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Watershed News
September 2008
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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) Water Quality Trading Funding: Proposals due September 9, 2008
2) California and Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program Funding Available
3) Climate Ready Estuaries Coastal Toolkit
4) Gilbert Stuart Stream, Rhode Island: Outhouse Removal Eliminates Source of Bacteria
5) New "One-Stop Shopping" Web Site for Tribes in Search of Clean Water Act Training
6) EPA Launches new Climate Ready Estuaries website
7) Center for Watershed Protection Releases Stormwater Monitoring Guidance
8) New Find Your Watershed" Widget Connects to EPA's Surf Your Watershed
9) 3rd National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration--Call for Special Sessions
10) World Water Monitoring Day Starts September 18th
11) Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup - September 20, 2008
12) Wetlands 2008: Wetlands and Global Climate Change
13) Getting in Step with Phase II: A Workshop for Stormwater Program Managers and Regulators
14) 2008 Chesapeake Watershed Forum
15) FLOW 2008: Interdisciplinary Solutions to Instream Flow Problems
16) Southeast Stormwater Institute
17) WEFTEC.08 Conference
18) 2008 AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference
19) 2009 AWRA Spring Specialty Conference
Funding Opportunities
Water Quality Trading Funding: Proposals due September 9, 2008
EPA is accepting nominations of proposals for water quality trading or other market-based projects for its Targeted Watersheds Grants Program. Projects must address reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment, or other pollutant loadings that cause low oxygen levels in local waters and which enter the Mississippi River system. Projects must be located in one of the three Mississippi River sub-basins with the highest nutrient loads contributing to hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: the Ohio River, the Upper Mississippi River, or the Lower Mississippi River. EPA will award up to $4.2 million to support approximately 15 to 25 outstanding proposals.
California and Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program Funding Available
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is accepting proposals for the Chesapeake Bay and California B-WET Programs. The B-WET grant program is a competitively based program that supports existing environmental education programs, fosters the growth of new programs, and encourages the development of partnerships among environmental education programs. The Chesapeake Bay B-WET is focused on the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed, and the deadline for submission is October 3, 2008. The California B-WET Program is focused on the San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay, and Santa Barbara Channel watersheds, and the deadline for submission is October 6, 2008.
Watershed Tool of the Month
Climate Ready Estuaries Coastal Toolkit
The Climate Ready Estuaries Coastal Toolkit provides resources for estuaries and coastal programs that are interested in learning more about climate change impacts and adaptation. The Toolkit pages below provide information and links to websites, reports, and other resources related to the following areas: monitoring climate change, coastal vulnerability and adaptation, smart growth in the context of climate change, data sources, adaptation planning and sustainable finance options.
Spotlight: Watersheds at Work
Gilbert Stuart Stream, Rhode Island: Outhouse Removal Eliminates Source of Bacteria
Rhode Island placed Gilbert Stuart Stream on its 2000 303(d) list of impaired waters because it did not meet the state's fecal coliform bacteria water quality standard. The bacteria impairment was caused by an outhouse near the shore of a pond that serves as the stream's source. After removing the outhouse, bacterial levels dropped, and the segment now meets water quality standards. Rhode Island removed the stream from its list of impaired waterbodies in 2008.
News
New "One-Stop Shopping" Web Site for Tribes in Search of Clean Water Act Training
EPA has launched a new web site that contains all of the EPA-sponsored Clean Water Act (CWA) training courses available to Indian tribes. The new web site is the culmination of a larger EPA effort to provide more structured, consolidated training to assist Tribes in implementing programs under the CWA. The web site contains listings of face-to-face training courses offered by EPA's Office of Water, links to self-paced training for CWA programs, links to relevant training courses offered by other EPA program offices (both face-to-face and self-paced), as well as links to other important resources and tools. EPA is working with Indian tribes to identify future training needs for CWA programs. Contact Frances A. Desselle at 202-566-0375 for more information.
EPA Launches new Climate Ready Estuaries website
The Climate Ready Estuaries (CRE) program is a partnership between EPA and the National Estuary Programs (NEPs) to address climate change in coastal areas and is currently working with six NEP pilots. CRE is excited to announce its new website, which is designed to provide users with information about the importance of coastal adaptation to climate change and provide tools for adaptation in its toolkit. More specifically, the online toolkit features resources related to coastal vulnerability, adaptation planning, smart growth, data and monitoring, and sustainable financing, serving a range of needs - from community members to coastal managers.
Center for Watershed Protection Releases Stormwater Monitoring Guidance 
As part of an EPA grant, the Center for Watershed Protection and the University of Alabama prepared six monitoring study designs, outlined in the project's final manual, Monitoring to Demonstrate Environmental Results: Guidance to Develop Local Stormwater Monitoring Studies Using 6 Example Study Designs. This guidance is designed to navigate the stormwater manager through the complexities of implementing a monitoring program, so they can be confident in their results and get the most out of their limited stormwater dollars. Each study design covers such essential elements as scoping, budgeting, and staffing needs as well as equipment and sampling requirements. Special issues associated with each monitoring study design are also covered for those unforeseen but inevitable monitoring challenges. The manual is available for free download.
