EPA Reinstates Davis-Bacon Act for SRF Projects

EPA has announced that it will resume applying the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to construction projects funded under the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) program. The measure will require contractors to pay workers prevailing wages in the area where the work takes place.

EPA reapplied requirements of the act under terms of a settlement agreement between the agency and AFL-CIO. Terms of the agreement call for EPA to apply the wage-rate rules in the same manner they were applied before Oct. 1, 1994. The 1931 Davis-Bacon Act requires "mechanics and laborers employed directly on the site of the work" in federal construction projects to be paid local prevailing wage rates, as determined by the U.S. Secretary of Labor.

According to EPA, the agency previously had interpreted Sec. 602(b)(6) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) as limiting the application of the Davis-Bacon Act to SRF-funded projects constructed before fiscal year 1995. An EPA memorandum announced that such requirements would not apply to SRF-funded projects that began construction after Oct. 1, 1994.

The AFL-CIO in 1997 challenged the action, arguing that the Bacon-Davis wage requirements should apply to SRF-funded projects as long as the U.S. Congress appropriates funds for the program.

Under terms of the agreement, EPA will require all capitalization grants awarded after July 1, 2001, to include the Davis-Bacon Act requirements.

Whitman Confirmed As EPA Administrator

The U.S. Senate on January 30 confirmed Christine Todd Whitman as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Whitman, a Republican who had served as governor of the state of New Jersey since 1993, won Senate approval by a 99-0 vote. Not voting on Whitman's nomination was Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND).

Whitman resigned as New Jersey's chief executive to assume her duties as EPA administrator, one of 15 presidential cabinet level positions in the Bush administration.

The Senate was more divided in its vote on another key environmental official, though Gale Norton was confirmed as the nation's 48th interior secretary. Norton won confirmation by a margin of 75 to 24.

"Gale Norton has shown a career pattern of opposing core environmental protections," according to Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN). Norton will oversee a group of environmentally related agencies that includes the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Minerals Management Service, the Office of Surface Mining, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. Norton served as attorney general for the state of Colorado for eight years.

City Faces $6 million Fine in Clean Water Act Case

Dalton Utilities and the Water, Light and Sinking Fund Commission of the City of Dalton, GA, will resolve violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and improve the water quality of the Conasauga River under a civil settlement announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD).

The utility has agreed to pay a $6 million penalty and implement significant improvements to its system to ensure that wastewater programs are in compliance with the CWA. The improvements include implementation of its improved Pretreatment Program; implementation of operation and maintenance standards and procedures for its sewer collection system to prevent discharges of pollutants to waters of the state; implementation of the Land Application System (LAS) Water Quality Characterization Plan; and the discontinuance of the land application of sewage sludge in certain areas.

The settlement resolves allegations contained in a complaint that was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of EPA and Georgia EPD, against the utility in 1998. The State of Alabama, the Coosa River Basin Initiative, and the Weiss Lake Improvement Association later joined the action as plaintiffs.

The complaint resulted from EPA and EPD evaluations of all wastewater programs (i.e., wastewater treatment facilities, laboratory, sludge handling and disposal, land application system, pretreatment program, and sanitary sewer collection system) at the utility. Major deficiencies were found in almost all aspects of the wastewater treatment programs. Specifically, the LAS was vulnerable to problems that cause wastewater to run off the site into surface waters. These violations resulted in the addition of pollutants to groundwater and the Conasauga River and its tributaries through inadequate pretreatment and runoff from the LAS areas. Many of the violations were initially discovered during the criminal investigation of Dalton Utilities. The investigation ultimately resulted in the entry of a criminal plea by Dalton Utilities on September 9, 1999, for falsification of reports it submitted to Georgia EPD.

The City of Dalton, through the Board of Water, Light and Sinking Fund Commissioners, operates Dalton Utilities. The utility operates, maintains, and manages the electric, natural gas, drinking water and sewage services for the City of Dalton and surrounding areas in Whitfield County. The utility owns and operates three biological wastewater treatment facilities which have a combined design treatment capacity of 40 mgd and treat more than 29 mgd of wastewater on an average daily basis. Effluent from the treatment facilities is applied to field areas on the LAS site 24 hours a day on a rotating basis. Approximately 4,800 acres of the LAS site are spray irrigated. Several streams flow across the LAS site to the Conasauga River, which bounds the LAS site on the north, west, and south. Another water body, Holly Creek, bounds the LAS site on the north.

While the State of Georgia exercises primary program implementation authority (i.e., permit issuance and enforcement), EPA retains an oversight role to address any violation of the CWA. Dalton Utilities did not come into compliance with the CWA despite the enforcement actions taken by EPD. Since 1977, EPD, the primary enforcement authority, issued fifteen Consent Orders to the Utility for the same type of violations discovered during the EPA wastewater programs evaluation.

City Faces Penalties For Alleged Silver Discharges

EPA has cited the city of Salisbury, MD, for three Clean Water Act violations that involve excessive discharge of silver and other pollutants from the city's wastewater treatment plant. EPA is seeking $137,500 in penalties.

The alleged violations by Salisbury include: discharging excessive amounts of metals such as silver into the Wicomico River; failing to take sufficient enforcement action against Perdue Farms for wastewater treatment violations; and allowing raw sewage to flow directly into the Wicomico River watershed.

Silver is a wastewater byproduct of photo processing and electronics manufacturing. The Salisbury treatment plant was not designed to remove metals from the water. Salisbury is responsible for regulating industrial users by setting limits on the type and amount of pollutants that can be sent to the city's water treatment facility.

Silver in water can kill beneficial algae in the treatment process, disrupting the plant's ability to remove pollutants. Water with dissolved silver can kill fish eggs, cause skin irritations to swimmers and accumulate in tissues of humans and aquatic life, causing discoloration and organ damage.

EPA Releases Rule Implementation Chart

EPA has released a chart that shows milestones, implementation schedules and requirements for all major SDWA rulemakings from 2000 through 2004. It shows that EPA expects to finalize the Long-Term 1 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment and Filter Backwash rules this summer and the Radon and Ground Water rules this fall.

EPA has also updated public water statistics based on information reported by states through last September. They show that 54,064 community systems serve 263.9 million people; 19,738 nontransient-noncommunity systems serve 6.9 million; 93,210 transient-noncommunity systems serve 12.9 million; 11,403 systems serving 178.1 million rely on surface water; and 42,661 systems serving 85.9 million rely on groundwater.