Water

Regulatory and legislative disputes over the clean water and safe drinking water acts have major implications for dischargers, utilities and others, and our Water section features the latest news from EPA, the courts and Congress.

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Regulatory and legislative disputes over the clean water and safe drinking water acts have major implications for dischargers, utilities and others, and our Water section features the latest news from EPA, the courts and Congress.

EPA Unveils Cybersecurity Advice, First-Time Grants For Water Systems

EPA is providing recommendations for drinking water and wastewater systems to bolster their defenses against increasing cyberattack threats while also announcing $9 million in first-time grants to assist systems with cybersecurity and resilience against “extreme weather events.” The July report includes recommendations for both small and large water systems, noting that cyberattacks “pose significant risks” to systems “including the potential to disrupt operations, compromise water quality, and cause substantial economic losses.” Many utilities’ IT systems and operational technology (OT), which...

MAHA Backers Warn Of Fallout For GOP Over PFAS Biosolids Measure

Supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement are pressing President Donald Trump to oppose a measure included in FY26 House spending legislation that would bar EPA from acting on a Biden-era draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids. In an Aug. 11 letter to the president, as well as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, they warn of potential political repercussions for Republicans in the...

California Court Bars WRCB From Using TST In Permits But Impact Unclear

A California state appellate court has blocked the Water Resources Control Board (WRCB) from using an EPA toxicity test when crafting discharge permits, a significant victory for dischargers who have long sought to block use of the test, though experts are downplaying the practical effect of the ruling. A three-judge panel of California’s Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled Aug. 5 in Camarillo Sanitation District, et al. v. WRCB that regulators cannot use EPA’s test of significant toxicity (TST)...

L.A. Water Board Details Defense Of SSFL Cleanup Permit In Appellate Court

Attorneys representing the Los Angeles regional water board are detailing their defense of strict testing, cleanup and monitoring requirements contained in a water permit for cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL), pushing back on a state appellate court suit brought by aerospace giant Boeing Co. “The Regional Board imposed these requirements to investigate and maintain the quality of stormwater discharged from a former nuclear and missile testing site, based on record evidence that uncontrolled pollutants were being discharged,”...

Environmentalists Press MAHA Panel To Stem Range Of PFAS Exposures

Environmentalists are petitioning the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission to take action to restrict PFAS exposure from biosolid applications, fluorination in plastic containers and pesticides use, contending the administration’s talk about addressing PFAS does not match its actions to date. The purpose of the petition -- sent Aug. 13 to MAHA Commission Chair and Health & Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. -- is to point out the hypocrisy of administration officials on the per- and polyfluoroalkyl...

Environmentalists Threaten Suit Over ESA Violations In Biden-Era 404 Rule

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is threatening to sue EPA over alleged Endangered Species Act (ESA) violations in connection with the Biden-era rule allowing states and authorized tribes to assume and administer Clean Water Act (CWA) section 404 permitting programs, citing a failure to consult with federal wildlife agencies. CBD sent EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin a July 30 notice of intent to sue (NOI), saying that in revising the 404 assumption rule “EPA has violated the ESA by failing...

GAO recommends FEMA use of EPA mapping for natural disasters

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to use various EPA water system and wastewater system service mapping tools to help address financial assistance barriers that vulnerable communities face when it comes to prioritizing grant funding for such systems during natural disasters. GAO issued an Aug. 11 report detailing challenges that rural, low-income, and other vulnerable communities face in accessing grant funding and loans to make community water infrastructure more resilient to natural disaster...

EPA Floats Power Plant ELG Deadline Extension As Officials Weigh Rollbacks

The Trump EPA is floating for interagency review a draft plan delaying compliance with zero-discharge requirements in a Biden-era rule governing effluent limitations for power plants, though officials are asking a federal appellate court to delay litigation over the regulation as they weigh more substantive revisions. According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), EPA Aug. 11 submitted for interagency review its proposed rule extending zero-discharge compliance deadlines. The agency floated the proposal on the same day it filed...

Chemours Appeals Order Requiring Immediate PFAS Discharge Reductions

PFAS manufacturer Chemours is appealing a federal court’s order requiring the company to immediately reduce its discharges of a next-generation PFAS to comply with its wastewater discharge permit, after the judge reinforced the court’s authority to grant preliminary injunctive relief to citizens seeking to enforce the Clean Water Act (CWA). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Aug. 12 docketed Chemours’ petition seeking review of Judge Joseph Goodwin’s Aug. 7 order in West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) v....

Judge Orders Chemours To Curb PFAS Releases In Line With CWA Permit

A federal judge is ordering PFAS manufacturer Chemours to immediately restrict its discharges of a GenX chemical at its Washington Works plant into the Ohio River -- even if that means curbing production -- with the court agreeing with environmentalists that the company’s violations of its Clean Water Act (CWA) permit are causing irreparable harm. In an Aug. 7 order , Judge Joseph Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia granted environmentalists’ request for...

Amidst LCRI Defense, EPA Plans To Provide ‘Flexibilities’ For Water Utilities

EPA is planning to defend the Biden-era rule requiring near-total replacement of lead service lines by 2037 against a utility group suing to block the regulation, but will work to provide “practical implementation flexibilities and regulatory clarity” to assist water systems with compliance. The Justice Department (DOJ) “is now moving forward with the process of defending the rule,” EPA told Inside EPA on Aug. 7, after the agency signaled it was ready to move forward with the litigation, which...

States Ready Supreme Court Petition To Review PFAS Venue Decision

South Carolina and Maryland are planning to ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their PFAS contamination suits to federal court, opening the door to a legal reckoning over whether defendants will be able to keep such suits in federal court where they can raise the government contractor defense. As such, if Maryland and South Carolina succeed, it could allow several other states to keep their similar claims against 3M and other...

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D.C. Circuit Sets Sept. 10 Deadline To File Motions In PFAS SDWA Case

The D.C. Circuit is requiring EPA and other parties in litigation challenging the Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits to file motions to govern future proceedings by Sept. 10, actions that will likely clarify how the Trump EPA will proceed with its proposed changes to the landmark PFAS regulation. According to an Aug. 7 order in the consolidated American Water Works Association, et al. v. EPA , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit orders “that the parties file...

PFAS Receivers Press EPA To Issue Biosolids Guide, Revise Assessment

A group representing PFAS receivers, such as wastewater utilities and landfills, is urging EPA to issue interim guidance on the land application of biosolids to combat the uncertainty it says the agency’s draft risk assessment for two PFAS in biosolids has caused, arguing it would also give EPA more time to appropriately revise the risk assessment. “The absence of any risk management analysis contextualizing the Draft Risk Assessment--which EPA has historically completed at the same time as its completion of...

OMB Data Requests Delay Review Of EPA’s Aerial Spraying NPDES Permit

White House officials are seeking additional information from EPA on its proposed Clean Water Act (CWA) general discharge permit for the aerial spraying of fire retardant, according to a court filing last week, delaying interagency review of the pending proposal as House lawmakers seek to exempt the practice from regulation. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) filed an Aug. 1 status report in the suit Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE) v. USFS , in the U.S. District Court for...

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