Watershed News

September 2007

Watershed News is a publication of EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds. It is designed to provide timely information to groups working at the watershed level.

In this month's newsletter

1) EPA and Corps issue guidance on Clean Water Act Definition of "Waters of the United States"
2) FY08 Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants
3) Tribal Border Infrastructure Program
4) Community-based Habitat Restoration Project Grants
5) NOAA Open Rivers Initiative
6) Applications sought for new project - Enabling Source Water Protection: Aligning State Land Use and Water Protection Programs
7) Key EPA Internet Tools for Watershed Management: A Hands-On Computer Training Course
8) Agricultural BMPs Reduce Herbicide Concentrations in Five Drinking Water Lakes: Cameron Lakes, Mark Twain Lake, and Smithville Lake, Missouri
9) EPA's Watershed Academy to sponsor free September 26^th Webcast on Wetlands: Condition, Loss and Restoration
10) September 5^th Stormwater Webcast - Post-Construction Management, Building Green Programs
11) Get Involved September 15, 2007! Volunteer to Cleanup the World's Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds!
12) World Water Monitoring Day is September 18, 2007
13) Center for Watershed Protection (CWP) Releases Latest Article in the Wetlands and Watersheds Article Series: "The Importance of Protecting Vulnerable Streams and Wetlands at the Local Level"
14) Center for Watershed Protection releases Manual 3 of the Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series: Urban Stormwater Retrofit Practices
15) Get Ready for the New School Year with DVD Copies of "After the Storm" Program
16) EPA Launches New Tribal Portal Web site
17) EPA Issues National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Hydromodification
18) New Guidance on Watershed Permitting
19) International Water Association Call for Papers
20) Upcoming Conferences and Workshops

Policy

EPA and Corps issue guidance on Clean Water Act Definition of "Waters of the United States"

EPA and the Corps of Engineers have jointly issued a legal memorandum that interprets the June 19, 2006 Supreme Court decision in the consolidated cases Rapanos v. U.S. and Carabell v. U.S. (known as the "Rapanos" decision). The guidance is being released to Corps of Engineers and EPA field offices to ensure nationwide predictability, reliability, and consistency in identifying wetlands, streams and rivers subject to the Clean Water Act (CWA). The EPA/Corps guidance reflects the agencies’ intent to provide maximum protection for the Nation’s aquatic resources under the CWA as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Rapanos. To ensure such decisions are made in a timely manner, the agencies have released concurrently with the guidance a Memorandum of Agreement laying out a process with specific short timeframes, when necessary, for reaching interagency agreements on jurisdictional calls. For more information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/CWAwaters.html.

Funding Opportunities

FY08 Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants

These grants may be used to address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). Opportunities for funding are as follows: Brownfields Assessment Grants (each funded up to $200,000 over three years), Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) and Brownfields Cleanup Grants (each funded up to $200,000 over three years). The proposal deadline is October 12, 2007. More information can be found at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicat.htm#fy08.

To learn about how Brownfields grants can be used for watershed restoration projects, see the archived version of the September 2006 Watershed Academy Webcast, Using Brownfields Grants for Watershed Restoration and Revitalization featuring Wendy Jackson, Executive Director of Freshwater Land Trust, and Camilla Warren, EPA Brownfields Project Manager for Alabama. www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts/

Tribal Border Infrastructure Program

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 Water Division is soliciting proposals from eligible tribes for the Tribal Border Infrastructure Program. This program funds high priority wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects on federally-recognized Indian lands within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the U.S. / Mexico Border. EPA anticipates that approximately $1 million will be available for awards under this program. Proposals must be postmarked or received through Grants.gov by November 1, 2007. For information can be found at www.epa.gov/region09/funding/tribal-border-infrastructure.html.

Community-based Habitat Restoration Project Grants

The NOAA Community-based Restoration Program (CRP) provides funding and technical expertise to catalyze the implementation of locally-driven, grass-roots habitat restoration projects that will benefit living marine and coastal resources, including diadromous fish. Projects funded through the CRP have strong on-the-ground habitat restoration components that provide educational and social benefits for people and their communities in addition to long-term ecological habitat improvements for NOAA trust resources. Funding of up to $3,000,000 is expected to be available for Community-based Habitat Restoration Project Grants in FY 2008. Applications must be received through Grants.gov by September 27, 2007. For more information, visit www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/projects_programs/crp/partners_funding/callforprojects.html.

