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Water Headlines for March 3, 2008Benjamin H. Grumbles Water Headlines 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 Water Headlines:
National Groups Launch "Your Water. Your Decision." Campaign for Local Officials Interested in Protecting Drinking WaterThe Source Water Collaborative (SWC) is launching a campaign, "Your Water. Your Decision.", to help local decision-makers take advantage of opportunities to protect sources of drinking water, understand the costs involved, and consider ways to pay for it. The SWC, a group of 16 national organizations and three federal agencies including EPA, was formed with the joint signing of a vision statement in February 2006 to further the goal of protecting sources of drinking water.
As part of this initiative, the SWC has developed a guide for community leaders and a toolkit for using the guide. The "Your Water. Your Decision." guide is intended as a quick source of key information on local options for protecting drinking water, including development, stewardship, and budgeting. Using the theme, "how you govern can determine what you drink," the guide was developed as a tool to enable local officials to take action within their communities and with neighboring communities. The local officials guide and more information on the "Your Water. Your Decision." Campaign can be found at: http://www.ProtectDrinkingWater.org Nexus Between Energy Use and Water InfrastructureReducing climate impacts, saving money, and saving water are the goals of recent Office of Water efforts to make the most of the nexus between energy use and water infrastructure. Providing drinking water and wastewater services to citizens across the nation requires a lot of energy. The ENERGY STAR program estimates that about $4 billion is spent annually for energy costs to run drinking water and wastewater utilities. Agency efforts on water and energy include our broad outreach to promote water efficiency through the WaterSense program, as well as a suite of activities and tools that focus on energy use at utilities. In our work with the water utility industry, we can encourage them to identify approaches to integrate energy efficient practices into their daily management and long-term planning. The following are links that highlight the connection between water and energy:
Memorandum from the Assistant Administrator for Water to the Regional Administrators
We have developed a one-stop page for information on infrastructure and energy. See For information on the benefits of water efficiency including energy savings, see the WaterSense program at http://www.epa.gov/watersense/water/benefits.htm
A step-by-step workbook for utilities entitled "Ensuring a Sustainable Future: An Energy Management Guidebook for Wastewater and Water Utilities" and workshops on the workbook. More information will be posted on http://www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure/bettermanagement_energy.html,
http://www.peercenter.net The ENERGY STAR program recently added drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities to its Portfolio Manager - an interactive energy management tool that can be used to track and assess energy and water consumption. See http://www.energystar.gov/waterwastewater Combined heat and power is a reliable, cost-effective option for wastewater treatment facilities that have, or are planning to install, anaerobic digesters. Biogas flow from these digesters can be used as "free" fuel to generate reliable electricity and power. For a guide that highlights the opportunities and benefits see http://www.epa.gov/chp/markets/wastewater.html For fact sheets that describe various alternative energy sources that utilities may want to consider see http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/mtbfact.htm Subscribe to Water HeadlinesPlease 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 Water Headlines listserve: Send an email message, leave the subject line blank, and address it to: In the body of the message write: Subscribe Water Headlines first name last name (Please leave one blank space between each word, do not include any other message, and use your actual name- i.e. Subscribe Water Headlines Robert Jones)
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