work for NNC and other aspects of the Clean Water Act. The FSA was the first association of local governments to challenge the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulations and remains the primary plaintiff representing a coalition of local governments in that lawsuit. The FSA members have served on numerous statewide technical and policy advisory committees, and their recommendations have had regulatory or financial impacts on city and county governments. Training and Education - The FSA Fogarty Training Center was created to meet the training and educational needs of stormwater management. The center offers a comprehensive series of classes for stormwater field personnel, field supervisors, and professional staff designed to help ensure a consistent level of knowledge. Completion of FSA’s classes is recognized by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) as fulfilling the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit requirements for training and refresher training of stormwater staff. Statewide conferences conducted by FSA are regarded as being the best-of-the-best in stormwater policy, management, and best practices. The conferences offer a well-balanced blend of technical and research presentations, regulatory and policy matters, and keynote addresses by speakers with statewide and national recognition. The FSA Excellence Awards program recognizes professionals for outstanding stormwater projects and programs each year. Information Sharing - First published in 1998 and updated in 2003 and 2013, the FSA manual, Establishing a Stormwater Utility in Florida, is unique in the U.S. and has assisted numerous jurisdictions, both in Florida and in other states, in creating such user-fee funding mechanisms. The results of FSA’s “Survey of Stormwater Utilities” are published every two years and the FSA-FDEP manual on the TMDL program is the only such publication in Florida. In addition, the FSA Educational Foundation oversees FSA’s research programs and presents scholarships to graduate students in Florida whose research is focused on stormwater management or surface water quality. For almost three decades, FSA and its members have played an integral role in enhancing the capacity of stormwater management practices through research, dissemination of information, and active participation in the legislative decision process and education. Want to know more? Visit www.floridastormwater.org. Danielle Hopkins, CMP, is executive director of Florida Stormwater Association. S
NEWS BEAT Nine leading water associations have urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use “sound science and robust analyses” as it evaluates drinking water standards for two per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS). In a letter to Andrew Wheeler, EPA administrator, the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC), Irrigation Association, National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), National Ground Water Association (NGWA), National Rural Water Association (NRWA), and National Water Resources Association (NWRA) asked EPA to employ a holistic regulatory approach that protects source water from PFAS contamination, addresses public health concerns, and ensures public confidence. On Feb. 20, 2020, EPA announced its proposal to regulate perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), two PFAS compounds, and requested comment on regulatory approaches for other PFAS. In the absence of a federal standard, several states have moved forward with setting their own regulations for various PFAS. “We ask that EPA move expeditiously to prepare the requisite analyses critical to proposing sound drinking water standards,” the associations wrote. “The implications of regulating these substances will be far-reaching.” The PFAS are a large group of man-made chemicals used in consumer products and industrial processes. In use since the 1940s, they have properties that make them persistent in the environment. The letter asked EPA to: 1. Provide the resources required to complete the technical and economic analyses necessary to support a proposed Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) action for PFOA and PFOS. 2. B egin engagement with outside experts to develop and review a public health risk assessment for PFAS beyond PFOA and PFOS to guide which PFAS or groups of PFAS should be targeted for data collection and risk management measures. 3. Actively engage water systems, local governments, state agencies, and other key stakeholders in the practical implementation of PFAS risk management, including establishing the adequacy of analytical methods and capacity, effective risk communication, and sustainable treatment options, among other important factors. 4. Accelerate research on water treatment, occurrence, and health effects to support future decision making and contaminant prioritization. 5. Leverage available regulatory tools in other statutes to gather occurrence and health risk assessment data and organize them to support research and decision making, using regulatory tools that include the Toxics Release Inventory, Sections 4 and 8 of the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule.
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Community water supplies nationwide must do more to slow the spread of bacteria that cause the deadly waterborne Legionnaires' disease, engineering and technical experts warn in a new article published in the Journal of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), a prominent engineering and standards publication. "The call for stronger federal regulations on community water systems is even more urgent with COVID-19 economic shutdowns," argues Daryn Cline, technology and science director for the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease (APLD) and co-author of the article. "Bacteria buildup in water utility distribution systems can occur during water stagnation caused by lower water consumption, and then are released during increased water flow demand as economic activity restarts." Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia caused by inhaling or aspirating small water droplets containing Legionella bacteria, which build in community water systems and spread to people through drinking and decorative fountains, showContinued on page 46
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