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WaterNews for December 23, 2003Special EditionG. 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
EPA Announces Sustainable Infrastructure and Water and Wastewater Pricing WebpageClean and safe water is critical for human and ecosystem health. Our nation's livelihood depends, in large part, on the quality of our water - for drinking, swimming, recreation, economic uses, and other benefits of healthy ecosystems. Over the past 20 years communities have spent more than $1 trillion (in 2001 dollars) on drinking water treatment and supply and wastewater treatment and disposal. However, the infrastructure that provides us with drinking water and treats our wastewater is aging. Much of it was constructed in the period following World War II and will be reaching the end of its useful life in the next 20-40 years. As a nation, we will be challenged to ensure that we can keep pace with the infrastructure needs of the future. In Jan. 2003, the Administrator of EPA convened an Infrastructure Forum to discuss issues related to sustainable infrastructure. At this forum, Assistant Administrator for Water G. Tracy Mehan III highlighted the "Four Pillars of Sustainable Infrastructure" - Better Management, Full-Cost Pricing, Water Efficiency, and Watershed Approaches to Protection. EPA has developed web pages that describe and provide information about the Four Pillars of Sustainable Infrastructure. You can learn more about the Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative at http://www.epa.gov/water/infrastructure/index.htm and Water and Wastewater Pricing at http://www.epa.gov/water/infrastructure/pricing/index.htm Revised Policy on Water SubmeteringIn order to promote water conservation, EPA is changing its regulatory policy under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regarding apartment buildings and other properties with similar characteristics to apartment buildings. Property owners who install submeters and bill their tenants for actual water consumption will no longer be treated as public water systems subject to the full regulatory requirements of the SDWA. EPA's revised policy regarding submetering only applies to properties that already receive water from a regulated public water system. This change will encourage more tenant submetering by removing the potential regulatory burden currently faced by apartment building owners and other similar property owners who install submeters and bill tenants separately for water. This policy is one way that EPA continues to promote water efficiency, an important part of watershed protection and infrastructure cost reduction. The final policy is available at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/new.html or you can call Ronald Bergman at (202) 564-3823. For more information on water efficiency, go to: http://www.epa.gov/owm/water-efficiency Now Available in Draft Release: Response Protocol ToolboxEPA is making available the interim final Response Protocol Toolbox: Planning for and Responding to Contamination Threats to Drinking Water Systems. The Response Protocol Toolbox is designed to help the water sector effectively and appropriately respond to intentional contamination threats and incidents. It was produced by EPA, building on the experience and expertise of several drinking water utilities and, in particular, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Organized in modular format, the Response Protocol Toolbox will be of value to drinking water utilities, laboratories, emergency responders, state drinking water programs, technical assistance providers, and public health and law enforcement officials. This draft release includes Modules 1 through 4, as well as an overview. Please note that the Toolbox contains informational guidance that may be adopted on a voluntary basis. Go to http://www.epa.gov/safewater/security/ for more information. EPA Awards $948,000 for Security-Related TrainingG. Tracy Mehan III, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, announces the award of $948,000 to the Water Environment Federation. The Water Environment Federation will continue its efforts to provide vulnerability assessment and emergency response plan training to the Nation's wastewater utilities. This round of training will primarily focus on wastewater systems that service populations of 50,000 to 150,000 and follow-up training for environmental assistance providers. For more information on registration and training locations please visit the Water Environment Federation's website at www.wef.org Free Seminar in Vulnerability Assessments for Small and Medium UtilitiesThe American Water Works Association (AWWA) has announced its upcoming seminar, "Vulnerability Assessments for Small and Medium Water Utilities," offered at no-cost to employees of drinking water utilities serving less than 50,000 customers. Registration and information on the seminars can be found on-line at http://www.awwa.org/education/seminars/ 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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