The WateReuse Association invites abstract submissions for the 34th Annual WateReuse Symposium, taking place Sunday, September 8, through Wednesday, September 11, 2019 in San Diego, California. Submit your proposal for a technical and/or plenary session before February 7, 2019. This year’s theme is “Collaborate to Innovate.” The program will showcase recycled water collaborations among utilities, farmers, and industry; regulators working together at both the state and federal level; sustainability; public/private partnerships; and, for the first time, the latest in reuse research led by the Water Research Foundation. The Annual WateReuse Symposium is the nation’s premier conference on water recycling. The event attracts more than 600 water professionals from around the nation.

Water Week 2019 is March 31–April 6, and its anchor event, the National Water Policy Fly-In, will convene April 3-4 in Washington, DC. With a new Congress taking over, your attendance and engagement are more critical than ever. Mark your calendars now and save the date! WateReuse urges members to join us in Washington DC to ensure that the water reuse message is an integral part of the Water Week message.

Building off the momentum of major advocacy wins in 2018—such as the bipartisan passage of the America’s Water Infrastructure Act that included key provisions beneficial to water recycling —and the significant potential for congressional focus on infrastructure during the next session, it is crucial that policymakers hear directly from you about the specific challenges to your utility and community.

Join us as we call on the Administration and the new Congress to work in partnership with the sector and invest in our nation’s water infrastructure, including drinking water, clean water, and recycled water. With an engaging format and affordable price point, you won’t want to miss the next Fly-In, the most significant water policy event of 2019!

More information and additional details on registration will be coming in January, so keep an eye on your inbox.

Make plans today to make an impact in the new year!

On December 11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) issued a proposed definition for “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), which would revise the scope of federal regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act within the confines of the EPA proposed rule. The proposal limits “waters of the United States” to those that are “physically and meaningfully connected to traditional navigable waters.”

In a broad stroke, the Trump Administration proposed to severely restrict the number of wetlands and waterways covered by the Clean Water Act. EPA and the Corps have unveiled a new definition for waters of the United States that would erase federal protections for streams that flow only after rainfall or snowmelt, as well as wetlands without surface water connections to larger waterways.

The new proposal embraces a view that industry groups have pushed for years – that the law should cover only major rivers, their primary tributaries, and wetlands along their banks. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said this would save regulatory costs for industry, such as mining and homebuilding, while arguing that it will have little impact on the health of the country’s waters. While the Trump Administration says it does not know how many streams would be excluded from the Clean Water Act jurisdiction under its proposal, a 2017 slideshow from EPA and the Corps shows at least 18% of streams and 51% percent of the nation’s wetlands would lose protection.

The proposed rule outlines six categories of waters that would be considered “waters of the United States”:

• Traditional navigable waters: large rivers and lakes, tidal waters, and the territorial seas used in interstate or foreign commerce.
• Tributaries: rivers and streams that flow to traditional navigable waters. Under the proposal, these naturally occurring surface water channels must flow more often than just when it rains, tributaries as proposed must be perennial or intermittent.
• Certain ditches: an “artificial channel used to convey water.” Ditches would be jurisdictional where they are traditional navigable waters, or subject to the ebb and flow of the tide.
• Certain lakes and ponds: Lakes and ponds would be jurisdictional where they are traditional navigable waters, and where they contribute perennial or intermittent flow to a traditional navigable waters.
• Impoundments: Under the proposal, impoundments of “waters of the United States” would be jurisdictional.
• Adjacent wetlands: Wetlands that physically touch other jurisdictional waters would be “adjacent wetlands.”

The proposal defines what would not be “waters of the United States,” including:

• Waters that would not be included in the proposed categories of “waters of the United States” listed above.
• Ephemeral features that contain water only during or in response to rainfall.
• Ditches that do not meet the proposed conditions necessary to be considered jurisdictional, including most farm and roadside ditches.
• Prior converted cropland.
• Stormwater control features excavated or constructed in upland to convey, treat, infiltrate, or store stormwater run-off.
• Wastewater recycling structures such as detention, retention and infiltration basins and ponds, and groundwater recharge basins would be excluded where they are constructed in upland.
• Waste treatment systems

On a call Monday, December 10 with reporters, Wheeler said, “Our new, more precise definition means that hard-working Americans will spend less time and money determining whether they need a federal permit, and more time upgrading aging infrastructure, building homes, creating jobs and growing crops to feed our families.”

In an opposing view, Geoff Gisler, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, called the proposal a “sledgehammer to the Clean Water Act.”

The agencies will take comment on the proposal for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The agencies will also hold an informational webcast on January 10, 2019, and will host a public listening session on the proposed rule in Kansas City, KS, on January 23, 2019.

Last week, Congress passed a $867 billion farm bill with strong bipartisan support. The farm bill provides crop subsides for farmers, legalizes hemp, bolsters farmer’s markets, and invests $4 billion over the next ten years to conservation practices that protect water sources. The House of Representatives approved a bill in a 386-47 vote, while the Senate passed the legislation in an 87-to-13 vote. President Trump is expected to soon sign it into law.

Water related provisions in the farm bill include:

• An emphasis on source water protection through all Farm Bill conservation programs;
• 10% of Natural Resources Conservation Service conservation funding directed toward source water protection, a total of $4 billion over the next ten years;
• Authorizes water utilities to work with state technical committees in identifying priority areas in each state; and
• Additional incentives for farmers who employ practices that benefit source waters.

