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WaterNews for April 27, 2004Benjamin Grumbles WaterNews is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water. In This Week’s WaterNews:
Bush Administration Commits to Increasing Wetlands NationwidePresident Bush celebrated Earth Day 2004 (April 22) by announcing an aggressive new national goal to achieve an overall increase of America's wetlands each year. The President's goal is to restore, improve and protect at least three million additional acres of wetlands over the next five years. "The Bush Administration is committed to enhancing America's valuable wetlands and will continue to provide regulatory protection," said EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt. "We will partner with federal, state, local, and private entities to meet the President's goal of increasing the quantity and quality of wetlands nationwide." EPA is responsible for working with the Army Corps of Engineers and states to implement the Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands permit program. EPA continues to take a lead role in implementing the key strategies identified in the Administration's National Wetlands Mitigation Action Plan. In addition, the President's 2005 budget proposes to increase EPA funding by five million dollars for grants to states that will help them address the gaps in wetlands protection. The Administration is currently implementing 30 programs to protect and restore millions of acres of our nation's wetlands. These include the Food Security Act's "Swampbuster" requirements and the Wetlands Reserve Program, both under the authority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. EPA programs include its "Five-Star Restoration" grant program and the National Estuary Program. Other federal wetlands programs include: the Fish and Wildlife Service's "Partners in Wildlife" program, the National Marine Fisheries Service's Coastal Wetlands Restoration Program and the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, composed of the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture, the Administrator of EPA and Members of Congress.
For more information on the President's announcement go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040422-4.html. Additional information on EPA's wetlands program can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands and http://www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries. Final National Water Program Guidance for FY 2005EPA recently released final guidance for the 2005 fiscal year for the full range of environmental programs, including the National Water Program. The National Water Program Guidance for FY 2005 describes the improvements in water quality that the Agency hopes to accomplish in FY 2005 as well as the specific programs and projects that are expected to accomplish these improvements. The Guidance will be the basis for EPA Regional offices, States, and Tribes to work together over the next several months to define State/Tribe specific program commitments for the 2005 fiscal year (starting in October of this year). The Transmittal Memo for the Guidance from Acting Assistant Administrator Benjamin Grumbles describes key elements of the Guidance and identifies priorities. The new Guidance can be found on the internet at www.epa.gov/water/waterplan. Also available on this website are the EPA 5 Year Strategic Plan, detailed annual plans for each of the 10 water related "subobjectives" in the Strategic Plan, Regional Plans, and a new site providing the current, FY 05 guidance for the full range of water program grants. EPA Announces Clean Beaches PlanThe Administration announced, on April 20, its commitment to further protect the water quality of the nation's beaches and to ensure compliance with the Beaches, Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000. The Administration's Clean Beaches strategy includes a Clean Beaches Plan, grants to states for beach monitoring and notification programs, technical guidance, scientific studies and Federal water quality standards to backstop state and territorial efforts where necessary. The BEACH Act of 2000 requires coastal states, including those bordering the Great Lakes, to adopt up-to-date pathogen criteria by April 10, 2004 to protect beach goers from harmful bacteria. The Act provides that, if a state fails to meet this deadline, EPA must promptly propose Federal standards to protect that state's beaches. To date, only 11 of the 35 affected states and territories have adopted up-to-date criteria for pathogens. By June 30, EPA will propose Federal revised standards for pathogens for the states and territories that have not yet done so. Outlining EPA's Clean Beaches Plan, Ben Grumbles, EPA's Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, said, "President Bush is committed to carrying out his proclamation for the Year of Clean Water to significantly reduce all forms of water pollution and to make our waters better suited for recreation and other pursuits. America's families deserve clean and safe beaches. We, the States and Territories must all work together to accelerate progress to adopt more protective standards." In a letter to EPA, Jim Connaughton, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and Dr. John Graham, the Administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), underscored their support of EPA's efforts to ensure protective water quality standards for beaches. "The BEACH Act assigns EPA a vital role in promoting scientifically strong, defensible standards to protect our nation's beaches," noted CEQ Chairman Jim Connaughton. "While we generally prefer for states to implement their own standards, we support EPA's commitment to fulfilling its oversight responsibility," said OIRA Administrator John Graham. Over the next six months, EPA will undertake several actions. Starting in May, EPA will award grants to states and territories to augment their monitoring of beaches and reporting to the public when the beaches are closed for health reasons. By June 30, as mentioned above, EPA will move forward to propose updated standards for pathogens for those states and territories that have not yet complied with the BEACH Act. By July 31, EPA will propose updated technical guidance for more effective monitoring of pathogens at beaches. And by August 31, EPA will complete its report of beach closures and advisories for 2003. Under the Clean Water Act, EPA issues criteria which serve as guidance to States in adopting standards. EPA issued criteria for e-coli and enterococci in 1986, but many States still rely on outdated standards for total or fecal coliforms. EPA's research indicates that there is little correlation between coliform levels and swimming-related illness (gastroenteritis) in either marine or fresh waters. In contrast, correlations for e-coli (in fresh waters) and enterococci (in marine waters) are high, showing that these bacteria are reliable indicators for the presence of harmful pathogens. The Clean Beaches Plan and related documents including the 35 individual letters that EPA is sending to coastal states, is available at: http://www.epa.gov/beaches/plan.htm. Ocean Policy Commission Releases Preliminary ReportThe U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy released their Preliminary Report on April 20, which is available for a 30-day review and comment period by the Nation’s governors and interested stakeholders. The Report sets forth almost 200 recommendations that emphasize four themes: (1) moving towards an ecosystem-based management approach; (2) improving Federal leadership and coordination; (3) strengthening science and generating high-quality accessible information to inform decision makers; and (4) enhancing ocean education. Many of the recommendations are addressed to EPA – in particular addressing both point and nonpoint sources of coastal and ocean pollution and monitoring. The Commission is expected to issue its final report this summer, after which the Administration will have 90 days to provide a response to Congress. The preliminary report is available at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/ For more information contact Hazel Groman at 202-566-1219 or Jennifer Linn at 202-566-1258. Upcoming EPA Community Involvement ConferenceThe Office of Water is the chair for the 7th annual EPA Community Involvement Conference to be held in Denver, CO, June 15-18, 2004. This conference will provide a forum for participants to explore together how public education, collaborative partnerships and community involvement can result in better, more implementable environmental decisions. The agenda includes sessions related to water issues as well as cross-agency issues focusing on stakeholder involvement, public participation and outreach, and education. More than 500 people, including staff and managers from EPA, other Federal agencies, State and local government, and businesses and communities, are expected to attend this conference. For details on the agenda or to register for the conference, please go to: www.epancic.org/2004. For additional information, please contact Theresa Trainor at 202-566-1250. Upcoming AQUATOX TrainingThere will be one-day workshops on the model AQUATOX Release 2 which predicts the fate of various pollutants, such as nutrients and organic chemicals, and their effects on ecosystems, at two upcoming conferences: the International Society of Ecological Modeling (ISEM) annual meeting August 22 - 24, 2004 in Quebec City, Canada, and at WEFTEC in New Orleans, October 2- 6, 2004. For more information on the ISEM meeting go their web site at http://www.isemna.org/, and for WEFTEC, visit their site at http://wef.org/ 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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