Wastewater Utilities Oppose EPA's Request For Nutrient Information

Wastewater utilities are suspicious of a federal plan to collect more information about their nutrient practices.

“Wastewater utilities shouldn’t be compelled to respond to a national survey of their nutrient removal practices, state and water utility officials told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, citing concerns the information could be used for enforcement purposes,” Bloomberg BNA recently reported.

Peter LaFlamme, director of the Vermont Watershed Management Division and president of the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA), urged the U.S. EPA to find a different way to collect information about treatment processes.

“ACWA has significant concerns regarding the survey and the method EPA is using to compel the collection of the information outlined in the survey questions included in the Federal Register notice,” LaFlamme wrote in a filing submitted to the agency in November.

“ACWA members are concerned that if [publicly owned treatment works] owners and/or operators are unable to answer the survey they will be penalized and that the potential penalty for non-response has yet to be explained by EPA,” LaFlamme wrote.

The backdrop is that the EPA announced in September that it wants to invoke Section 308 of the Clean Water Act in order to force 15,000 wastewater utilities to answer a treatment practice survey, according to Bloomberg BNA.

“This method of information gathering is normally used by the EPA prior to enforcement proceedings and has been roundly criticized by groups representing state water officials and publicly owned wastewater utilities in comments to the agency,” the report said.

Chris Hornback, chief technical officer at the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, also raised concerns about the use of Section 308 in a filing, according to Bloomberg BNA.

“Providing this type of information via Section 308 has raised serious concerns regarding future enforcement, despite EPA’s assurances that it only intends to use this information for research purposes,” he wrote.

The National Rural Water Association suggested using voluntary collaboration, according to the report. It advocated for a voluntary approach over “enforcement and civil penalties,” according to a letter submitted by the association, per Bloomberg BNA.

The EPA says its survey is part of its effort to address nutrient pollution.

“The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is collaborating with states to reduce nutrient pollution. To support this goal, EPA’s Office of Water is conducting a nationwide study to evaluate the nutrient removals and related technology performance by different types of publicly owned treatment works,” according to survey documents.

The agency pointed to concerns about algae polluting the water supply as a reason for its concern about nutrient pollution.

“Nutrient pollution appears to provide a chemical platform for the growth of harmful algal blooms which can release cyanotoxins. Nutrients have the potential to become one of the costliest and most challenging environmental problems we face,” the document explained.

For similar stories visit Water Online’s Nutrient Removal Solutions Center.