Transforming the water industry by advancing successful
collaborative delivery through advocacy, education, and research
Water Design-Build News
September 1, 2021
Issue Highlights
New Notice Posted - The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati - Notice of Upcoming Request for Qualifications
Four Education Sessions Left - Still Time to Register
Blog Feature - Clarify to Specify
Legislative Corner - Judge Strikes Down Trump-era WOTUS Rule
WDBC Notices Page
Did you know that owners can post notices of RFQs and RFPs on our website? Whether you're an owner looking to post an upcoming project or an industry member looking to bid on a project, check back regularly to our Notices page here.
The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati Notice of Upcoming Request for Qualifications Little Miami Wastewater Treatment Plant Solids Disposal with Odor Control Progressive Design-Build Project
Join the WDBC for the remaining four lessons in our six-session package of online education sessions designed for owners and practitioners in the water industry. Officials, managers, and engineering and O&M staff of public water/wastewater facilities who are looking to gain essential knowledge needed to procure and deliver design-build and CMAR projects should attend these
classes.
Don't just take our word for it, see what some of our attendees have said:
"Continue doing what you're doing: using polls and/or encouraging audience participation with your questions and scenarios. Great job! "
Each morning session will include a review of the principles and best practices of collaborative delivery followed by the topic of the day in the afternoon:
September 23: Contracts
October 28: Conducting the Procurement Process
November 18: Managing and Implementing Collaborative-Delivery Projects
December 16: Getting to Project Completion & Transition
Time: 10:00 - 1:30 p.m. MST (break 11:30 - 12:00 MST) All sessions will be conducted on Microsoft Teams
Package includes a hard copy and PDF of the 5th edition Water and Wastewater Design-Build Handbook. See registration page for single-session options.
Words are important — an obvious truism and pertinent to a collaborative project delivery effort. The action item is to ‘mobilize the language’ for maximum effect in our contract documents for water/wastewater projects. First, a quick anecdote: A lawyer friend (not mutually exclusive) shared a simple and keen observation when I first worked with him on a contract review. He asked, “Know the difference between an engineer and a lawyer?” After searching my library of lawyer jokes, I had to admit ignorance of the difference. He said, “Lawyers know they’re not engineers.”
Last week a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s rule that significantly narrowed the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction. The order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona brings an end to the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), even as the Biden team had begun the process of reworking the regulation. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers had successfully pressed courts in other parts of the country to allow the Biden administration to come up with a new definition of waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, without immediately scrapping the Trump rule. But Judge Rosemary Márquez of the Arizona district court said the Trump rule, which gutted the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Water Rule, was too flawed to keep in place. Earlier this summer, the Biden administration announced a two-pronged approach to create an "enduring" definition of which waterways and wetlands are subject to the Clean Water Act’s requirements.
House Narrowly Approves $3.5 Trillion Budget Blueprint The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted last Tuesday to advance key parts of President Joe Biden's agenda, after moderates and progressives reached a compromise allowing them to move forward on the multitrillion-dollar plans. In a party-line 220-212 vote, it approved a $3.5 trillion budget framework to advance progressives' ambitious plans to expand child care and other social programs, and agreed to vote by Sept. 27 on a $1 trillion Senate-passed infrastructure bill that is a top priority for moderate Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also said her chamber would work with the Senate to nail down the details of the larger $3.5 trillion budget. Biden's fellow Democrats have little room for error as they try to approve the two massive spending initiatives in the House and Senate, where the party holds razor-thin majorities. Pelosi had hoped to quickly approve the $3.5 trillion budget outline, which would enable lawmakers to begin filling in the details on the sweeping package that would boost spending on child care, education and other social programs and raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations. But centrist Democrats, led by Representative Josh Gottheimer, had refused to go along, saying the House must first pass the infrastructure bill, which has already won approval by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. Liberals have said they will not support the smaller package without the larger one, fearing they will lose leverage. "These negotiations are never easy," said House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern. Pelosi said the House would work with the Senate on the details of the massive budget outline.
*Article provided by WDBC advocacy consulting firm, Venn Strategies
5th Edition of the Water and Wastewater Design-Build Handbook
Learn the Best Practices on Collaborative-Delivery Methods for Water and Wastewater Projects
Member Companies
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