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WaterNews for July 29, 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
New Water Cleanup Approach Draws Broad National InterestA standing room only crowd of close to 300 business, agriculture, conservationists and state, local, and federal officials met in Chicago July 22 and 23 for the first National Forum on Water Quality Trading, a faster and less costly approach to cleaning up the nation’s waters. "Trading is an idea whose time has come," G. Tracy Mehan III, Assistant Administrator for Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, told the audience. "The idea has been studied for at least two decades and experiments conducted." Mehan said EPA has recently taken a number of actions, in addition to sponsoring this forum, to advance the practice of water quality. Mehan cited the new Water Quality Trading Policy issued by EPA in January 2003, and the funding of ten trading projects last year. Among the national experts who discussed this market-based approach to cleaning up America’s waters included Mack Gray, Deputy Under Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture; Marc Curtis, National Association of Conservation Districts; Art Baggett, California Water Resources Board; David Mabe, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality; Terry Young, Environmental Defense. The Forum was sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Water Environment Federation, National Resources Conservation Service and Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators. For more information on EPA’s water Quality Trading Policy visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/trading For information on the conference and a complete list of speakers visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/trading/conferences.html. Kempic Speaks in AustraliaJeffrey Kempic from the Office of Water discussed the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act and Point-of-Use/Point-of-Entry (POU/POE) Water Treatment at the Australia’s Cooperative Research Center workshop July 10 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The workshop was attended by 55 people representing the water industry, university researchers, and central governments. For more information, please contact Kempic at 202-564-4880. EPA Applauds Bioassessment ProgressThe Office of Water is releasing a document that illustrates the nationwide progress in the use of biological assessments and criteria. More states, territories, tribes, and interstate commissions than ever are using biocriteria to help protect their waters. Ask for the “Summary of Biological Assessment Programs and Biocriteria Development for States, Tribes, Territories and Interstate Commissions: Streams and Wadeable Rivers” (EPA-822-R-02-048). You can download the document now on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/biocriteria/. Bound copies will be available in late August. Analytical Methods ApprovedEPA has approved test methods analyzing Escherichia coli (E. coli), enterococci, Cryptosporidium and Giardia in fresh and marine water. These methods will help states, tribes, communities, and environmental labs better assess risks to public health from microbiological pollutants. They’ll also help them implement the BEACH Act of 2000. You can learn more at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/methods/biological/. EPA Issues Guidance for 2004 Integrated ReportsEPA has issued Guidance for 2004 Assessment, Listing and Reporting Requirements Pursuant to Sections 303(d) and 305(b) of the Clean Water Act; TMDL-01-03. This guidance is intended to be used by states that are preparing Integrated Reports for the 2004 reporting cycle. Integrated Reports are intended to satisfy the listing requirements of section 303(d) and the reporting requirements of section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. Integrated Reports identify whether or not state waters have impaired water quality. TMDLs are generally required for those waters that are impaired. Integrated Reports must be submitted to EPA by all states on or before April 1, 2004. A pdf. and html version of the guidance is available on the EPA TMDL web site at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/policy.html. Air/Water Training WorkshopAs part of the Air/Water Initiative, the Office of Water will sponsor a workshop for EPA , State, and Tribal air and water staff in EPA Region 10 and National Estuary Program staff. The workshop, on July 29 - 30, is being hosted by the Lower Columbia River Estuary Program in Portland, Oregon. The workshop will provide information about how to assess the importance of air deposition to water quality in particular watersheds and to familiarize staff with the regulatory tools available to reduce air deposition where it is significant. Participants will work through case studies based on information gathered about watersheds in EPA Region 10 where total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) may be required. This will be the fourth air/water training workshop; plans are being made for another workshop in EPA Region 9 later this year. For more information please contact Katherine Bruce at 202-566-1280. Timely Information for Creative Managers Now On-lineTimely and practical information for coastal and estuarine managers is now available free by subscribing to Coastal and Estuarine Science News (CESN), a new technology-sharing program of the international Estuarine Research Federation (ERF). The program will foster information sharing among researchers working in the coastal and estuarine sciences and resource managers who may benefit from their research. The inaugural issue of the CESN series is now available on the ERF website. Each quarterly issue of CESN summarizes, in layman's terms, the scientific findings of papers published in the respected journal Estuaries: an International Journal of Coastal Science, focusing on the management applications of the projects. The summaries will be distributed through existing electronic coastal management newsletters and websites, and through a listserve hosted by ERF. Coastal and Estuarine Science News is a one-year pilot project. Funding for the pilot project is provided by the Oceans and Coastal Protection Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To subscribe to CESN, log on to the ERF website at www.erf.org. Also at that site you can obtain information about the upcoming ERF 2003: Estuaries on the Edge conference, which will be held in Seattle, WA, September 14 - 19, 2003. Many presentations at the conference will contain cutting-edge information on the management implications of recent research in coastal and estuarine ecosystems. 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.
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