Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
Multi-media Projects
The EMPACT Program funded projects in three main categories: (1) EMPACT Metro Grants, (2) EPA-Sponsored EMPACT Projects (includes Technology Transfer & Integration projects) and (3) EPA Office of Research and Development Research Grants.
EMPACT Metro Grants support locally proposed and managed environmental monitoring and communication projects that emphasize active partnerships between local and state government, research institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and the Federal Government. Local governments representing any of the 156 EMPACT metropolitan areas were eligible to apply for these grants.
EPA-Sponsored EMPACT Projects were open to EPA Program and Regional Offices and are executed in partnership with local EMPACT metropolitan communities. There are three types of EPA-sponsored projects:Air and Water:
Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network (BASIN): - Boulder, CO
Improve existing environmental monitoring to provide credible, timely and usable information about the watershed to the public. Create a state-of-the-art information management and public access infrastructure using advanced, web-based computer technologies. Build strong partnerships and an ongoing alliance of governmental, educational, non-profit and private entities involved in watershed monitoring, management and education. Develop education and communication programs to effectively utilize watershed information in the public media and schools and facilitiate greater public involvement in public policy formation.Burlington Eco Info: Community Based Environmental Monitoring in the Burlington Ecosystem, The Next Step in Building a Sustainable City: Burlington, VT. Engages citizens in developing environmental information accessible to a broad cross-section of residents and using this information to inform collaborative actions that address priority problems in the urban ecosystem.
Detroit-Ann Arbor Metro Public Information Project: Detroit-Ann Arbor, Michigan. Aims to bring together essential environmental data and create a mechanism for its easy access by the public in a timely fashion, to interpret the information in a way that is understandable by the public, and to provide an intensive public outreach and education campaign regarding community-based environmental information.
The Tulsa Air and Water Quality Information System: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Assists people in the metropolitan community and the surrounding regions of Northeastern Oklahoma connect environmental data to their daily lives and promote public involvement in environmental policy. This objective will be reached by providing environmental information, and public awareness and educational programs.Air, Soil, and Water:
ECOPLEX: Environmental Conditions On-Line for the Dallas-Fort Worth MetroPLEX: Denton (Dallas/Fort Worth), TX. Informs citizens of the current, historical, and near-term forecasts of environmental conditions to which they are exposed, including water, land, sun and air.
(1) EPA-led Projects: These projects leverage EPA's expertise in implementation of environmental monitoring and information management while building capacity and infrastructure in communities to deliver current environmental data and information.
(2) Technology Transfer Projects: These projects replicate technologies and procedures from fully-implemented EMPACT Projects in adopting communities where they are tailored to meets the unique needs of these communities.
(3) Integration Projects: These projects integrate or network current local environmental monitoring, data delivery/ management and appropriate quality controls among multiple EMPACT Projects or monitoring programs and provide the resulting information in a format that is useful and relevant to users.
Soil and Water:
QEIC: Uses a set of basic scientific measures known as quantitative environmental indicators of contamination (QEICs) to summarize the quality of soil, groundwater, and the impact of groundwater contamination on surface water at contaminated sites in communities.
Air and Water:
Las Vegas Valley Inter-Agency Pilot: Develop, demonstrate, and transfer an interagency approach to conducting time-relevant monitoring, information management and delivery, and communication of environmental information in Las Vegas.Real-time Local Environmental Information: The Pacific Southwest Mapping Pilot: The goal of this integration project is to provide the public with a variety of time-relevant environmental information in an easy-to-use, map-based format via the World Wide Web. Beginning with ozone levels in the air, ultraviolet (UV) exposures of the sun, and water quality conditions at the beach, this one-stop resource for the Pacific Southwest will provide real-time data to the public about the environmental conditions in the areas in which they live and travel. The availability of this information will build a foundation for expanding these resources to other areas of the country and other types of environmental information.
EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducts research in innovative monitoring and measurement technologies, as well as in tools to interpret data streams and to increase the quality and the number of environmental parameters that can be monitored and reported in EMPACT communities.
There are currently no multi-media Research Projects.
