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WaterNews for December 16, 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:
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Document Now AvailableEPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles joined other federal, state, local and tribal officials at a December 12 event in Chicago to unveil the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy that will serve as a blueprint for prioritizing future actions to restore and enhance the lakes. The Administrator also committed to specific actions among federal agencies to accelerate cleanup of contaminated sediment, return another 200,000 acres of wetlands to ecological health in equal partnership with the states, reduce the spread of invasive species and make beaches cleaner. The strategy is available at: http://www.glrc.us/strategy.html. Alliance for Water EfficiencyU.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Executive Director of the California Urban Water Conservation Council Mary Ann Dickinson, announced on December 12 that the headquarters of a new water conservation organization will be in Chicago. The organization, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, will be a clearinghouse and advocate for water efficiency research, evaluation and education. For more information on the effort by the California Urban Water Conservation Council, visit http://www.cuwcc.org/national_cwe.lasso EPA Finalizes Drinking Water Protection Rules that will Reduce Waterborne Health RisksEPA finalized two related drinking water protection rules on December 15 — one that reduces the risk of disease-causing microorganisms from entering water supplies and the other that requires water systems to limit the amount of potentially harmful "disinfection byproducts" that end up in our drinking water. Signed as EPA enters the 31st anniversary year for the Safe Drinking Water Act, the rules were proposed in August 2003, and were developed from consensus recommendations from a federal advisory committee comprised of state and local governments, tribes, environmental, public health and water industry groups. The rules are available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/disinfection/ New Tools Developed to Help Small Drinking Water Utilities Control ArsenicEPA has released a set of user-friendly multimedia products to help small drinking-water utilities meet new regulations to control arsenic. The tools will provide owners and operators with information to guide them in making treatment decisions. Kits including all of the new arsenic tools will be provided to EPA’s state and technical assistance partners for distribution to public water systems affected by the arsenic regulation. The anchor product in this suite of tools is the "Arsenic Virtual Trade Show," a learning portal for arsenic-treatment technology. The website features a database of vendors, a treatment "decision tree," and tips for evaluating and selecting treatment providers. To launch the Arsenic Virtual Trade Show, go to: http://www.arsenictradeshow.org/. Information about arsenic and drinking water is available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic/. EPA Issues Guidance to Control Urban Runoff PollutionEPA released the "National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Urban Areas." This comprehensive document will help local governments and others protect water resources from polluted runoff that can result from everyday activities and urban development. The guidance will also help municipalities and other regulated entities implement stormwater programs. This publication includes voluntary guidance on 12 management measures designed to prevent and control runoff from urban and suburban lands. The management measures cover topics including watershed assessment and protection runoff from new and existing development. The new guidance is available at: http://www.epa.gov/nps/urbanmm EPA Seeks Comment on Proposed NPDES Stormwater Permit for Industrial ActivitiesEPA is soliciting public comment on its NPDES Stormwater Multi-Sector General Permit for Industrial Activities (MSGP) through Jan. 16, 2005. The proposed permit will replace the MSGP-2000 that expired on Oct. 30, 2005. The proposed permit is available for public comment until Jan. 16, 2006. The MSGP covers 29 categories of industrial activity in the five states, territories, and other areas where EPA remains the permitting authority. (Most states are authorized to implement the NPDES program and issue their own stormwater permits.) During the public comment period, EPA will hold an informal meeting on the proposed permit on December 20, 2005 at the EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Information on this proposed permit, including information on how to submit written comments is available at: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/msgp.cfm 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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