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Water Headlines for September 2, 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:
EPA Decision Protects 67,000 Acres of Mississippi WetlandsToday EPA announced its final decision under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to prohibit construction of the proposed Yazoo Pumps Project in the Mississippi Delta. EPA is taking this action following an extensive evaluation of the environmental impacts the project poses to tens of thousands of acres of wetlands and other water resources. "Together with our state and federal partners we can improve flood protection and ensure environmental protection," said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. "We're helping to identify a better project that reduces flooding, protects the environment and saves taxpayer dollars." EPA continues to support the goal of providing improved flood protection for the residents of the Mississippi Delta while safeguarding the area's valuable natural resources. The cost of the Yazoo Pumps Project would be more than $220 million for construction, with an annual operational cost of more than $2 million. EPA is committed to working with other federal and state agencies, and the public, to identify an alternative project for providing improved flood protection. The Yazoo Backwater Project is a federally funded U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal first authorized in 1941, designed to reduce flooding in an area in the state of Mississippi between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. The primary component is a 14,000 cubic feet per second pumping station that would pump rainwater out of the South Delta during high water events on the Mississippi River. The Yazoo Backwater Area contains some of the richest wetland and aquatic resources in the nation, and serves as critical fish and wildlife habitat. EPA concluded that the proposed project would result in unacceptable damage to these valuable resources that are used for wildlife, economic, and recreational purposes. Under the CWA, EPA can prohibit, restrict, or deny using waters of the United States as a disposal site for fill material when it determines it will have an unacceptable effect on municipal water supplies, shellfish beds and fishery areas, wildlife, or recreational areas. EPA has used this CWA authority only 11 times since the law was passed in 1972. More information about the decision: http://www.epa.gov/404c New "Find Your Watershed" Widget Connects to EPA’s Surf Your WatershedNow, anyone with a Web site, 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. Climate Ready Estuaries Web SiteEPA's Climate Ready Estuaries (CRE) is excited to announce its new Web site at http://www.epa.gov/cre. The CRE website 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. The Climate Ready Estuaries 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. This effort brings together EPA’s Oceans and Coastal Protection Division and Climate Change Division to build additional capacity in the NEPs and other coastal communities as they prepare to adapt to the effects of climate change. Learn more at http://www.epa.gov/cre. 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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