Water Headlines for the week of May 3, 2010
Water Headlines is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water
In This Week’s Water Headlines:
1) EPA Announces Second Water Laboratory Alliance Security Summit
2) EPA Celebrates American Wetlands Month and Coastal Wetlands Learn! Explore! Take Action!
3) EPA Launches New Web Tools to Inform the Public About Clean Water Enforcement: Interactive Web tool allows the public to check water violations in their communities
4) EPA Launches Online Map Tracking Enforcement Actions in Chesapeake Bay Watershed
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1) EPA Announces Second Water Laboratory Alliance Security Summit
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA's) Office of Water, in collaboration with its partners in the Water Sector, is sponsoring a second Water Laboratory Alliance (WLA) Security Summit in June 2010. The WLA provides the Water Sector with an integrated, nationwide network of laboratories capable of processing a surge of samples in the event of a drinking water contamination event. The WLA Security Summit will actively engage a vast array of technical and leadership staff from the water, laboratory, and emergency response communities. Attendees can expect to learn about WLA Programmatic elements, practice the WLA Response Plan for water contamination incident response, and gain hands-on experience with EPA security-related tools and resources. The Summit will take place June 16-17, 2010, at the San Francisco Grand Hyatt in San Francisco, California. Registration for the Summit is free and can be accessed on-line: https://www.thetestportal.com/wlasummit.
2) EPA Celebrates American Wetlands Month and Coastal Wetlands Learn! Explore! Take Action!
May marks the 20th anniversary of American Wetlands Month (AWM), a time when EPA and its wetland partners celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to the nation's ecological, economic, and social health. EPA and its partners are planning a number of events including:
• A national Webcast, "Tools for Protecting Coastal Wetlands," on May 4 that will provide information on several tools that can help address impacts on coastal wetland ecosystems in order to help improve decision-making and provide readily accessible information to practitioners (http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/webcasts/).
• National Wetlands Awards Ceremony on Capitol Hill, on May 19, the Environmental Law Institute, EPA, and other federal partners will honor a diverse group of individuals for their extraordinary commitment to conserving wetlands (http://www.nationalwetlandsawards.org).
• An expert panel event, "Resilient Wetlands = Prosperous Economies," to take place on Capitol Hill prior to the May 19 Awards Ceremony that will address various approaches to valuing wetland resources and EPA participation in one of the largest voluntary federal employee sponsored environmental stewardship events in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (switchgrass and native oyster restoration, digital elevation mapping activities, and fish sampling).
Activities planned for the month of May include educational displays, discussions, presentations, special feature articles, wetland walks and celebrations, and an array of other outreach and communication events. Information on national, regional, and local activities planned for May will be updated and posted throughout the month on EPA’s American Wetlands Month website: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/awm/.
In addition, EPA has created a new American Wetlands Month Widget which can easily be shared and embedded on other Web site(s), hot linking to EPA’s American Wetlands Month Web page (http://tinyurl.com/3935qyh). EPA will produce a number of informative American Wetlands Month tweets.
Contact Kathleen Kutschenreuter (202) 566-1383 or Jennifer Linn (202) 566-1258 for more information.
3) EPA Launches New Web Tools to Inform the Public About Clean Water Enforcement:
Interactive Web tool allows the public to check water violations in their communities
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a new set of web tools, data, and interactive maps to inform the public about serious Clean Water Act violations in their communities. Improving water quality is one of EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s priorities and in 2009, Administrator Jackson directed the agency to develop concrete steps to improve water quality to better enforce the Clean Water Act and to use 21st Century technology to transform the collection, use and availability of EPA data. The web tools announced are part of EPA’s Clean Water Act Action Plan to work with states in ensuring that facilities comply with standards that keep our water clean.
The new web page provides interactive information from EPA’s 2008 Annual Noncompliance Report, which pertains to about 40,000 permitted Clean Water Act dischargers across the country. The report lists state-by-state summary data of violations and enforcement responses taken by the states for smaller facilities. The new web page also makes it easy to compare states by compliance rates and enforcement actions taken and provides access to updated State Review Framework reports.
Interactive Map for Clean Water Act Annual Noncompliance Report:
http://www.epa-echo.gov/echo/ancr/us/
State Review Framework: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/state/srf/index.html
Enforcement and Compliance History Online: http://www.epa-echo.gov/echo
4) EPA Launches Online Map Tracking Enforcement Actions in Chesapeake Bay Watershed
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched an online map that shows the locations of federal air and water enforcement actions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The map is part of EPA’s increased focus on enforcement of federal pollution laws in the Chesapeake Bay region, including a new strategy of targeting geographic areas and pollution sources contributing the greatest amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment to streams, creeks, rivers and the bay. Improving water quality is one of EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s top priorities.
EPA developed the Chesapeake Bay Compliance and Enforcement Strategy to target the greatest sources of pollution impairing the bay and its tributaries. The draft strategy is a multi-state plan for addressing violations of federal environmental laws, and will be finalized in May as part of the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order.
More information on the map:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/initiatives/progress-chesapeakebay.html
Information on Chesapeake Bay Compliance and Enforcement Strategy:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/initiatives/chesapeakebay.html
