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WaterNews for January 28, 1999WaterNews is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water. Current number of subscribers outside of EPA's Office of Water is 2774 as of 1/28/99.
Inside this week's WaterNews:
1) Outreach Brochures for Fish Consumption AdvisoriesEPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are sponsoring a nationwide effort to inform health professionals and their patients about the dangers of eating fish harvested from contaminated waters. Through a letter to 100,000 Pediatricians, OB-GYNs, and Family Physicians across the nation, doctors are asked to advise their patients to pay attention to state or tribal-issued fish consumption advisories. Doctors will also receive brochures, written in English, Spanish, and Hmong, that describe how to safely consume fish and minimize exposure to contaminated fish.Copies of these brochures are also being sent to state and tribal environmental and public health professionals, along with a paper summarizing the latest research on the dangers of eating fish contaminated with PCBs. These chemicals are responsible for many of the fish consumption advisories in the United States. Copies of the brochures and information on fish and wildlife advisories are available at EPA's Office of Science and Technology website at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/. 2) Suspension of Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring for Small Water SystemsEPA has published a direct final rule to suspend the current unregulated contaminant monitoring requirements for water systems serving 10,000 or fewer persons. This rule will save small water systems the cost of monitoring under the existing regulation so that their compliance efforts will not overlap when the new regulations take effect. Under the current Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, systems serving 3,301 -10,000 persons are scheduled to begin the third round of monitoring in January 1999. As well, systems serving less than 3,301 persons are scheduled to begin their third round monitoring in January 2001.To view the Federal Register Document, visit EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsys/unregfr.html on the Internet. 3) State Laws to Control Nonpoint Source Water PollutionAs one of the key actions under the President's Clean Water Action Plan, the Environmental Law Institute, with support from EPA's Nonpoint Source Control Branch, has issued a new report called, "The Almanac of Enforceable State Laws to Control Nonpoint Source Water Pollution." This new report provides detailed state-by-state information on each state's enforceable laws to control nonpoint source pollution.To view the report, visit the Environmental Law Institute's website at http://www.eli.org/bookstore/rralmanac98.htm. 4) Public Meetings for Priority Toxic ChemicalsEPA will hold three public meetings to obtain verbal comments on the draft strategy to reduce priority persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals in the environment and the proposed rule to add new PBTs and lower the threshold of those chemicals currently on the Toxic Release Inventory. PBTs are associated with a range of adverse human health effects such as fetal and child development problems in the case of mercury to negative impacts on wildlife due to the "bioaccumulative" nature of the chemicals as they build up in the food chain. EPA is also seeking verbal comment on an action plan to reduce mercury, the first initiative under the PBT strategy.Public meetings will be held in Washington, DC on February 16, Chicago, IL on February 23; and San Francisco, CA on March 5. For additional information on the meetings and instructions on how to sign up to speak, visit EPA's Federal Register - Environmental Documents website at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-TRI/1999/January/Day-26/tri1749.htm on the Internet. To view the draft strategy, visit EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/pbt/pbtstrat.htm. 5) Symposium on Environmental PermittingOn February 17-19, 1999, Air & Waste Management Association, American Academy of Environmental Engineers, and Water Environment Federation in association with EPA will provide a technical forum in Research Triangle Park, NC for environmental professionals to share experiences and knowledge concerning permitting activities and to discuss legal and regulatory requirements. Permits are being utilized as tools to implement the various pollution control requirements and to ensure that sources of pollution are aware of all the requirements that apply. Efforts to comply with environmental permitting requirements are major activities for private industry, state and local environmental agencies, environmental consultants, and for the federal government.For additional information on the symposium, visit Air & Waste Management Association's website at http://www.awma.org/awma/confs/descriptions/permit.htm.
Please forward this message to your friends and colleagues who share an interest in water-related issues and would like to hear from EPA's Office of Water. To subscribe to the WaterNews listserve:
A welcome message will appear in your email box once you are officially subscribed. WaterNews will be sent to you at the end of each week. If you encounter difficulties subscribing to this list server or if you would like to be taken off the WaterNews list server at any time, please send your Email address to Gloria Posey at Posey.Gloria@epa.gov.
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