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WaterNews for September 1, 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:
Good Samaritan Initiative Announced at White House Conference on Cooperative ConservationOn Aug. 30 at the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation, Administrator Stephen Johnson announced the Good Samaritan Initiative, a new Agency-wide effort to foster greater collaboration to accelerate restoration of watersheds and fisheries threatened by abandoned mine runoff. EPA is pioneering an innovative agreement as a tool to identify parties’ rights and responsibilities related to the voluntary clean up of abandoned mines and to protect the Good Samaritan against pre-existing liabilities. Under the Good Samaritan Initiative, the Agency will expand the use of existing tools and promote greater collaboration to encourage more voluntary cleanups. The Agency will also continue to work cooperatively with partners through our Clean Water Act programs, including §319 (polluted runoff management) and Targeted Watersheds Grants to clean up abandoned mines and protect fishable waters. For more information go to http://www.epa.gov/water/goodsamaritan/ New Handbook to Help Accelerate Watershed Protection ProgramsAt the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation in St. Louis, the Office of Water announced a new handbook "Community Based Watershed Handbook" that is now available to help accelerate watershed protection programs. Lessons from the National Estuary Program is an update to savings Bays and Estuaries, published in 1989. The handbook describes innovative approaches developed and conducted by the 28 National Estuary Programs, which are community-based watershed-management organizations that restore and protect coastal watersheds. Topics covered range from starting a program, identifying problems and solutions to plan development and action steps. "We anticipate that this handbook will be a useful tool for watershed protection," said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. "It’s an A-to-Z, how-to guide for everyone involved in estuary management as well as those interested in the protection of non-coastal watersheds." The Handbook can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/nepprimer. For more information about the National Estuary Program go to: http://www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries Assistant Administrator Tours Water Efficient Plumbing PlantAssistant Administrator for Water, Ben Grumbles, visited the TOTO USA factory in Morrow, GA (outside of Atlanta) on August 24. TOTO USA produces water efficient toilets and other water and kitchen equipment. With representatives from EPA Headquarters and Atlanta’s Region Office, Grumbles toured the facility to see first-hand the design, production, and performance testing process. Following the tour, the President of TOTO USA joined the group for a discussion of the plant’s program to recycle all process water and waste materials – enhancing the company’s ability to compete within the industry on the basis of overall environmental performance. Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Plan for 2006The Assistant Administrator signed a Federal Register notice on August 19, 2005, requesting comment on a preliminary plan for the 2006-07 effluent guidelines planning cycle. The plan describes the Agency’s approach to revising or developing effluent guidelines over the coming years. You can find a pre-publication version of the FR Notice on EPA’s web site at www.epa.gov/guide/plan.html. EPA will hold an informational public meeting on this preliminary Plan on September 20 from 9 until noon in the EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1201 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. 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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