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WaterNews for February 23, 2005Benjamin 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:
Call for Nominations for the Targeted Watershed GrantsOn February 18, EPA announced the call for nominations for the third year of Targeted Watersheds grants. Formerly called the Watershed Initiative program, the Targeted Watersheds Grant Program is an integral part of the agency’s watershed approach to clean water by providing assistance to state and local community groups to protect inland and coastal watersheds. This year Congress has provided a total of $18 million for grants to support community-based approaches and activities to protect and restore local water resources – $10 million of which will go to support projects across the country and $8 million will be directed to projects within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These grants will be used to help support innovative market-based approaches to watershed projects, such as water quality trading. This most recent announcement for proposals relates to the nationwide proposals only. In its first two years the Agency selected 34 watershed organizations to receive grants averaging $700,000. The selected organizations were those with workplans that were most ready-to-go and were likely to achieve environmental results in a relatively short time period. For 2005, the Agency is continuing its focus on approaches aimed to provide quick, measurable environmental results; partnerships, innovation, and program integration. Friday’s announcement kicked off the third year of the competition. Governors and tribal leaders are invited to submit nominations for projects that would promote and advance the successes of existing watershed work. Nominations are due on or before May 19, 2005. Final selections of watershed grantees will be announced this summer. The Federal Register Notice with the Call for Nominations, and other information about the Targeted Watersheds Grant Program is available at http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/initiative/. Draft 2006 Integrated Report Guidance Available for Public CommentEPA is seeking public comment on the Draft 2006 Integrated Report Guidance. This draft guidance to States and Territories is for developing their biennial Integrated Reports (IR) to implement our vision of one report per State/Territory, which integrates reporting of data under section 305(b) and with reporting of impaired waters under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Each IR will report on the water quality standards attainment status of all waters, document the availability of data and information for each water, track trends in water quality conditions, and provide information to managers in setting priorities for future actions to protect and restore the health of our Nation’s water resources. Copies of the Draft IR Guidance as well as fact sheets are posted on EPA's Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/draft2006IRG. For more information contact Mike Haire at haire.michael@epa.gov or 202-566-1224. 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 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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