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WaterNews for September 2, 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
Draft Watershed-Based NPDES Permitting Guidance is Available for CommentThe purpose of this draft guidance is to describe EPA's ideas on how watershed-based permitting could be implemented under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. Using a watershed approach, permit limits for dischargers within a given geographic area (i.e., watershed) would be developed as a group to better consider the unique characteristics of that area. EPA believes this approach would be both more cost-effective for permitting authorities and regulated entities and would result in greater protection of the nation's rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. The draft guidance is available for public comment until Sept. 24, 2003. For more information, please visit www.epa.gov/npdes/watersheds/. Israeli & Palestinian Delegation Visits the Office of WaterA delegation of Israeli and Palestinian water resource managers visited EPA’s Office of International Affairs on Aug. 25. Various Agency and water program offices addressed the group during the day. Marilyn Ginsberg and George Hoessel of the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water and Ambika Bathija of the Office of Science and Technology provided the group with an overview of Safe Drinking Water Act programs and authorities. The visitors underscored the importance of the Agency’s website as a resource "the whole world is watching." Marilyn Ginsberg is working with the delegation’s host group (the University of Texas) on a variety of follow-up issues. For more information, please contact Marilyn Ginsberg at (202) 564-3881 or George Hoessel at (202) 564-3816. Office of Water Releases Strategy for Water Quality Standards and CriteriaThe Office of Science and Technology has released the Strategy for Water Quality Standards and Criteria: Setting Priorities to Strengthen the Foundation for Protecting and Restoring the Nation’s Waters. This document outlines the priority strategic actions that we plan to undertake with our partners over the next six years to strengthen the vital foundation for a wide range of programs under the Clean Water Act. The Strategy reflects an extensive review of water-related mandates; the results of over 50 listening sessions with over 350 people, and recommendations from the National research Council, the general Accounting Office, and our Inspector General. For more information, visit the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/strategy/. Invasive Species AssessedLast month, a team of approximately 25 aquatic invasion biologists, taxonomists, and National Estuary Program (NEP) staff, carried out a week-long rapid assessment of floating docks and piers in estuaries from New York to Portland, Maine. Last year, the Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds’ NEP funded a planning workshop, working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sea Grant Program, that started this assessment. Participating scientists came from locations as far away as Wales, the Carolinas, and Seattle. The workshop established several goals for the assessment, including: (1) identification of exotic species not previously identified in the eight estuaries, (2) development of a baseline of native and exotic aquatic species in those estuaries, and (3) determining the presence of new invasive species that could threaten the health of the estuaries’ ecosystems and of their shellfish fisheries, which are major contributors to the economies of the estuarine watersheds. Although complete identification of all species collected will take several months, preliminary findings indicate the presence of at least several new exotics in the surveyed estuaries. The National Geographic Society filmed the effort for two-days for an upcoming segment on its “Explorer” television program. Articles about the survey appeared in local Portland, Portsmouth papers and can be accessed at the following websites http://www.pressherald.com/news/local/030805invasive.shtml, 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 listserv: 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 your actual name- i.e. Subscribe WaterNews Robert Jones) A welcome message will appear in your email box once you are officially subscribed.
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