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Water Headlines for March 31, 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:
Army Corps and EPA Improve Wetland and Stream MitigationThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released a new rule to clarify how to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to the nation's wetlands and streams. The rule will enable the agencies to promote greater consistency, predictability and ecological success of mitigation projects under the Clean Water Act. "This rule greatly improves implementation, monitoring, and performance, and will help us ensure that unavoidable losses of aquatic resources and functions are replaced for the benefit of this Nation. This is a key step in our efforts to make the Army's Regulatory Program a winner, and the best it can be for the regulated community we serve and those interested in both economic development and environmental protection," said John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. "This rule advances the president's goals of halting overall loss of wetlands and improving watershed health through sound science, market-based approaches, and cooperative conservation," said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin H. Grumbles. "The new standards will accelerate our wetlands conservation efforts under the Clean Water Act by establishing more effective, more consistent, and more innovative mitigation practices."
Benefits of the compensatory mitigation rule include: Each year thousands of property owners undertake projects that affect the nation's aquatic resources. Proposed projects that are determined to impact jurisdictional waters are first subject to review under the Clean Water Act. The Corps of Engineers reviews these projects to ensure environmental impacts to aquatic resources are avoided or minimized as much as possible. Consistent with the administration's goal of "no net loss of wetlands" a Corps permit may require a property owner to restore, establish, enhance or preserve other aquatic resources in order to replace those impacted by the proposed project. This compensatory mitigation process seeks to replace the loss of existing aquatic resource functions and area. Property owners required to complete mitigation are encouraged to use a watershed approach and watershed planning information. The new rule establishes performance standards, sets timeframes for decision making, and to the extent possible, establishes equivalent requirements and standards for the three sources of compensatory mitigation: permittee-responsible mitigation, mitigation banks and in-lieu-fee programs. The new rule changes where and how mitigation is to be completed, but maintains existing requirements on when mitigation is required. The rule also preserves the requirement for applicants to avoid or minimize impacts to aquatic resources before proposing compensatory mitigation projects to offset permitted impacts. Wetlands and streams provide important environmental functions including protecting and improving water quality and providing habitat to fish and wildlife. Successful compensatory mitigation projects will replace environmental functions that are lost as a result of permitted activities. For more information on the compensatory mitigation rule visit: http://www.usace.army.mil/cw/cecwo/reg/citizen.htm or http://www.epa.gov/wetlandsmitigation Information about the importance of wetlands is available at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/ Aircraft Drinking Water Regulation ProposedAircraft passengers and crews will be able to drink safer water under new regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The proposed Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR) will tailor existing health-based drinking water regulations to fit the unique characteristics of aircraft public water systems. The rule will protect the public from illnesses that can result from microbiological contamination. "We're upgrading airline drinking water standards to first-class status with better testing, treatment and maintenance," said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. In 2004, EPA tested aircraft drinking water quality and reviewed air carrier compliance with regulations. EPA found that 15 percent of tested aircraft tested positive for total coliform bacteria. The agency also found that air carriers were not meeting existing regulations, primarily because those regulations were designed for stationary public water systems. In response, EPA began a process to tailor the existing regulations for aircraft public water systems and placed 45 air carriers under administrative orders on consent that are in effect until aircraft drinking water regulations are final. The proposed ADWR will protect drinking water through monitoring, disinfection, and public notification, a combination that EPA believes will better protect public health. The approach will build on existing aircraft operations and maintenance programs and better coordinate federal programs that regulate aircraft water systems. The proposed ADWR applies to the aircraft's onboard water system only. The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for regulating the airport watering points that include the water cabinets, carts, trucks, and hoses from which aircraft board water. EPA and the states are responsible for regulating public water systems that supply drinking water to the airport watering points. While the proposed rule only addresses aircraft within U.S. jurisdiction, EPA is also supporting an international effort led by the World Health Organization to develop international guidelines for aircraft drinking water. More information about aircraft drinking water: http://www.epa.gov/airlinewater/regs.html EPA Seeks Public Comment on Water Strategy to Respond to Climate ChangeThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on a draft strategy that describes the potential effects of climate change on clean water, drinking water, and ocean protection programs and outlines EPA actions to respond to these effects. The National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change focuses on actions designed to help managers adapt their water programs in response to a changing climate. "Our draft strategy is a timely response to a serious challenge. We look forward to getting comments from the public and continuing our pro-active and responsible approach," said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. "Clean water and clean energy go hand in hand and the actions we take under our National Water Program are integral to the agency's overall work on climate change." Other elements of the draft strategy include steps needed to strengthen links between climate research and water programs, and to improve education for water program professionals on potential climate change impacts. The strategy also identifies contributions that water programs can make to mitigate greenhouse gases. Some of the potential impacts of climate change on water resources reviewed in the strategy include increases in certain water pollution problems, changes in availability of drinking water supplies, and collective impacts on coastal areas. The public comment period is open for 60 days. Information on the National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change: http://www.epa.gov/water/climatechange EPA Seeks Nominations for National Clean Water Act Recognition AwardsThe Office of Water has announced a call for nominations for its 2008 National Clean Water Act Recognition Awards. The awards program, in its twenty-third year, recognizes municipalities and industries for outstanding and innovative technological achievements in wastewater treatment and pollution abatement programs. Awards will be given to first and second place winners for demonstrated outstanding water quality achievements for projects and programs in five awards categories, including: operations and maintenance, biosolids management, pretreatment, stormwater management, and combined sewer overflows control. These national awards heighten public awareness of the contributions wastewater treatment facilities make to clean water and public health and safety. Nominations are due to EPA headquarters by May 30, 2008. For more information about the awards program and the nomination process, visit the Office of Wastewater Management web page at: http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/intnet.htm or contact Matthew Richardson, national awards program coordinator, at (202) 564-2947, or richardson.matthew@epa.gov. Free April 10th Webcast on Monitoring Watershed Program EffectivenessEPA's Watershed Academy sponsors free monthly Webcasts for watershed practitioners from around the globe. On Thursday, April 10th, 2008, the Webcast, Monitoring Watershed Program Effectiveness, will examine ways to measure the actual impact of watershed management decisions, such as implementation of nutrient management practices (administrative, social) and resulting impacts of nutrient levels (environmental) in the waterbody. Expert instructors will present an overview of watershed monitoring, three watershed effectiveness monitoring designs, and identify issues to be considered when developing effectiveness monitoring programs. To register or to access archived audio versions of past Webcasts, please visit http://www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts First National Rivers and Streams Assessment Field Training SessionOn March 11-13, 2008, the State of Oklahoma hosted the first "train-the-trainer" session for field team leaders who will be sampling for the National Rivers and Streams Assessment, a probability-based survey of the nation's flowing waters. About 30 state, EPA, and contractor staff attended the session, which was designed to train trainers in the physical, chemical, and biological field methods employed in the survey. Field crews will attend training sessions around the country in the spring, with field sampling scheduled to begin in summer 2008 and continue during summer 2009. A report on the condition of the nation's rivers and streams is planned for 2011. The National Rivers and Streams Assessment is one in a series of statistically-representative surveys of the aquatic resources of the U.S. being conducted by EPA and the states. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/riverssurvey 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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