NOAA Open Rivers Initiative

The NOAA Open Rivers Initiative (ORI) provides funding and technical expertise for community-driven, small dam and river barrier removals, primarily in coastal states. Projects are expected to provide an economic boost for communities, enhance public safety, and improve populations of NOAA trust resources such as striped bass, Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, Atlantic and Pacific salmon, American eel, American shad, blueback herring, and alewife. Funding of up to $6,000,000 is expected to be available for ORI Project Grants in FY 2008. Applications are due October 31, 2007. For more information, visit www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/projects_programs/crp/partners_funding/callforprojects3.html.

Applications sought for new project - Enabling Source Water Protection: Aligning State Land Use and Water Protection Programs

Under a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency, The Trust for Public Land and the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, in partnership with the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and the River Network, will select several states as partners for a program focused on Enabling Source Water Protection: Aligning State Land Use and Water Protection Programs. The program aims to help states work more effectively across program and agency boundaries in order to better support efforts to protect drinking water sources at the local and watershed levels. States selected as partners will benefit from:

Consultations with experts on best practices from around the country.
Exposure to other state examples and strategies.
Recommendations for policy alignment and program adjustments based on state-specific reviews.
Strategies for improving funding for water protection.
A support network-both within and outside government-for implementation.
A modest amount of financial support to initiate implementation activities.

For more information, see www.landuseandwater.org.

Watershed Tool of the Month

Key EPA Internet Tools for Watershed Management: A Hands-On Computer Training Course

Key EPA Internet-Based Tools for Watershed Management is a comprehensive, two-part course designed to familiarize users with powerful watershed management tools provided online by US EPA. These tools are a resource for novice and master watershed planners alike. Presented in a readable, section-based format, the course tutorials are now available for self-paced study. The only requirement is a computer with Internet access.

In the overview course you will learn to extract reports from EPA water program databases such as the TMDL database, take a spin on Enviromapper for Water, EPA's online mapping application based on the National Hydrography Dataset, and query an interactive funding catalog. In the in-depth course you will get an overview of the Watershed Plan Builder Tool, query water quality standards for a state, generate watershed-wide data summary on impaired waters from WATERS and much more. To explore the course, visit www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/epatools.

Spotlight: Watersheds at Work

Picture of two people in a boat taking samples.

Agricultural BMPs Reduce Herbicide Concentrations in Five Drinking Water Lakes: Cameron Lakes, Mark Twain Lake, and Smithville Lake, Missouri

Herbicide application to row crop agriculture and subsequent storm runoff impaired the water quality of five drinking water lakes in northern Missouri. In 1998 the three Cameron Lakes, Mark Twain Lake, and Smithville Lake were placed on the 303(d) list of impaired waters for periodic high atrazine concentrations. The project partners used a science-based approach to identify priority watersheds with the highest pollutant loading contributions. Through an outreach program, farmers were encouraged to measure and time atrazine applications more carefully, which allowed all five lakes to successfully meet water quality standards and to be removed from the 303(d) list in 2003. For more information about this success story, visit www.epa.gov/owow/nps/Success319/state/mo_lakes.htm.

Webcasts

Drawing of a teacher with a pointer in hand.

EPA's Watershed Academy to sponsor free September 26^th Webcast on Wetlands: Condition, Loss and Restoration

EPA's Watershed Academy sponsors free monthly Webcasts for watershed practitioners from around the globe. On Wed., Sept. 26, 2007, Kerry St. Pe, Director of the Barrataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program and Jan Smith, Director of the Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Program, will discuss methods for assessing the condition of wetlands, measuring wetlands loss and techniques for restoring coastal wetlands. Registration opens September 19th. For more information or to access archived audio versions of past Webcasts, please visit www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts.

September 5^th Stormwater Webcast - Post-Construction Management, Building Green Programs

Join EPA's Office of Wastewater Management for its final webcast in its 2007 series for local stormwater managers. This free September 5^th Webcast will introduce concepts that are being developed for a manual on post-construction stormwater management by the Center for Watershed Protection for EPA. We will discuss the contents of he new manual and introduce several new tools that are being developed to help local stormwater managers organize and implement post-construction programs. The manual includes information on how to integrate stormwater management with landscape-scale planning concepts, such as Smart Growth, and also how to make site level decisions more effective using techniques such as Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development. For more information and to register for this webcast, please visit www.epa.gov/npdes/training.

