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Western States Water Council Water Quality Committee Washington, DC March 28, 2006 The nervousness people have is when the relaxation of requirements will go into effect. It's a difference of which permit they go in under - - CWA or Good Samaritan. Steve Black: Comments are consistent with Senator Salazar's views. This is one attempt , to draw this line and we'll see how it unfolds. Limit Good Samaritan cleanups- consistent with the comments. Patty Limerick: I am a historian. I'm curious why this good piece of legislation is so difficult to get through. There are tremendous sensitivities. Is there a way to address this in a positive way? Ken Kopocis: There was a general reluctance to do anything that could be perceived as lessening the requirements. Look at EPA's water quality inventory, and there is essentially no improvement over the past two decades. We are now reaching a point where the nation has decided not to make the investment in cleaning up water. The nation is not interested in meeting the standards that were put in place in the 1970s when the CW A was adopted. We have to figure out some way to get further improvements in water quality. Patty Limerick: I appreciate that comment. Roger Gorke: Do you think it might need a small tweak to the CW A, or can a standalone bill get us there? Ken Kopocis: I would think 402. Briefing from Robbi Savage re: ASIWPCA priorities I want to thank WSWC for a number of things. I started with the Association in 1978. The relationship tended to be member to member. The working relationships have been outstanding. Two weeks ago, when folks came to our meeting, we appreciated it. $688M is easy to dismiss. If SRF goes below a million dollars, we are at the place where it will be lost. It will be up to you guys to make sure the SRFs get funded. As many of you know, I'm leaving the Association. I wrote the legislation and I believe we need to work hard to get it back to where it once was. You will need to watch carefully and be very loud. On 106, the agency has set aside part of the money for probabilistic monitoring. It gets the entree of the federal government into 106. If allowed, it will be the end of 106. 14 I. I . .