David Burchmore is a nationally recognized expert on Clean Water Act issues affecting city, county and regional government entities, as well as companies in the steel, tire, paper and chemical manufacturing industries. David’s experience includes representation of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies (NAFSMA) and several other national associations on a broad range of issues including stormwater permits, stormwater fee litigation, combined sewer overflow (CSO) and sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) regulation, water quality standards for nutrients and bacteria, and legislative proposals for Clean Water Act reform.

He is the author of NACWA’s handbook on Wet Weather Consent Decrees: Protecting POTWs in Negotiations (2003; with Supplements in 2006 and 2009), and a co-author of NAFSMA’s handbook on Guidance for Municipal Stormwater Funding (2006).

David has litigated National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit appeals, enforcement cases and regulatory challenges before state and federal administrative tribunals and federal courts, including the representation of a broad coalition of municipal and industrial clients in consolidated appeals resulting in negotiated changes to Ohio’s water quality standard regulations governing detection limits, biological criteria, site-specific variances and compliance schedules for whole effluent toxicity limits.

David is listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2012 and Ohio Super Lawyers 2012.

Representative Experience

• Successfully negotiating a US$3 billion consent decree between the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, the United States and the State of Ohio to implement the District's Long Term Control Plan for reduction of CSO discharges, one of the largest Clean Water Act settlements in US history.
• Representing NACWA, NAFSMA, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties and the American Public Works Association in the landmark case Defenders of Wildlife v. Browner, 191 F.3d 1159 (9th Cir. 1999), which held that municipal stormwater permits are not required to achieve strict compliance with state water quality standards.
• Representing the Association of Ohio Metropolitan Wastewater Agencies (AOMWA) in cases involving US EPA’s regulatory override of Ohio’s whole effluent toxicity regulations, and an environmental group challenge to Ohio's TMDL program.
• Representing NACWA in cases involving challenges to US EPA’s Effluent Limitations Guidelines program and seeking to compel revisions to US EPA's water quality standards for bacteria.
• Representing NACWA, NAFSMA and other national associations as amici curiae before the US Supreme Court in cases involving citizen suits against the City of New York’s water supply system, the City of Milwaukee’s CSO control program, and the Los Angeles County Flood Control District's municipal stormwater permit.