Hot Topics

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 [...]

Join Us in August as CASA’s Annual Conference Goes Virtual  The current pandemic has changed so much about how we live, work, and gather together. While we were looking forward to seeing you all in person this August in Squaw Creek, these new realities have forced us to transition our in-person 2020 Annual Conference to [...]

COVID-19 in the Danish Water Sector While the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting countries around the world in different ways, there are many similarities in how the water and wastewater sectors have approached their core mission of protecting public health and the environment in this time of crisis. As we have seen the wastewater sector respond [...]

On May 14 Governor Newsom released his May Revision of the 2020-21 Budget.  The “May Revise” traditionally is released a month after the income tax deadlines and reflects changes to revenues and any additional adjustments to existing funding based on newly identified needs.  This year, however, the May Revision was a total overhaul of the January budget [...]

Earlier this month, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The purpose of the hearing was to review the Agency's activities during the COVID-19 crisis and provide committee members the opportunity to question the Administrator on issues beyond the crisis. Highlights from the hearing related [...]

Innovative Recycling Plan Wins Award The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) has won an Engineering News-Record award for a recycled water project in partnership with Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LASCD). “MWD piloting a bold new initiative to produce an additional regional water source through its Regional Recycled Water Program, which aims to take [...]