Message from the Executive Director
Looking back at 2022, to me, it felt like both a new beginning and continuous evolution. Every day, I looked forward to working on making our drinking water safer and more reliable. Some issues changed and some remained the same, and I never once took for granted the privilege I have in my role leading ASDWA to make progress.
Everyone worked to initiate implementation of the BIL and the LCRR, while trying to figure out the road ahead for cybersecurity, PFAS, and LCRI. Our continued work as a sector to build system resilience while addressing new programs and challenges amazes me, particularly given the continued challenges of working in a COVID world.
I am always impressed by how powerful ASDWA’s members can be when working together and speak with a strong knowledgeable voice. Collectively, we can impact the future of drinking water.
I am also deeply grateful for the solid work by the ASDWA staff. I continue to be appreciative of ASDWA’s members for their support and trust, and I commit to them our focus on continued learning and engagement to assure we’re always advancing the needs and priorities of our members. I am looking forward to working with Bill Moody and the rest of the ASDWA Board in 2023 and I am especially looking forward to seeing more of ASDWA’s members in person.
Pivoting From the Pandemic
Last year marked our first few steps toward pivoting forward from the pandemic. One of the most valuable lessons we learned moving into 2022 was the added opportunities for engagement that virtual meetings enable and we seized those opportunities a lot last year. We continued the virtual monthly Everything But the Bagel and the Summer Book Club. We succeeded with our blend of remote and in-person meetings, but we need to continue to be nimble and innovative and continually think about how to best communicate with the primacy agencies and to provide events to grow connections. Moving forward, ASDWA will continue to pursue the best mix of in-person and virtual meetings to build and maintain the relationships and connections we need to learn from each other.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided $55 billion over five years in water infrastructure funding for lead service line (LSL) inventories and replacements, tackling PFAS contamination, and other needed infrastructure improvements for water and wastewater systems. Getting this increased level of funding to the communities that need it most became a top issue for ASDWA’s members. ASDWA President Lori Mathieu testified at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, "Trusting the Tap: Upgrading America's Drinking Water Infrastructure." Lori’s testimony stressed the need for flexibility in the implementation of the BIL and the need to ensure sustainability in the state revolving funds, the water systems, and the water sector workforce, including state staff and system operators.
Environmental Justice/Disadvantaged Communities
Early in 2022, the Biden Administration announced its new Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal of 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments going to disadvantaged communities. ASDWA responded by establishing the Justice40 Workgroup to help inform our work and engagement with federal agencies. The workgroup provided substantial input for a new Environmental Justice webpage, with information on ASDWA’s environmental justice strategy, as well as a suite of environmental justice resources related to drinking water.
Related to this, ASDWA worked with the Southwest Environmental Finance Center to develop the Small and Disadvantaged Water System Funding and Assistance White Paper. This White Paper explores a variety of state efforts to fund and assist their small and disadvantaged water systems, along with specific state examples.
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and Lead and Copper Rule Improvements
EPA's December 2021 announcement of their intention to promulgate Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) while simultaneously moving forward with portions of the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) left a lot of unanswered questions throughout 2022. ASDWA took this uncertainty in stride while working on how to best assist states and systems in 2022 and beyond. With the increased BIL funding for lead service line inventories and replacements, states prioritized their efforts around the LSL inventory and replacement requirements, aided by ASDWA's State Implementation Framework for the Lead Service Line Inventory Requirements under EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR). Additionally, throughout 2022, ASDWA hosted 11 webinars, including the LSL Symposium and the ongoing Implementation Tools Series, focusing on LSL inventories and replacements. These webinars collectively featured 16 speakers from 14 states; states also participated in a series of states-only roundtable discussions to discuss these issues and share solutions between states. Looking ahead to the proposed LCRI in 2023, 27 members from 24 states provided invaluable insight into how the LCRR could be improved, including recommendations to more effectively protect public health and ensure feasibility, during two early stakeholder engagements with EPA headquarters, as well as in ASDWA's LCRI Federalism Comments.
PFAS
ASDWA partnered with the Association of Clean Water Agencies (ACWA), and the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) to host a cross-programmatic PFAS workshop. The workshop provided a forum for state staff to discuss what is collectively needed to move forward on PFAS and to go beyond EPA’s limited regulatory efforts. States provided substantive input for the proposed drinking water regulation for PFOA and PFOS through a series of stakeholder engagements and through comments during EPA’s Federalism Consultation.