Education and Outreach

Get Involved September 15, 2007! Volunteer to Cleanup the World's Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds!

On Saturday, September 15, 2007, the Ocean Conservancy, with help from EPA and other sponsors, will host the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). This one day event is the world’s largest volunteer effort to clean up debris from watersheds, lakes, rivers, oceans, and coasts. In 2006, over 350,000 people around the world removed about seven million pounds of debris from more than 34,000 miles of coasts, shorelines, and underwater sites. Please join the hundreds of thousands of people in the United States who will be part of this year’s International Coastal Cleanup at a beach, lake, or river in your area. For more information, please visit the Ocean Conservancy Web site at www.coastalcleanup.org.

World Water Monitoring Day is September 18, 2007

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) and its primary international partner, the International Water Association (IWA), invite citizens and organizations from around the globe to give their local water bodies a check-up. Held annually between September 18 and October 18, the World Water Monitoring Day^TM program encourages communities around the world to perform basic monitoring of their watersheds. An easy-to-use test kit enables everyone from children to adults to test for a core set of water quality parameters including temperature, pH, clarity, and dissolved oxygen. To register for this event and obtain test kits, please visit the World Water Monitoring Day^TM website at www.worldwatermonitoringday.org.

Center for Watershed Protection (CWP) Releases Latest Article in the Wetlands and Watersheds Article Series: "The Importance of Protecting Vulnerable Streams and Wetlands at the Local Level"

Since 2005, CWP has released articles as part of the Wetlands and Watersheds Article Series. Article 6 in the series, "The Importance of Protecting Vulnerable Streams and Wetlands at the Local Level," makes the case for expanded local protection of vulnerable streams and wetlands that may not be fully protected by state or federal law due to their perceived isolation from perennial or navigable waters. This article summarizes state and local approaches to closing this gap.

Visit the website at www.cwp.org/wetlands/articles.htm to download a copy of the article. Also available are Articles 1, 2 & 3 of the series. All articles are available for free download.

Center for Watershed Protection releases Manual 3 of the Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series: Urban Stormwater Retrofit Practices

The Center recognizes that we, as a country, have degraded many of our small urban watersheds. The key to restoring these watersheds lies in the practice of stormwater retrofitting, which involves subwatershed detective work, storm drain forensics and imaginative design. This new manual reflects over two decades of Center experience in retrofitting more than 25 urban watersheds across the country. The manual outlines the basics of retrofits, describes 13 locations where they can be found and presents rapid methods to find, design and deliver retrofits to meet a wide range of subwatershed objectives.

This 400+ page guidance is available as a free download by visiting the Center website at http://www.cwp.org. A hard copy of this document will soon be made available. On the website, you may also sign up for the Center mailing list to be notified as soon as the hard copy becomes available.

Get Ready for the New School Year with DVD Copies of "After the Storm" Program

DVD copies of the popular half-hour television special about watersheds - After the Storm - co-produced by The Weather Channel (TWC) and the EPA are now available at no charge. This program premiered on TWC in 2004 and continues to be a very popular vehicle to educate citizens about stormwater management. The program highlights three case studies - Santa Monica Bay, the Mississippi River Basin/Gulf of Mexico, and New York City - where polluted runoff threatens watershed health. To order a free copy of After the Storm, contact NSCEP at 800-490-9198 or send an email to nscep@bps-lmit.com and please a refer to After the Storm (DVD), EPA 841-C-06-001 OR After the Storm (VHS), EPA 840-V-04-001.

News

Collection of images inside an image of a turtle.

EPA Launches New Tribal Portal Web site

EPA launched the first-of-its-kind portal website to help the tribal community and the public find tribal environmental information and data through a single web-based access point. The new tribal portal site allows EPA to consolidate and share environmental information through a central, easy-to-navigate structure. Various EPA programs, such as enforcement, waste, underground storage tanks and water, are also consolidating their tribal information through this website. Visit the tribal portal: www.epa.gov/tribalportal.

