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WaterNews for April 15, 2003G. Tracy Mehan, III WaterNews 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
Office of Water Receives Tremendous Response At Science ConferenceMore than 13,000 people attended the National Science Teachers’ Association (NSTA) conference held March 27-30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Office of Water provided an exhibit with the latest posters, lesson plans, drinking water background information, Girl Scout Patch Program and posters on how water gets used. Over 7,500 individual outreach items were given away before the end of the second day and orders were taken for the remaining two days from over 600 additional teachers. NSTA promotes excellence and innovation in science, teaching and learning and is the largest science teachers' association in the country, with over 53,000 individual and institutional members. For more information, please contact Harriet Hubbard at 202-564-5621 or Charlene Shaw at 202-564-4635. EPA Joins The Girl Scouts At NASAEPA joined other federal exhibitors for an exciting Girl Scout event focused on Science at the National Aeronautics And Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Center on April 5. EPA's exhibits included the Enviroscape (watershed) model and a macroinvertebrate display. This event attracted approximately 1,000 visitors, including 700 Girl Scouts and 300 siblings, parents and troop leaders. The Goddard event was one of several events EPA has participated in over the last several years through the Girl Scout USA (GSUSA) "Linking the Girls to the Land" Initiative, which is a partnership between GSUSA and Federal agencies. This program provides Girl Scouts with exposure to the sciences, hands-on conservation activities, and career opportunities. As part of this partnership, EPA sponsors a Watershed Patch Project, which includes watershed stewardship activities for Girl Scouts of all ages. For more information about this project, visit www.epa.gov/adopt/patch. A new video that showcases this wonderful partnership effort is now available. For more information, contact Patty Scott at scott.patricia@epa.gov or Laura Phillips phillips.laura@epa.gov in EPA's Office of Water. Puget Sound National Estuary Program Co-Sponsors First Shared Transboundary Ecosystem Research ConferenceThe Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team (a National Estuary Program) and Environment Canada co-sponsored the first-ever Georgia Basin/Puget Sound Research Conference, which was held March 31-April 3 in Vancouver, British Columbia,. The conference theme was the application of science and information to sustainability in the shared Georgia Basin/Puget Sound ecosystem. Over 800 registrants attended the conference, with an estimated 50% coming from the States of Washington and Alaska and from U.S. Tribal natural resource agencies as well as from local watershed groups and academic institutions. About 300 presentations were given on a wide range of topics, including indicator development and reporting, ecosystem/habitat protection and restoration, the relationship of development patterns to ecosystem function, climate change impacts, marine mammal contamination, and invasive species challenges. Several of the research efforts whose results were reported at the conference were conducted by joint U.S.-Canadian teams. The Minister of Environment Canada, Washington Governor Gary Locke, and the former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program lauded the efforts of conference planners and presenters, and urged them to continue their efforts on behalf of a shared commitment to and responsibility for applying science and information to transboundary ecosystem protection and restoration. For further information, please visit the conference website at: http://www.wa.gov/puget_sound/Publications/2003research/RC2003.htm Beach Protection Grants Announced in Federal RegisterThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Federal Register notice on March 31st that announced the availability of almost $10 million in grants to states to protect public health at the Nation's beaches. The grants are available to coastal and Great Lakes states to implement programs to monitor water quality at the beach and to notify the public when water quality problems exist. Eligible states and territories have coastal and Great Lakes recreational waters adjacent to beaches used by the public, and EPA can award grants to eligible tribes. You must submit your application to EPA on or before June 30th. You can learn more about these grants by visiting http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/grants/2003/ EPA Recognizes Puerto Rico Drinking Water Alliance for Outstanding Contribution to Environmental JusticeThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Caribbean Director Carl Soderberg recognized Empowering Communities to Secure Drinking Water in Rural Puerto Rico, a project serving 20 small drinking water systems on the island, for its efforts to provide safe drinking water to thousands of Puerto Ricans. As chair of a federal workgroup on environmental justice, EPA seeks to highlight projects and partnerships that are leaders in addressing environmental inequity in low-income and/or minority communities. “EPA’s recognition of Empowering Communities demonstrates how effective partnerships among communities, government agencies and academic institutions can be in addressing environmental justice issues,” said Mr. Soderberg. The Empowering Communities project, formed in 1993 by the Partnership for Pure Water and the Inter American University of Puerto Rico - Center for Education, Conservation & Environmental Interpretation (CECIA), helps rural, remote and low-income communities understand how to protect their drinking water and comply with federal safe drinking water regulations. Soderberg made the announcement at CECIA’s biennial symposium on small drinking water systems, taking place today and tomorrow at the San Juan campus of the Inter American University. The 20 communities served by Empowering Communities are often referred-to as “non-PRASA systems” because they do not receive drinking water from the island’s primary supplier, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA). There are 250 such small drinking water systems in 50 of the 78 Puerto Rican municipalities, serving an estimated population of 180,000. The operators of these systems often have no formal training in the operation of drinking water systems and have few financial resources to make upgrades that would help their systems better comply with the regulations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Through Empowering Communities, these systems receive public and private funding, and technical and managerial training for their operators. “CECIA has worked very hard over the last ten years to educate and provide technical assistance to disadvantaged communities, helping ensure safe drinking water for all Puerto Ricans” said CECIA’s director Dr. Graciela Ramírez-Toro . Empowering Communities partners include: CECIA; the Partnership for Pure Water (representing the non-PRASA communities); the Puerto Rico Department of Education; the municipal governments of San German and Caguas; Rural Housing Improvement; the Inter American University of Puerto Rico campuses of Barranquitas, San German, Metro and Bayamon; the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and EPA. Deputy Assistant Administrator Featured Speaker at two EventsBenjamin Grumbles, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water, will be the keynote speaker at the International Watershed Management Conference on April 18 at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, VA. He will discuss improving public participation in international watershed management. Grumbles also gave the keynote address at the first National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) conference held recently in Washington, DC. Subscribe to WaterNewsPlease 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: Send an email message, leave the subject line blank, and address it to: In the body of the message write: Subscribe WaterNews firstname lastname (Please leave one blank space between each word, do not include any other message, and use A welcome message will appear in your email box once you are officially subscribed. Following your welcome message, you will begin to receive WaterNews once a 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. We welcome any comments that you may have.
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