Annual Report 2013 New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission Embracing an Evolving Suite of Challenges Connecticut • Maine • Massachusetts • New Hampshire • New York • Rhode Island • Vermont Embracing an Evolving Suite of Challenges mbracing challenges is something the New England Interstate We still do all those things. But there can be no question that, as Water Pollution Control Commission has been doing for a our 2011-2013 Chair Pete LaFlamme articulates on the next page, our Every long time. Established by an Act of Congress in 1947, region has entered a new era of water pollution control. It is an era NEIWPCC is a not-for-profit interstate organization that since our defined by new challenges such as climate change as well as familiar infancy has employed a variety of strategies to meet the water-related challenges that have evolved to present new demands, such as the need needs of our member states—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, to prepare wastewater operators to replace retiring plant managers. At New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. For decades, NEIWPCC, this new era provides new opportunities to serve and assist we have coordinated forums and events that encourage cooperation our member states. It is the goal of this annual report to capture how we among the states, developed resources that foster progress on water and are doing so. wastewater issues, represented the region in matters of federal policy, The report covers NEIWPCC’s accomplishments during fiscal year trained environmental professionals, initiated and overseen scientific 2013, which began on October 1, 2012, and ended on September 30, research, educated the public, and provided overall leadership in water 2013. Some activities that took place in fiscal 2014 are included to management and protection. complete descriptions of work performed in fiscal 2013. Contents From the Chair ............................................1 Officers/Commissioners .....................................2 Leadership by Design .......................................3 Challenges of Our Times ...................................11 Productive Relationships ...................................29 Direct Assistance .........................................36 Quality Management ......................................40 Financial Information ......................................41 Tim Newcomb Tim From the Chair March 2014 and will continue to require the implementation of new initiatives. And it all must be done in an environment of ever-tightening constraints on staffing and resources at all cross our region, throughout our states, levels of government. and within the offices of the New England Adapting to these changing needs requires an ongoing evolution of our practices AInterstate Water Pollution Control as we continually strive to maximize effectiveness in implementation through Commission, we share the common goal of universally carefully prioritizing our efforts across the region. As this annual report fully clean and safe waters, characterized by healthy aquatic demonstrates, NEIWPCC contributed significantly to progress in a great many ecosystems and the full support of uses. Over the areas over the past year. Given the breadth of the suite of new challenges, it is years, however, the principal challenges faced in obvious that the Commission’s work—guided by its member states and NEIWPCC accomplishing this goal have evolved dramatically. Commissioners—is crucial to our collective success. There is both a great need and a As a result, our planning and strategies are likewise great opportunity for regional cooperation and collaboration as we push forward into evolving. The focus of water resources management is undergoing a paradigm shift, these new frontiers of water pollution control. and at NEIWPCC and within its member states, we are embracing the change. We’ve certainly come a long way together, yet we still have a long way to go. As That this shift is occurring at all is a testament to our success. The federal Clean we in the states take these next steps, we do so in the same way as we have for many Water Act was conceived and implemented in an era that was necessarily focused decades—with NEIWPCC by our side. A very welcome constant amid the change. on controlling ‘traditional pollutants’ from point sources. Strategies targeted visible, tangible, and significant sources, such as municipal sewage and direct industrial discharges. The result: substantial reductions in the point source pollution that had so degraded our region’s lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and groundwater. While these traditional point sources will continue to be environmental stressors Pete LaFlamme that require ongoing control, a myriad of other potential threats have emerged NEIWPCC Chair 2011-2013 in recent years that demand our attention and an effective response. Urban, Director, Watershed Management Division agricultural, and other forms of contaminated stormwater runoff; the introduction of Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation invasive aquatic species; bioaccumulation of toxics; depletion of aquifers; pollutants of emerging concern such as those found in pharmaceuticals and personal care products; the effects of climate change—these threats and many more have required Annual Report 2013 1 NEIWPCC 2013 NEIWPCC OFFICERS* Chair: Pete LaFlamme, Vermont Vice-Chair: Yvonne Bolton, Connecticut Treasurer: Richard Kotelly, Massachusetts NEIWPCC COMMISSIONERS* Connecticut Massachusetts New York Daniel Esty, Commissioner, Kenneth Kimmell, Commissioner, Joseph Martens, Commissioner, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Department of Environmental Protection Department of Environmental Conservation Represented by Yvonne Bolton, Chief, Bureau of Represented by Bethany Card, Assistant Commissioner, Represented by Mark Klotz, Director, Division of Water Materials Management and Compliance Assurance; and Bureau of Resource Protection Nirav Shah, Commissioner, Department of Health Denise Ruzicka, Director, Water Planning and Standards Cheryl Bartlett, Commissioner, Represented by Roger Sokol, Director, Division Department of Public Health Bureau of Water Supply Protection Jewel Mullen, Commissioner, Represented by Michael Celona, Albert Bromberg, Schenectady Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health Leo Hetling, Delmar Represented by Ellen Blaschinski, Branch Chief, Paul Hogan, Holden Regulatory Services John Sullivan, Dorchester Rhode Island Arnie Bevins, Vernon F. Adam Yanulis, Cambridge Janet Coit, Director, Astrid Hanzalek, Suffield Department of Environmental Management Mark Zessin, Glastonbury New Hampshire Represented by Alicia Good, Assistant Director, Thomas Burack, Commissioner, Office of Water Resources Maine Department of Environmental Services Michael Fine, Director, Department of Health Patricia Aho, Commissioner, Represented by Harry Stewart, Director, Water Division Represented by June Swallow, Chief, Department of Environmental Protection Thomas Ballestero, Madbury Office of Drinking Water Quality Represented by Michael Kuhns, Director, Fred McNeill, Manchester Donald Pryor, Providence Bureau of Land and Water Quality Nelson Thibault, Nottingham Mary Mayhew, Commissioner, Robert Varney, Bedford Vermont Department of Health and Human Services David Mears, Commissioner, Represented by Nancy Beardsley, Director, Department of Environmental Conservation Drinking Water Program Represented by Pete LaFlamme, Director, James Parker, Veazie Watershed Management Division David Van Slyke, Yarmouth Harry Chen, Commissioner, Department of Health James Ehlers, Colchester Eugene Forbes, Burlington Dennis Lutz, Essex Junction *As of September 30, 2013. An up-to-date list of NEIWPCC’s Commissioners is available at www.neiwpcc.org/commissioners.asp. For details on Commissioners whose service ended in fiscal 2013 and those we welcomed to the team, see page 5. 2 The Act of Congress that established NEIWPCC in 1947 set the foundation. Each member state was to be represented by five Leadership By Design Commissioners, with the states given some discretion with their choices. But the writers of the compact made it clear that state officials representing he New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission environmental and health departments should be included, and that has in fiscal year 2013 was many things—an organization focused almost invariably been the case. For decades, virtually all states have been Ton pressing challenges, a partner with our states in sustaining represented by the heads of their environmental and health agencies, progress on multiple fronts, a collaborator with organizations pressing for supplemented by three highly experienced individuals from outside state positive and lasting change. But at our core, we were what we have always government. It’s a structure that makes NEIWPCC a truly regional body been—a commission. We aren’t a product, an address, a brand. We are, in made up of leaders of unquestionable integrity and influence. And it’s all essence, the men and women on the opposite page. It’s been that way since due to the wisdom of those who conceived of NEIWPCC nearly 70 years NEIWPCC’s founding and it will remain that way. Because it works. ago. To put it simply, they got it right. on our list (ascension to chair is done in a predetermined order so each state has equal Constructive opportunity). LaFlamme’s tenure, however, began a year early as he filled out the term of our previous