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State Water Board Adopts Definition of Microplastics At its June 16 meeting, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted a definition of microplastics in drinking water. In the days leading up to the State Water Board meeting, the proposed definition was expanded to encompass particles an order of magnitude smaller than originally proposed. These “nanoplastics” are [...]

House Democrats Unveil Broad Infrastructure Investment Package House Democrats have officially unveiled their broad infrastructure investment package, entitled the Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2), which builds off of the Moving Forward Framework House Democrats released earlier this year. H.R. 2 is an expansive package that would invest more than $1.5 trillion to support investment across [...]

Resiliency at its Finest! You know the saying, “Some people are lost in fire, and some people are built from it?” Well the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD), is definitely the latter! In November 2018 the Woolsey Fire ripped through the facility, damaging multiple pieces of equipment and buildings. On Friday, May 29, 2020, the [...]

The Bar Association of San Francisco Today, Wednesday, June 24, 2020, from 2:30pm to 3:45pm (PT) the Environmental Law Section of The Bar Association of San Francisco presents the webinar: The Supreme Court’s County of Maui Decision – What it Means and What’s Next. Hear from CASA’s Executive Director Adam Link as the panel of speakers [...]

Join Us for CASA’s First Virtual Annual Conference CASA’s first ever virtual conference will feature an impressive line-up of speakers and the ability to connect with your peers, all while participating from the comfort of your home or office. You won’t want to miss this event, themed “Meeting the Moment,” and set for August 12-13, 2020. [...]

Updates to CASA COVID-19 Webpage As new information is released and obtained, CASA continues to update our COVID-19 webpage. Some recent additions include: Best Practices When Reopening Businesses Updated Information on FEMA/CalOES Application Processes

Relationship Between Innovation and Regulation Regulation is often seen as a barrier to innovation. Factors related to ‘regulatory relationships’ and the ‘broader regulatory environment’” are frequently cited as hurdles in efforts to innovate. In the wastewater sector, debating the proper role of increased regulatory requirements is nothing new, but does it truly play a role [...]

President Calls for Regulatory Streamlining On Thursday, June 4, 2020, the White House published an Executive Order (EO) on “Accelerating the Nation’s Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Emergency by Expediting Infrastructure Investments and Other Activities” to support economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis through further streamlining of regulatory permitting processes for infrastructure projects. The EO [...]

IEUA Receives $196 Million Loan from US EPA On May 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced it is awarding the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) a $196 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (WIFIA) loan to assist with the agency’s expansion of its wastewater treatment capacity. The loan will help finance the Regional [...]

USEPA On June 15, 2020, from 9:00am to 10:00am (PT) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting a webinar: Sustainable Financial Management Planning for Water Utilities Webinar. The process of accessing funding and financing can be a barrier to investing in water infrastructure, especially for resource-constrained and smaller communities. These water sector investments can be [...]