EPA Issues National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Hydromodification

EPA has issued a guidance document called National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Hydromodification. This guidance document provides background information about nonpoint (NPS) source pollution and offers a variety of solutions for reducing NPS pollution resulting from hydromodification activities including dams, channelization and channel modification, and streambank and shoreline erosion. Available models and assessment approaches that could be used to determine the effects of hydromodification activities are also discussed and dam removal information, including permitting requirements, process, and techniques for dam removal are provided. This guidance document is posted at: www.epa.gov/nps/hydromod.

New Guidance on Watershed Permitting

EPA has published a new technical guidance that will help integrate National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits into watershed management plans. "Watershed-Based NPDES Permitting Technical Guidance" is a follow up to the 2003 implementation guidance and leads permitting interested parties through the analysis of watershed data and developing a framework for implementing an NPDES program.

The guidance supports approaches to permitting that may help target the watershed's most pressing environmental needs. The approaches will help achieve water quality-based effluent limitations based on water quality standards while providing opportunities for cost reductions and improved efficiencies such as water quality trading. For an electronic copy of the guidance, visit www.epa.gov/npdes/watersheds. The agency is accepting comments on the guidance on a continuing basis.

International Water Association Call for Papers

The International Water Association Young Water Professionals Programme is looking for individuals to present papers at the 4th IWA Young Professional Conference in Berkeley, California July 16-18, 2008. Paper outlines are due on September 28, 2007. This event will provide an international forum for students, young researchers and professionals working in the water sector to present their work and meet their peers from all over the world. More information on the call for papers and the Conference can be found at
www.iwa-ywpc.org.

Upcoming Conferences and Workshops

Center for Watershed Protection's Stormwater Institute

October 9-11, 2007, Toledo, OH.
The Stormwater Institute is an intensive, interactive three-day training program designed to equip staff from local governments, nonprofits, and the private sector with the tools and techniques to develop and manage effective local stormwater programs in the Western Lake Erie Basin project area. The Institute is developed specifically for the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) community stormwater professional. For more information, visit www.cwp.org/SI07/index.html.

2007 National Conference on Agriculture & the Environment

November 7-9, 2007, Monterey, CA.
The Central Coast Agricultural Water Quality Coalition announces the 2007 National Conference on Agriculture & the Environment, a consortium of university and private researchers, nonprofit organizations, and governmental agencies with an interest and expertise in agriculture and natural resource protection. The purpose of the conference is three-fold: (1) to highlight trends in data collection methodologies and data findings; (2) examine case studies in agricultural and environmental stewardship; and (3) foster the cross pollination of new ideas, technologies, and methodologies among leading resource protection professionals. Early Bird Registration ends September 9, 2007. For more information visit www.agwaterquality.org/2007conference/.

"Turning a New Leaf" Conservation Landscaping Conference

November 9, 2007, Annandale, VA.
Want to know how to protect water quality and conserve wildlife habitat where you live? Then mark your calendar now for the 2nd annual "Turning a New Leaf" conference on November 9, 2007 hosted by the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council. The one-day regional conference, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, features tracks on conservation landscapes, green development, and creative stormwater management. Topics include eco-friendly lawns; native alternatives to traditional plantings; backyard forests; rain gardens; techniques for stream restoration; and public-private partnerships for green development. Exhibits will also showcase an "eco-marketplace." Registration begins on August 1, 2007. For more details, visit chesapeakelandscape.org.

Save the Date: FLOW 2008: Interdisciplinary Solutions to Instream Flow Problems

October 7-9, 2008, San Antonio, TX.
Sponsored by the Instream Flow Council, the conference will provide opportunities to learn about creative, interdisciplinary tools and approaches to instream flow problem-solving, explore the latest developments in instream flow science, policy and public dialogue and build collaborative decision-making skills through an interactive session with Professor Larry Susskind of Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation. For more information, visit www.instreamflowcouncil.org/.

Be sure to check EPA and Watershed Funding Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/funding.html

To subscribe to Watershed News, simply send a blank email to:
watershed-news-subscribe@lists.epa.gov

Mention of any commercial enterprise, product, or publication does not constitute endorsement by EPA. Also, EPA does not endorse any group´s policies, activities or positions on any federal, state or local legislation.

Water | Wetlands, Oceans & Watersheds