WEF members and the general public are powerful partners in our efforts to ensure Washington lawmakers understand the critical clean water issues confronting communities all across America.

Action Alert

May 25, 2007

Finalizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Policy on Peak Flow Discharges

Action Requested: Please call or write your Senators and Representative to request that they urge the Bush Administration, specifically the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to finalize and release the above-referenced policy without further delay.

EPA’s proposed Policy, Permit Requirements for Peak Wet Weather Discharges from Wastewater Treatment Plants Serving Sanitary Sewer Collection Systems (70 FR 76013-76018) was published in the Federal Register on December 22, 2005.  After public comments were received, EPA finalized the policy within the Agency and sent it to OMB for review.  The policy has been under review by OMB for almost a year due to concerns over the potential cost of the policy to communities. 

The proposed policy uses the Bypass Regulations (40 CRF 122.41(m)) for compliance assessment of diversions around secondary treatment facilities to manage peak wet weather flows.  The proposed policy is the result of a negotiated solution between the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Association of Clean Water Agencies developed in response to the withdrawn EPA blending policy proposed in 2003.

WEF supports EPA’s proposed peak flow policy because it will provide a clear and consistent process for evaluating and approving wet weather treatment and operating scenarios.  WEF believes that the absence of a national policy on peak flow discharges has resulted in an escalation of both cost and anxiety for POTWs, with different regions of the country interpreting and enforcing regulatory requirements differently.  WEF believes the release of the policy is crucial to improving water quality during wet weather and promoting a facility planning process designed to result in maximum treatment of peak wet weather flows while improving the use of public resources. 

The proposed policy and WEF’s comments are available on WEF's Regulatory webpage. 

Member Associations and individual WEF members are asked to contact their Members of Congress to urge them to contact OMB and support finalizing EPA’s proposed policy. 

Here are some points to make when you contact your Senators and Representatives:

1. Management of wet weather flows in the wastewater collection and treatment system
is one of the most challenging issues for wastewater managers, largely because regulatory assessments of proposed solutions, such as those including blending, has been inconsistent among agencies and variable over time.

2. Blending is a great advantage in cost-effectively addressing peak system flows and providing as much treatment as possible and must be included in the wastewater management toolbox.

3. While U.S. EPA has held several dialogues on management of wet weather flows, with the possible exception of the CSO Control Policy, there has been no definitive national guidance on planning for wet weather.
 
4. EPA’s proposed policy will provide a clear and consistent process for evaluating and approving wet weather operating scenarios, which will foster the protection of public health and the environment and enable wastewater treatment operators to maximize treatment of flows during wet weather.

5.  EPA has taken steps to ensure consistency by funding WEF's Guide to Managing Peak Wet Weather Flows, which provides a framework for successful implementation of the proposed policy.   

6. The absence of a policy leads to a lack of certainty for both POTWs and regulatory agencies, an inability to effectively plan and manage facilities, and the inefficient use of public funds.

7. The agreement of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Association of Clean Water Agencies in developing the policy and the support of WEF is indicative of the broad national support for the policy.

Please call or write your Senators, Representative, and Governor and urge them to support passage of Clean Water State Revolving Fund Reauthorization.  Send copies of any letters to WEF.  Go to www.house.gov or www.senate.gov for a directory and contact information for your Congressional Representative.

Please circulate this Alert to other WEF members.   If you have questions, please contact Sharon Thomas, WEF Manager of Regulatory Affairs, at sthomas@wef.org.