The NIOA - September Newsletter, Part 2

Good morning NIOA members! A couple items we want to share with you & a last call to RSVP for Wednesday's NIOA meeting.

NIOA Training

• LAST CALL to RSVP for this week's September NIOA meeting! Please RSVP before the end of the day today so that we can get an accurate count for lunch. The September NIOA Meeting will be held at the Huntington Wastewater Treatment Plant, 20 Hitzfield St, Huntington, IN 46750. Training will start at 10:30 SHARP at the plant, lunch will follow (sponsored by Fleis & VandenBrink Operations), and a tour of the Huntington Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

Wastewater 101 Operator's Exam Prep Course

• Clay Township Regional Waste District will be hosting the Wastewater 101 Operators Exam Prep Course on October 11 and 12 presented by Barb Smith.

  • The course has been designed to help prepare you for the Municipal and Industrial Operators Exam. The cost is $100 per person and will include lunch on both days. Approved for 14 technical hours

  • The course details:
    Instructor: Barb Smith
    Location: John W. Hensel Government Center 10701 College Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46280
    Date and Time:  October 11 & 12 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day

  • Space is limited to the first 25 people and filling up fast!

  • Please RSVP with Name of Individual and Company Name to shaun.odom@ctrwd.org

  • Payments should be received no later than Friday September 30, 2016.
    Please make checks payable to: CTRWD
    Mail to: CTRWD, 10701 College Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46280, Attn: Edie Miller

Additional Information About the EPA Public Listening Session on Great Lakes CSO Notification Requirements

• EPA has posted a registration link on their webpage for the session.  Registration is requested but not required. 

• The session will be Wednesday, September 14, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, at the Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Office (Lake Erie Room, Floor 12), 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604–3507. 

• If you can’t attend the session in person, but would like to join by teleconference, please e-mail Stefanie Gera (stefanie.gera@tetratech.com) and instructions will be sent to you prior to the session. 

• Written comments are due Friday, September 23, and should be submitted via www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0378.  

In the Federal Register notice about the listening session, EPA gives a list of questions and topics that they would like input on.  These topics and questions are heavily focused on “immediate notice” of CSO discharges, as summarized below:

• Immediate notice of CSO discharge events to local public health officials, drinking water facilities, the public (via text alerts, website notices, or other appropriate means), and the NPDES permitting authority... 

  • What should “immediate” mean in this context?

  • How soon after a CSO discharge event commences should the public and local public health agencies be given notice?

  • What means of receiving immediate notice of CSO discharge events is most helpful to the public?

  • What type of information would be most appropriate for immediate notices?

  • What role should local public health agencies have in identifying immediate notification requirements?

  • What information should be included in annual notices and who should prepare the annual notices?

  • What regulatory framework is most appropriate for immediate notification requirements? For annual notices?

The emphasis on “immediate” notice is concerning, since appropriations bill requiring notification did not use the “immediate” to describe the necessary notice.  If you are providing comments during the session, you may want to address this.  Other possible topics to address include the practical implications of monitoring versus modeling of CSO events for your utility (including costs, staffing, maintenance, future updates or replacements, etc.), when/how to provide notice to all of the entities listed in the bulleted list above, and what you think reasonable requirements would look like.