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WaterNews for the week of July 23, 2002WaterNews is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water. Inside this week's WaterNews: Deputy Assistant Administrator goes to St. Petersburg, Florida Deputy Assistant Administrator goes to St. Petersburg, Florida On July 11 & 12, Deputy Assistant Administrator Ben Grumbles traveled
to EPA Publishes Guidance for Beach Grants EPA has prepared a National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants to help states, tribes, and local governments monitor beach waters and promptly notify the public of health hazards. The guidance also outlines the eligibility requirements for grants that will help states and tribes operate their programs. The document describes: human health concerns about microbial contamination of recreational waters, how to prioritize waters for monitoring, how to monitor and assess recreational waters, and how to communicate possible risks to the public. You can get a copy of the guidance from EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/ or by requesting EPA-823-B-02-001 from the Office of Water Resources Center at 202-260-7786. Next Stop Johannesburg, South Africa The Office of Water is helping the U.S. government prepare for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 24 to September 5, 2002. The World Summit on Sustainable Development will be the largest United Nations-sponsored meeting on environment and development ever held, with more than 60,000 delegates, and representation at the head-of-state or cabinet minister level from over 100 countries expected. Senior EPA officials and staff will attend as delegation members and advisors. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) will lead to a political declaration, and commitments on actions in several key areas. Water is expected to be one of the highest profile issues addressed at WSSD. Partnerships among government, business and non-governmental groups to address regional and country-specific problems will be solidified. The world recognizes that sustainable development cannot advance when more than 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and more than 2.4 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation facilities. The tragedy of over 2.2 million deaths annually from diarrheal diseases, mostly among children, has been recognized by all the world’s leaders. There is also broad agreement on the need to address problems from a watershed-perspective. The Office of Water is helping develop candidate FY03-06 initiatives for the U.S., in cooperation with the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development and other Federal agencies. Options being examined on water and sanitation range from critical infrastructure investments in drinking water disinfection, to longer term capacity-building and training for professionals and community-based organizations. High priority regions include Africa and South/Southeast Asia. Office of Water (OW) is also helping advance a “White Water to Blue Water” effort, with a particular focus on the Caribbean Basin. These initiatives are being closely coordinated with other countries and international financial institutions such as the World Bank. OW has prepared a new exhibit on Clean Water/Safe Water which will be displayed
along with other program office and U.S. government agency displays. In addition,
OW will be delivering an international training course on “Fundamentals
of Safe Drinking Water Programs” as part of the Summit Institute for Sustainable
Development. Following the World Summit the Office of Water will help develop
and implement U.S. initiatives and partnerships. Further information on World
Summit on Sustainable Development is available at the official web site: http://www.joburgsummit2002.com. See next issue of WaterNews - July 30, 2002 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 listserv:
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 E-mail address to Gloria Posey at Posey.Gloria@epa.gov.
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