CASA Connects for February 6, 2018

2018 holds great possibilities and opportunities for our federal legislative priorities. That’s why we urge you to join us at our Washington D.C. Policy Forum February 26-28. Together, we will advocate for infrastructure financing, permit term extensions and regulatory streamlining.

Our event takes place at the St. Regis hotel. We will also return to the U.S. Botanic Garden for our joint Congressional reception with the Association of California Water Agencies. Register to join us, water professionals and elected officials working to secure California’s water future.

CASA Supports New Infrastructure Funding Program

Senator John Boozman (R-AR) recently introduced the “Securing Required Funding for Water Infrastructure Now Act” (S.2384). The Act will authorize the USEPA to provide State Revolving Funds with funding leveraged with U.S. Treasury securities. We urged oursupport for the bipartisan legislation which also led, in part, to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s decision to sign on as a cosponsor.

CEC Panel Report Reaffirms Safety of Recycled Water

The 2018 CEC Expert Panel released itsdraft report, “CEC Monitoring for Recycled Water.” The report reaffirms the panel’s earlier conclusion that the use of recycled water is safe. CASA participated in the stakeholder group to advise the expert panel. We will continue to review and comment on the report in partnership with WateReuse California. Comments are due March 2.

CASA’s Nonflushable Wipes Campaign Update

Last year we assembled a task force to guide our unique 2018 nonflushables campaign. Rather than focusing on behavior change, our main goal is to influence future legislation to change products. This year, we will educate policy and decision makers on nonflushable issues, gather quantitative data on the economic impacts of nonflushables and align with other organizations to support our goal.

Safeguarding California Plan Reflects CASA Comments

The Natural Resources Agency recently released its Safeguarding California Plan: 2018 Update. The report lays out a roadmap of what state agencies are doing and will do to protect communities, infrastructure, services and the environment from climate change impacts. We provided comments on the draft update in June 2017. We are pleased to share the updated plan includes several of our recommendations.

Thank you to those who joined us at our winter conference. Nearly 270 people attended this year’s event making it one of our most highly attended conferences to date. In case you missed it, check our website to view the informative presentations shared by our speakers and panelists.

Welcome New Members!

SVCW Praised for its $138.5 Million Bond

Congratulations to Silicon Valley Clean Water! Two major bond rating companies recently gave the agency high marks for its pending issuance of $138.5 million in new bonds. The bonds will help fund SVCW’s upcoming capital improvement projects. The high ratings mean the bonds are judged to be of be of high quality, subject to very low credit risk and deem SVCW to have a very strong capacity to meet its financial commitments.

Orange County Districts to Hold Winter Fest

On Friday, February 16, the Orange County Sanitation District and Orange County Water District will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Groundwater Replenishment System with a free Winter Fest community event. The event offers food trucks, entertainment and GWRS tours. It will also feature a representative from the Guinness World Records who will attempt to produce the largest amount of recycled water in a 24-hour period. Visitwww.ocsd.com for more information.

Inland Empire Utilities Agency Receives GFOA Award

For the 12th consecutive year, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for its Fiscal Year 2016/2017 budget.

The award is the highest form of recognition in government budgeting and represents significant achievement. To receive this award, a governmental entity must publish a budget document that meets the highest principles of governmental budgeting and satisfies nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. Congrats to IEUA!

Reminder: SB 1383 Workshops Set for March

CalRecycle will hold its next round of public workshops to discuss implementation of SB 1383. The informal public stakeholder workshops will take place March 21 in Sacramento and March 22 in Carlsbad.

February 6-9

February 14

February 26-28

March 25-27

April 11

April 18-20