Federal Water Tap, October 7: Report Highlights Water Sector Employment Problems

The Rundown

• Federal working group publishes report on water sector workforce challenges.
• CBO assesses benefits of federal flood adaptation spending.
• EPA expands PFAS reporting requirements and finalizes new guidelines for certain PFAS to protect aquatic life.
• Helene damages NOAA climate office in Asheville.
• Colorado River tribes want federal payments for not using water to which they are entitled but are not currently using.
• Reclamation, meanwhile, extends the deadline to apply for Colorado River basin conservation funding.

And lastly, Republican representatives ask the White House for details on its groundwater working group.

“It is not the role of the Federal government to manage or regulate groundwater. States, Tribes, and local governments have been effectively managing groundwater and water supply for decades without federal intervention.” – Excerpt of a letter from six western Republican congressional representatives. The letter was sent to Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The office formed a groundwater working group last year to produce a report on federal responses to America’s groundwater challenges. The representatives asked for more details about the working group: costs, procedures, and interaction with other agencies.

By the Numbers

$1.3 Billion: Loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 116 rural water, sewer, and electric projects. Ninety percent of the funds are in the form of low-interest loans.

News Briefs

PFAS Actions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took several actions related to PFAS.

First, the agency is proposing that handlers of toxic chemicals – industries, businesses, waste treatment facilities – report more information about additional PFAS that they use and release into land, air, and water.

More than 100 PFAS will be added to the Toxic Release Inventory, a public database that tracks the fate of chemicals.

Second, the agency finalized new ambient water quality guidelines for 10 PFAS. The guidelines are intended to help states and tribes when they set standards to protect aquatic animals that live in rivers, lakes, and estuaries.

The guidelines for PFOA and PFOS relate to salt water and fresh water. For eight other PFAS, the guidelines are for fresh water only.

Third, the agency signed an agreement with the Tucson Airport Authority to clean up PFAS-contaminated groundwater at the Tucson International Airport.

Helene Damages NOAA Offices in Asheville
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a distributed organization. Offices are spread across the country.

The National Centers for Environmental Information, which compiles data on droughts and other weather hazards, happens to be located in Asheville, North Carolina, which was smashed by Hurricane Helene.

NOAA says that the center’s data, which reaches back hundreds of years, and its staff are safe. But the storm has affected its work. New climate reports, which usually come out monthly, will be delayed.

Tribes Want Federal Payments for Not Using Water
A tribal representative in the Upper Colorado River basin said the Bureau of Reclamation will not pay tribes for not using water to which they are entitled but have not yet used, Aspen Journalism reports.

It’s a statement full of negatives, and the tribes view it that way.

The federal government has hundreds of millions of dollars to hand out in the upper basin for water conservation. One form is not eligible, said Lorelei Cloud, vice chair of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. That is: forbearance agreements with tribes.

Reclamation pointed to the statutory definition that it is working with: “new, verifiable contributions” of conserved water to support the basin’s beleaguered reservoirs.

Studies and Reports

Dampen the Peak
Hurricane Helene was the latest example of the sledgehammer that heavy rains can take to a community. What about investing to reduce flood risk?

The Congressional Budget Office, which informs Congress on money stuff, estimated the financial benefit of federal flood mitigation spending. In their report, the bean counters reckon that $2 in damage reductions happen for every dollar spent on FEMA projects. For Army Corps projects, the figure is $3 per dollar. (The difference comes down to types of projects – homes for FEMA; dams/levees for the Corps – and accounting methods.)

Over the last 10 years flood damages in the U.S. have averaged $46 billion per year, the CBO found. That includes home repairs and replacement, emergency response, temporary shelter, and business losses.

Those flood losses all together are expected to increase due to rising seas and stronger storms. CBO estimates an annual jump of a quarter to a third by 2050.

In context: Giant Storms, Growing Larger, Inundated an Unprepared Planet

Water Workforce Challenges
A federal interagency working group published a report on how the water sector can hire, train, and retain enough employees – or deploy technology – to replace the workers who will soon be retiring.

The “silver tsunami” problem is well known and extensive. By one estimate, a third of water and wastewater plant operators are 55 or older.

The report’s recommendations are broad and correspond to the three key points of hiring, training, and retention.

The report suggests promoting water jobs by highlighting the public-service aspect for those who want “to make a difference.” For training, federal funding will help. And retaining workers will be easier if the job’s physical and time demands are less burdensome.

On the Radar

Colorado River Conservation Funding Deadline Extended
The Bureau of Reclamation extended by nearly six weeks the deadline to apply for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal conservation funding.

The deadline for Bucket 2 Environmental Drought Mitigation is now November 22.

This program is for “general environmental benefits or ecosystem/habitat restoration benefits that address issues directly caused by drought.”

Drought Meeting
On October 24, the executive council of the National Integrated Drought Information System, a federal drought coordinating body and early-warning system, will hold a public meeting in Washington, D.C.

Register here.

Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

Brett Walton

Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States(2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). He received the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies. Contact Brett Walton