State Water Board Chair Joaquin Esquivel to Address Annual Conference
State Water Board Chair Joaquin Esquivel will be addressing attendees at the CASA Annual Conference on Friday, August 23 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. Esquivel was appointed to the State Water Board in March 2017 and designated by Governor Gavin Newsom as Chair of the Board earlier this year.

Previously, he served as assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California Natural Resources Agency and worked for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. He will talk to attendees about his experience on the State Water Board and the board’s upcoming water quality priorities.

Join us to hear Chair Esquivel and our other excellent presenters! Today is the hotel cut-off date! Have you made your reservation? Make your reservation here.

 

 

CASA Releases New Funding Opportunities List
As part of an ongoing commitment to provide CASA’s members with timely and relevant information, our website has been updated to provide information and links to funding opportunities for renewable energy, co-digestion, and other renewable resources. You can find this list under the Resources tab on the website. Both Federal and State opportunities are featured, including both loans and grants. We hope you will check it out, and let us know if you find the information useful. If you are aware of any additional wastewater agency funding programs, please share them with CASA staff as we want the webpage to be as complete as possible.

 

CASA Comments on Significant Organics Diversion Regulations
CASA recently provided comments to CalRecycle on the second iteration of draft regulatory text to implement SB 1383. SB 1383 requires, among other things, a 75 percent diversion of organic waste, including biosolids, away from landfills by 2025. CalRecycle has been responsive to our comments to date, but several issues remain.

Two items of particular interest in the letter were:

  • Clarification that all biogas produced from co-digestion of diverted organic waste put to beneficial use will satisfy procurement requirements imposed on jurisdictions which divert organic waste from landfills. There is no need to parse out the biogas generated from the diverted organic waste.
  • Ensuring that provisions related to limiting local jurisdictions from adopting ordinances which restrict or prohibit the land application of biosolids remains in full force and effect. Throughout the process, CalRecycle has recognized the need for wastewater agencies to be able to land apply biosolids throughout the state in order to meet the goals and mandates of SB 1383. CalRecycle is working to develop language that meets this need while also recognizing local jurisdiction’s ability to adopt certain ordinances under their police powers.

The regulations must be finalized by January 2020 and will become effective on January 1, 2022.