The California State Water Board adopted a revised Recycled Water Policy last week that includes many positive changes due to a focused six-month advocacy effort by WateReuse California (WRCA), member agencies, and the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA).

The Recycled Water Policy is a regulatory policy that touches almost every aspect of recycled water production and delivery in California. The Policy was last updated in 2009 and in 2013 the monitoring requirements for potable reuse projects were added. In May, the Water Board released a major set of revisions to the Recycled Water Policy. Since then WRCA, CASA and member agencies have met many times with the Water Board members and their staff to work through a set of concerns with the policy. WRCA and CASA also developed a stakeholders group to address ongoing challenges with the wastewater petition process recognizing that it involves issues outside of the policy.

In general, the Water Board listened to the concerns of stakeholder groups as reflected in the revised policy. A partial list of changes lead by WRCA include the following:

• Removed language that could have allowed the goals to become mandates in the future;
• Included a revised ocean/bay reuse goal and in the adopted staff report included additional language recognizing the challenges of achieving this goal;
• Included a goal promoting reuse for groundwater recharge projects;
• Reduced frequency of recycled water reporting;
• Improved the wastewater change petition section to more closely align with the statute;
• For potable reuse projects, the policy follows the CEC Science Advisory Panel recommendations to implement a phased approach to biosassay monitoring before regulatory consequences occur.

See the WateReuse California memorandum on the adopted recycled water policy for more details.

WateReuse Association member Soquel Creek Water District meets with its Board of Directors on Tuesday, December 18 for certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) and potential approval to move forward with the Pure Water Soquel: Groundwater Replenishment and Seawater Intrusion Project.

The public review period for project’s draft EIR was held June 29 through August 13, 2018. Soquel Creek Water District received five comment letters from public agencies, seven from non-governmental organizations, and 95 from individual members of the public. In addition, the district received oral comments from eight members of the public.

Pure Water Soquel is a proposed groundwater replenishment and seawater intrusion prevention project using advanced water purification methods to purify recycled water for replenishing the groundwater basin and protecting against seawater intrusion.

WateReuse Association members Dr. Val Frenkel, PhD of Greeley and Hansen and Dow Water Solutions received the 2018 International Desalination Association Water Reuse and Conservation Awards for exceptional performance and contributions to this field.

Dr. Frenkel won the award for Outstanding Professional in Water Reuse and Conservation, presented in recognition of demonstrated exceptional individual contributions to the development and implementation of landmark water reuse projects, and advancement of technology and applied science in the field of water reuse and conservation. Frenkel is an eminent figure in the water industry with expertise in water and wastewater treatment, water reuse, and membrane technologies, including desalination. Equally instrumental has been Frenkel’s role in the development of low-pressure membrane technologies and applications. Developing, leading, and delivering near 300 projects globally, Frenkel has created works that extend far beyond his job scope, as they are published extensively both in the US and abroad; he has authored several patents in the process.

Dow Water Solutions (DWS) won the award for Industry Technology and Innovation Leader in Water Reuse and Conservation, which recognizes outstanding performance of private consulting firms, and technology and equipment providers that have achieved disruptive advances in water reuse and conservation technology that have allowed significant reduction in energy use, carbon footprint and costs of alternative water supplies. In 2015, DWS, the manufacturer of FILMTEC™ reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes, introduced a wastewater management approach called minimal liquid discharge enables companies to recover up to 95 percent of liquid discharges at a fraction of the costs of solutions aiming for zero liquid discharge.

WateReuse Association members currently receive a subscription to Worldwater: Water Reuse & Desalination, which is jointly published by the WateReuse Association, Water Environment Federation (WEF), and The Water Research Foundation. Starting in 2019, Worldwater: Water Reuse & Desalination will no longer be published, and members will begin receiving a subscription to World Water. World Water has been recognized as a leading global water solution publication for 41 years.

With the increased integration of water reuse within an ever-growing area of water and wastewater issues, WateReuse and WEF believe it would better serve readers to include more water reuse articles in World Water’s wide spectrum of water topics. This change will allow WateReuse to provide members with more comprehensive content and a member-benefit subscription that includes six issues per year, rather than the four issues per year produced for Worldwater: Water Reuse & Desalination. Three of the six issues will include a special WateReuse section, which includes a minimum of six articles relevant to water reuse.

WateReuse is excited to provide members with this expanded subscription, which will include two additional issues and more coverage of all global water topics including a special focus on water reuse.

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) released Requests for Proposals for three new research projects under the Advancing Potable Reuse Initiative. These RFPs are funded through WRF and the State Water Resources Control Board in California (SWB). WRF also posted a Request for Qualifications on a fourth potable reuse project. The projects are:

• Compiling Evidence of Pathogen Reduction through Managed Aquifer Recharge and Recovery
• Assessing the State of Knowledge and Impacts of Recycled Water Irrigation on Agricultural Crops
• Identifying the Amount of Wastewater That is Available and Feasible to Recycle in California
• Evaluation of a Validation Protocol for Membrane Bioreactors Based on a Correlated Surrogate to Achieve Pathogen Credit for Potable Reuse 
  

Proposals are Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 2:00 PM MT.