Bob Crossen | Senior Managing Editor | [email protected]
You’ll notice this June issue is a bit different than our normal buyer’s guide. This year we opted to include some editorial content at the expense of some product categories, which we will feature later in the year. As such, we hope you’ll enjoy the fresh editorial content covering smart water, sensors and desalination, in addition to the product and services directory and supplier directory. Additionally, we have some longer form product pieces in this issue for more detail on those pieces of equipment.
Now with that housekeeping out of the way, there are two major news points I wanted to highlight since the last issue because the water industry has been particularly rife with big news.
On April 23, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of The County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund that some groundwater discharge should be regulated by the Clean Water Act and may require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. This could impact many facilities in the industry, depending on the rules that the U.S. EPA has been tasked with creating after the verdict was handed down. If you’d like to read more about this news in-depth and hear some legal analysis from industry lawyers, visit bit.ly/countyofmauicase for an article and podcast episode.
Additionally, as of press time, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a mark up session and approved to send to the floor a bill that includes $19.5 billion in funding for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects as well as U.S. EPA drinking and clean water programs, including renewals of the America’s Water Infrastructure Act and Drinking Water Infrastructure Act.
Historically, bills like this have had near unanimous support, so we are optimistic this one will pass like the previous ones. Perhaps by the time you are reading this very editorial letter, it will have already passed. If that is the case, please check out our news section on our website at wwdmag.com/news for daily news updates about the industry, and browse our articles for web-exclusive content.
