Water Utility Council Report
Larry Lloyd, P.E., WUC Chair
The Southwest Section AWWA was once again well represented at the annual AWWA
Fly-In held in Washington, DC, in early April. Tracy Mouton (Lafayette Utilities System)
represented Louisiana, Thad Luther (Central Arkansas Water) represented Arkansas,
and Chris Mattingly (City of Norman) represented Oklahoma. Additionally, Southwest
Section Director Alan Fortenberry who is a member of the AWWA Water Utility Council
participated in the Fly-In. Major issues promoted by AWWA included the passage of the
Water Resources Development Act which contains a pilot WIFIA program, chemical spill
notification of downstream water users, State Revolving Fund (SRF) funding levels, and
cybersecurity issues. The four participants in the Fly-In made contact with nearly all of
the congressional offices for their respective states.
In general, members of Congress from the three states in our Section were supportive
of the WIFIA pilot plant concept. There has been concern voiced in some quarters that
funding for the WIFIA program could result in decreased funding for the SRF program.
House and Senate conferees are working on resolving the differences in the two WRDA
bill passed by each house. Since 2014 is an election year, Congress has a limited
number of days in session between now and the November elections, making it difficult
to pass any significant legislation. However, congressional staffers have expressed
optimism that the WRDA bill with some WIFIA program included will be approved this
year.
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee recently passed and sent to the full
Senate a bill (S. 1961) addressing issues brought to light by the West Virginia chemical
spill in January of this year. This bill would require notification of downstream water
users when a spill was discovered. It would also require states to develop covered
chemical storage source water protection programs. Your WUC encourages all utilities
to study this bill and express your viewpoints to your members of Congress. While the
future of this bill is very uncertain at this point, it is possible that this bill, along with
many others, could be dealt with in the “lame duck” session following the November
elections.
The President’s budget calls for significant cuts in funding for the SRF program. There
is clear understanding and support among the congressional delegation from our three
states of the importance of the SRF program for water projects in our states. Final
funding will probably be greater than that proposed in the President’s budget, but may
very well be reduced from recent funding levels. Once again, you are encouraged to let
your congressmen know your views on the funding levels for the SRF program.
Finally, a House Homeland Security sub-committee recently approved legislation that
would extend the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) requirements for
three years. This extension, if approved by the full Congress, would continue the
exemption for water and wastewater utilities. Should the drinking water industry ever
lose this exemption, many water treatment facilities would be required under the
Inherently Safer Technology (IST) provisions of CFATS to switch from gaseous chlorine
to some other form of chlorination. The cost of such a switch would clearly be passed
on to the ratepayers.
While it is very important that each state in our AWWA Section be represented in the
Fly-In, it is equally important that your Congressmen hear directly from you. The only
way to educate those decision makers on water issues is for them to hear from
constituents in their districts with examples of how specific legislation will impact those
local water utilities. Be informed and involved!