a revised rule in June 2006. This proposed rule supplements the 2006 proposal by adding additional options. EPA is hosting a webcast to provide additional information on the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking for the CAFO NPDES program. Participants will be able to submit questions about the supplemental proposal to the EPA presenters during the webcast to gain a better understanding of this rulemaking effort. This webcast is intended to support the public comment period for this proposed rule, which closes on April 7, 2008.
Information on Animal Feeding Operations: http://www.epa.gov/npdes/afo/revisedrule EPA Releases New Tools to Improve Drinking Water Monitoring and ReportingSmall water systems, particularly those that serve very small populations or tribal communities, can be challenged in understanding the regulatory requirements that apply to them. EPA is releasing a new set of placards that summarize day to day monitoring requirements for small drinking water systems. Having monitoring requirements readily available in an easy to read format should improve monitoring and reporting compliance at small systems. These placards provide step by step instructions for conducting monitoring under the Total Coliform Rule, Surface Water Treatment Rules and Nitrate regulations. The placards are formatted to be printed 11x17 to hang on the wall for quick reference by drinking water operators. The placards and other tools for small systems are available at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsys/ssinfo.htm. They are also available on a page dedicated to tribal water systems at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/tribal.html. Draft FY 2009 National Water Program Guidance Released for Comments, and FY 2008 Final Measures and Commitments AvailableThe National Water Program has released the Draft FY 2009 National Water Program Guidance for public view and comment. This is the second annual water program guidance to implement the EPA 2006-2011 Strategic Plan. This draft guidance describes water program priorities and strategies, including the suite of water performance measures, for the coming fiscal year. The draft guidance is available at http://www.epa.gov/water/waterplan/fy09.html. Please send comments to Noha Gaber (gaber.noha@epa.gov) in the Office of Water by March 31, 2008. The National Water Program Guidance Appendix: FY 2008 Final Measures and Commitments is now available at http://www.epa.gov/water/waterplan/ under the heading "FY 2008 Final Measures and Commitments." Last summer and fall, regions, states, and tribes worked to develop final commitments for FY 2008 for the measures described in the FY 2008 National Water Program Guidance, published in April 2007. These final FY 2008 commitments, along with supporting measures where program progress is tracked without an annual commitment (i.e. indicator measures), are summarized in this final appendix to the FY 2008 Guidance. New Technology Report: Wastewater Treatment and In-Plant Wet Weather ManagementEPA is releasing the third in a series of reports on municipal wastewater collection and treatment technologies. Emerging Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and In-Plant Wet Weather Management provides municipal wastewater treatment system owners and operators with the latest information on emerging wastewater treatment and in-plant wet weather management technology options. It identifies cost effective, innovative and embryonic technologies as well as established technologies with innovative applications. Technical and cost data for more than 60 innovative technologies and more than 25 embryonic technologies are provided. The technologies featured in the report can provide more efficient or advanced wastewater treatment or better management of wet weather flows at the treatment plant. The new report is available at http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/index.htm. The previous two reports, Emerging Technologies for Biosolids Management, and Emerging Technologies for Conveyance Systems: New Installations and Rehabilitation Methods, are also available on the website. CWNS 2008 Web Training Seminars for Community StakeholdersEPA is offering three web seminars in March aimed at providing Community Stakeholders the information they need to support their state’s Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (CWNS) data entry effort. States rely on a variety of resources, including Community Stakeholders, to gather the information to accurately report needs to EPA. Community Stakeholders can include representatives of wastewater treatment plants, municipal stormwater programs, municipal health departments, watershed organizations, planning authorities and others. The web seminars are scheduled for: Wednesday, March 12 at 10:30-12:30 ET; Tuesday, March 18 at 1:00- 3:00 ET; and Monday, March 24 at 2:00-4:00 ET. The CWNS is a comprehensive assessment of the capital needs to meet the water quality goals set in the Clean Water Act. Every four years, the states and EPA collect information about publicly owned wastewater collection and treatment facilities, stormwater management projects, combined sewer overflows (CSOs) control facilities, nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control projects, and decentralized wastewater management. This information is used to support budgeting and planning. For more information about CWNS, visit http://www.epa.gov/cwns or contact cwns@epa.gov. To register for one of the "CWNS 2008: Community Stakeholder Training” web seminars, go to http://hawkeye.epa.gov/imtapp/app/pubschconf.uix.Select Filter by "Conference Title", type in "CWNS", and select "Go". Register for your preferred time from the listed CWNS Web Seminars. Options for Expressing Daily Loads in TMDLs Webcast AvailableOn January 8, 2008, EPA sponsored a webcast on "Options for Expressing Daily Loads in Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)." The webcast was recorded and is available on the TMDL Web site at: www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/training.html. This webcast for TMDL practitioners highlighted EPA’s June 22, 2007 draft document on Options for Expressing Daily Loads in TMDLs (at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/draft_daily_loads_tech.pdf).The presenters discussed technical approaches for developing daily load expressions, provided examples and highlighted implementation benefits of identifying daily loads, addressed impacts of the daily loads requirement to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting community, and provided the opportunity for participants to pose questions to EPA staff and program experts. Subscribe to Water HeadlinesPlease forward this message to your friends and colleagues who share an interest in water-related issues and would like to hear from EPA’s Office of Water. To subscribe to the Water Headlines listserve: Send an email message, leave the subject line blank, and address it to: In the body of the message write: Subscribe Water Headlines first name last name (Please leave one blank space between each word, do not include any other message, and use your actual name- i.e. Subscribe Water Headlines Robert Jones)
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