Advocacy & Outreach in Biosolids Management

There are numerous challenges faced by the biosolids management industry throughout the United States, notably the elimination of land application in the State of Maine. In Florida, the reduction of land application sites due to the Clean Waterways Act of 2020 was a significant step towards a more rigorous approach to ensuring that biosolids do not contribute to water quality concerns throughout the state. Legislative proposals continue to emerge that could further limit or eliminate land application, while the EPA's PFAS roadmap aims to target water resource recovery facilities and biosolids for controlling PFAS. Additionally, the implementation of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) provisions poses potential impacts on utilities. Given these challenges, it is crucial for multiple stakeholders to unite and ensure the continuity of effective and established biosolids management practices. Various multistate coalitions such as the Northwest Biosolids Association, Midwest Biosolids Association, Mid-Atlantic Biosolids Association, Northeast Biosolids and Residuals Association, Virginia Biosolids Council, and the newly formed Southeast Biosolids Association along with state associations such as the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) and the Virginia Biosolids Council, aim to bridge public, private and agriculture interests for a more powerful approach to advocacy and public outreach efforts to combat legislation and regulations that threaten the sustainable use of biosolids in agriculture. Many utilities do not have a robust advocacy program and especially those within municipal and county structures which typically are battling more localized priorities. The complexity of the issues leads to many local government leaders struggling to understand and advocate effectively on the issues. Equipping utility professionals with a better understanding of the public policy process, and how they can be actively engaged in the process, will enable a higher level of input by utilities for legislation and rulemaking. Additionally, utilities can join with leading associations that can help them track the specific issues in their state, and craft response letters for them to use, rather than relying on their respective organizations to provide this support. Multiple opportunities exist for utility professionals to be engaged in the process of shaping policies. Starting with the very beginning of the process which involves introducing proposed language for consideration, or secondarily proposing amendments to bill language being considered. Finally, even after a law is passed, the rulemaking process is an opportunity to provide input. This is then followed by ratification where it has to go back to the legislature to be formally voted on and adopted. All of these points throughout the policy process can be viewed as opportunities where utilities can weigh in and use advocacy to insert their viewpoint on the issue and help to influence, change, modify or even create a new policy. The purpose with public outreach is education. However, explaining the technical concepts of utility operations to the public can be a challenging task. According to research conducted by the University of Minnesota, people only retain 50% of what they learned 8 hours after learning it. 6 months later, that number drops to 25%. When it's all said and done, 75% of what was initially learned, is not retained. Understanding this significant learning loss can help in developing strategies to overcome it. This includes using tactics to convey technical information to non-technical people and condensing information down to the top three of four issues. Additionally, EPA provides methods for effective public outreach and engagement sessions which allow for a more meaningful dialogue with the public. This presentation will expound upon the context of for which biosolids regulations and legislation is being developed and provide guidance including practical tools to help utility professionals communicate with non-technical people, such as state and federal elected officials, along with educating them on how to craft a persuasive argument will improve their ability to communicate with these groups. It will also review EPA guidelines for the development of effective public outreach events that achieve better engagement with the community.