January 20, 2025

The 2025 WateReuse Symposium takes place March 16-19, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. The Symposium is the premier conference on water recycling — attracting water professionals and water reuse practitioners globally for knowledge-sharing, networking, and collaboration. Here are the top five reasons you should join us in Tampa!

On Thursday, January 16, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) and Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) held hearings on President-Elect Trump’s nominees for Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Interior.

President-Elect Trump’s nominee for EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, is a former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, having represented Suffolk County in Long Island, New York. As a Members of Congress, Zeldin was a member of the Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, which he noted in his opening statement last week.

While Zeldin focused much of his testimony discussing issues unrelated to water, he did have several exchanges related to water infrastructure and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Zeldin acknowledged the PFAS problem and committed to working with members of the EPW Committee to address it. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) noted that PFAS contamination must be addressed but not in a way that exposes passive receivers of PFAS to litigation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Mr. Zeldin committed to remaining cognizant of the liability risk to passive receivers, though he did not commit to taking any action to address the issue. Later in the hearing, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) highlighted the importance of the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) Programs and urged Zeldin to be a voice within the Administration for robust funding for the programs.

In parallel with the EPW hearing, the Senate ENR Committee held a hearing to consider the nomination of Doug Burgum to become U.S. Secretary of Interior. Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM), newly elected Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and returning Committee members Alex Padilla (D-CA) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) all discussed drought, the Colorado River, and the role that the Bureau of Reclamation plays in building sustainable water supplies. Burgum agreed with the senators and noted the importance of finding innovative and collaborative solutions to water resource challenges.

Both committees are expected to recommend confirmation for both nominees, and both nominees are expected to be confirmed by the full Senate shortly after President-Elect Trump is inaugurated.

On January 14, EPA published a Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—PFOA and PFOS—to outline potential public health implications associated with the land application of biosolids. The assessment finds that the application of biosolids to farmland poses no significant risk to the general public or the general food supply.

The assessment does point to increased risks for individuals living on farm application sites; however, it assumes that those individuals eat only food grown on site and drink only water sourced from onsite wells and that any children consume some amount of dirt from the farm field.

The assessment does not offer a comparative risk analysis for alternative fertilizers and their levels of PFAS, nor does it offer a model that is representative of the general public and the way that they might apply biosolids and consume products. Moreover, the assessment overstates the ability of utilities to address the PFAS problem through pre-treatment programs, especially in the absence of effluent limitation guidelines from EPA.

While the assessment does not carry with it any new standards or requirements for utilities, it could potentially be used to inform future regulations for biosolids and PFAS management. The draft assessment will be open for a 60-day public comment period, closing on March 17, 2025. WateReuse will monitor whether the incoming administration decides to withdraw the draft assessment or make changes to the public review timeline. If the incoming administration decides to maintain the draft, WateReuse will develop and submit comments through our national Policy Committee.

Last week, the EPA released a Risk-Based Framework for Developing Microbial Treatment Targets for Water Reuse. This document was created to inform states on how to develop microbial treatment targets and risk assessments for potable and non-potable water recycling systems. The framework outlines the quantitative microbial risk assessment model, demonstrates how to use the model, shares the latest science, and provides peer-reviewed treatment targets for a range of applications.

Last Wednesday, WateReuse member Miami-Dade County celebrated the opening of the Clean Water Recovery Center (CWRC) in partnership with Florida Power & Light. The CWRC will reuse an average of 10 million gallons per day of municipal wastewater to cool the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. “It’s not only environmentally friendly to have this project, it’s fiscally responsible,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

On Friday, the Talking Under Water podcast released an interview with John Newsome, administrator for the Division of Water for the City of Columbus, Ohio and president of WateReuse Ohio. John noted how the City of Columbus and the state of Ohio are choosing to proactively plan for water reuse due to large new water users entering the central Ohio region: chiefly new microchip manufacturers and data centers like Intel, AWS, Google, and Meta. “Reuse is a very good option, particularly for industrial users who may not need the quality of potable water that we’re providing as drinking water,” Newsome told host Bob Crossen.

Contact us at info@watereuse.org