New "Find Your Watershed" Widget Connects to EPA's Surf Your Watershed
Now, anyone with a Website, including their own blog, can post the "Find Your Watershed" widget on their own Web page. This widget, which can be found on http://epa.gov/widgets/#watershed, supports watershed education and outreach. By advertising this widget, partners can help drive traffic to EPA's Surf Your Watershed database, which helps people find their watershed, learn about its health, and connects them with organizations at work in their watershed.
EPA's first widget, the "environmental tip of the day," released last spring, was seen 363,000 times in June after it was posted, which is more than any single page on EPA's Web site other than the home page.
3rd National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration—Call for Special Sessions
The 3rd National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration will be held on July 20-24, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. NCER '09 would like to invite members of the ecosystem restoration community to assist with program development by proposing and organizing special sessions. Proposals for special sessions are being accepted until October 3, 2008.
World Water Monitoring Day Starts September 18th
World Water Monitoring Day™ (WWMD) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies. The month-long program kicks off each year on September 18 with a data entry deadline of December 18. An easy-to-use test kit enables everyone from children to adults to sample local water bodies for a core set of water quality parameters, and results are shared with participating communities around the globe.
Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup - September 20, 2008
The Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup will be held on Saturday, September 20, 2008. This event attracts almost 400,000 volunteers worldwide who pick up trash and marine debris from the nation's waterways. Last year six million pounds of trash were cleared from oceans and waterways. Girl Scouts (grades 6 and up) can work toward earning the Water Drop patch by participating in the International Coastal Cleanup./p>
Upcoming Conferences and Workshops
Wetlands 2008: Wetlands and Global Climate Change
September 15-19, 2008, Portland, Oregon. The overall goal of this conference is to help wetland professionals in the public and private sectors 1) gain a better understanding of the challenges created by climate change and 2) identify discrete activities and actions to take to reduce and mitigate impacts on wetlands and water resources as well as communities. The conference will also address ongoing changes and challenges in wetlands and water resources management.
Getting in Step with Phase II: A Workshop for Stormwater Program Managers and Regulators
September 17-18, 2008, Fayetteville, Arkansas. This workshop will provide in-depth training on post construction runoff controls, illicit discharge detection and elimination, pollution prevention/good housekeeping, and stormwater program development and funding. There is a $30 fee for this workshop to help cover the cost of lunch, coffee, and materials.
November 6-7, 2008, Albuquerque, New Mexico. This workshop will provide in-depth training on post construction runoff controls, construction site sediment and erosion controls, stormwater outreach, stormwater TMDLs, and stormwater program development and funding. There is a $100 registration fee for the workshop to cover breakfast and lunch both days.
2008 Chesapeake Watershed Forum
October 2-5, 2008, Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The Chesapeake Watershed Forum is an annual conference for watershed organizations and local government officials from around the multi-state Chesapeake Bay region. It is an opportunity to learn the latest scientific techniques in Bay restoration and protection, address specific organizational capacity building needs, focus on regional and watershed-wide needs, network with other watershed organizations, and enjoy the beauty of the watershed.
FLOW 2008: Interdisciplinary Solutions to Instream Flow Problems
October 7-9, 2008, San Antonio, Texas. 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.
Southeast Stormwater Institute
October 14-16, 2008, Savannah, Georgia. The Southeast Stormwater Institute at the Coastal Georgia Center is an intensive, interactive three-day learning experience specifically designed to help public and private sector stormwater professionals develop or improve municipal stormwater programs, particularly NPDES Phase II permit programs; strengthen stormwater design, construction, and maintenance skills for innovative practices in coastal and non-coastal settings; and understand and apply volume reduction criteria, green infrastructure credits, and the new Georgia Coastal Stormwater Supplement.
WEFTEC.08 Conference
October 18-22, 2008, Chicago, Illinois. The 81st Annual Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference is the largest conference of its kind in North America and offers water quality professionals from around the world water quality education and training. Learn from your peers about the latest practices, technologies, solutions and regulations in the water quality field. Earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) by participating in workshops and earn Professional Development Hours (PDHs) by attending technical sessions.
2008 AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference
November 17-20, 2008, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Mississippi River delta, the Louisiana coastline and the entire southeast are at the center of some of the most serious water resources problems currently being experienced by the United States. New Orleans is the perfect location to focus attention on current water resources issues at the local, regional, national, and international levels. This year's conference promises to live up to the excellent benchmark set by previous conferences with a little lagniappe thrown in for good measure!
2009 AWRA Spring Specialty Conference
May 4-6, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska. Managing Water Resources and Development in a Changing Climate