ALEXANDRIA, VA, Jan. 9, 2004 -- The Water Environment Federation (WEF) submitted comments in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) draft guidance on blending.
The draft guidance, released in November 2003, addressed the need for maximizing cost-effective treatment of wastewater flows during peak wet weather through the practice of blending. At that time, the Federation expressed its support of EPA's efforts and announced its intention to provide detailed comments to the proposed policy.
The comments submitted Jan. 9 were developed using a consensus-based work group designed to insure broad input representation of the Federation's overall membership. This diverse group included individuals with backgrounds and experience in wastewater utility operations and management, water quality assessment, environmental law, and state and local government.
WEF believes a national guidance on the practice of blending is critical to promoting responsible management of wastewater collection and treatment facilities, maximizing treatment of municipal wastewater, and consistency among EPA regions and states regarding permitting issues.
It is fundamental to the achievement of our national water quality goals that wastewater treatment facilities have the flexibility to choose the best alternative for maximizing treatment based on a facility planning approach that considers local watershed goals.
WEF supports a facility planning process designed to result in maximum treatment of peak wet weather flows, while improving the use of public resources, by matching the treatment processes to the need for treatment. The implementation of this policy will ensure protection of public health and the environment and enable wastewater treatment operators to maximize treatment of flows and improvement of water quality during wet weather.
"The Federation hopes that its comments assist EPA with articulating these practices and ensuring that they are understood by all involved," said WEF President Lawrence P. Jaworski.
For additional information about blending and to view the comments, visit the WEF website at www.wef.org.
Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who work toward the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 79 Member Associations in over 30 countries.
