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The Water Resources Coalition was established in
2007 to promote the development, implementation and funding of a
comprehensive national water resources policy. With member
organizations representing state and local governments,
conservation, engineering and construction, ports, waterways and
transportation services, the Coalition works to ensure that a
comprehensive, national water resources policy is developed,
implemented and funded to provide a sustainable, productive
economy; a healthy aquatic ecology; and public health and safety.
For more information, visit the Water Resources Coalition Web site
at www.waterresourcescoalition.org.
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EPA Issues
Wetlands Guidance
EPA issued this week a proposed guidance document
reinterpreting the definition of "waters of the U.S." to
determine which wetlands and seasonal streams are subject to
Section 404 and/or NPDES permits. If the guidance is
finalized in its current form, it will establish a uniform method
for state and federal permit and enforcement officials to test
whether an isolated wetland, ephemeral
stream or other marginalwater body has a "significant nexus" to a
traditional "navigable" water body.
The most significant
change in the new guidance from current practice relates to
"other waters," such as headwaters, prairie potholes or
playas. The guidance allows for aggregating these waters in
combination with other similar water bodies if they are "in
close physical proximity to traditional navigable waters" in
order to demonstrate a significant nexus. Other water
bodies that are not close to a traditional navigable water body
will need to be analyzed separately.
The cost-benefit
analysis of the guidance indicates that the number of water bodies
under federal jurisdiction will increase when its new standards are
applied. For example, the Corps tested the application of the
guidance to a sample of currently non-jurisdictional isolated
waters and found that approximately 17% would be reclassified as
subject to the Clean Water Act.
The draft guidance will be subject to a 60-day comment
period. Administrator Jackson said that EPA and the Corps will
subsequently propose a new regulation to replace the guidance, but
gave no timetable on when the rulemaking process would begin.
Reaction to the new
guidance was viewed negatively by the 170 members of a bipartisan
House group who signed a letter last month to Administrator Jackson
expressing concerns about the pending guidance and its potential
expansion of EPA and Corps jurisdiction. Rep. Bob Gibbs
(R-Ohio), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee's water subcommittee, promised to hold hearings on the
matter.
For EPA's information on the guidance, see: http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/wetlands/CWAwaters.cfm
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Corps Blows
Up Levee to Ease Record Flooding
The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers blew a nearly two-mile gap in a levee early this
week to ease record flooding where the Ohio River spills into
the Mississippi. The plan was originally approved in the 1920s, but
used only once since, in order to dispatch water over about 130,000
acres of Missouri farmland, before flowing back to the
Mississippi at New Madrid, MO.
The plan lowers the
Mississippi River by about three feet at Cairo, Illinois, therefore
protecting towns in the area.
On Sunday the Supreme
Court rejected request by Missouri to stop the Corps from
blowing the hole in the levee at Birds Point, MO, allowing the
Corps to get to work within hours.
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Interior Releases
Report on Climate Impact on Western States
The Interior Department released a report this week
that assesses climate change risks and how these risks could impact
water operations, hydropower, flood control, and fish and wildlife
in the western United States. The report to Congress, prepared
by the Bureau of Reclamation, represents the first assessment of
risks to future water supplies across eight major river basins,
including the Colorado, Rio Grande and Missouri river basins.
The report, required by Congress under the SECURE
Water Act of 2009, shows several increased risks to western United
States water resources during the 21st century.
The SECURE Water Act Report, with fact sheets
highlighting climate challenges and impacts in the eight western
river basins, is available online at: www.usbr.gov/climate
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ASCE Defends
Water Infrastructure in Budget
Two competing federal budget proposals for Fiscal year
2012-one from Democrats and one from Republicans-would shortchange
much-needed investment in U.S. infrastructure, ASCE, a WRC
co-chair, told Congress this month.
The Obama administration's budget plan would reduce
spending on critical wastewater and drinking-water systems in 2012,
ASCE Executive Director Pat Natale testified before a House
Appropriations subcommittee. Worse, a House Budget Committee
plan would slash infrastructure funding to FY 2008 levels, he said.
"The president's proposed budget for EPA in FY
2012 represents a setback for the nation because it reduces
spending on critical infrastructure systems designed to protect
public health," Natale said in testimony before the
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.
The House Budget Committee would make even deeper cuts
in infrastructure, he added.
"[The committee] would decrease funding for the
Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act State Revolving Loan
Funds (SRFs) to $700 million and $842 million, respectively, from
their FY 2010 enacted levels of $2.1 billion and $1.38
billion-reductions of 66 percent and 39 percent," Natale
said. "The 2008 funding levels were even then already
far below what is needed to restore the nation's aging water
infrastructure systems. Reducing federal spending on two
public health statutes to their 2008 levels could have potentially
serious effects on the nation's water supplies and the health of
the American people."
Natale's complete
statement can be found here.
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Brian Pallasch and Marco Giamberardino
Water Resources Coalition
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