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Water Environment & Technology (WE&T) is the premier magazine for the water quality field. WE&T provides information on what professionals demand:
cutting-edge technologies, innovative solutions, operations and maintenance, regulatory and legislative impacts, and professional development. |
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June 2007, Vol. 19, No. 6 |
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Briefs
House Speaker, Majority Leader Announce Plans to Green the U.S. Capitol
In April, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D–Md.) announced they will begin a project to green the U.S. Capitol building, according to a press release from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). USGBC is coalition of corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations that work together design, build, and operate buildings in ways less harmful and more beneficial to the environment.
“Buildings in the U.S. account for 39% of CO2 emissions, and are a major contributor to global climate change,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO, and founding chair of USGBC. “The good news is that green building reduces emissions by 30% to 50%.”
The preliminary Greening of the Capitol Report outlines a series of six recommendations in an effort to help the Capitol complex reduce its carbon footprint, the news release notes. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated the operations of the House as being responsible for 82620 Mg (91,000 tons) of greenhouse gas emissions in fiscal year 2006 — equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 17,200 cars.
The recommendations include operating the House in a carbon-neutral manner; shifting to 100% renewable electric power; aggressively improving energy efficiency; adopting sustainable business practices; continued leadership on sustainability issues; and offsets to ensure carbon neutral operations
“Reducing energy consumption and energy dependence must be priorities,” said Sandy Wiggins, chairman of the board for USGBC. The recommendations are a first step in creating a green Capitol and more sustainable House operations, according to USGBC.
To read more about the project and other green buildings, go to www.usgbc.org.
Water Associations Sign Green Infrastructure Agreement
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a statement of intent in April to pursue “green infrastructure” approaches to reduce sewer overflows and stormwater pollution, according to an NRDC press release.
“This partnership will help local communities protect and restore polluted waterways, helping preserve one of America’s most important resources for generations to come,” said NRDC Clean Water Project Director Nancy Stoner.
The agreement — also signed by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA; Washington, D.C.), the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA; Washington, D.C.) and the Low Impact Development Center (LID; Beltsville, Md.) — formalizes a public–private partnership to help states, cities, and local governments implement innovative and effective green infrastructure solutions.
The impetus for this agreement began with NRDC’s Rooftops to Rivers report, which recognizes communities across the United States that already are using green infrastructure approaches to restore their waterways. The report can be downloaded at https://nrdc.org/water/pollution/rooftops/rooftops.pdf.
New EPA Tool to Accelerate Watershed Planning
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the Watershed Plan Builder, an interactive, Web-based tool to improve efforts by states and local communities in protecting and restoring local water resources. The tool, according to an EPA news release, will help local watershed organizations develop integrated watershed plans to meet state and EPA requirements and promote water quality improvements.
Practitioners from watershed organizations, federal and state agencies, tribes, universities, and local governments will be able to use the Watershed Plan Builder to address polluted runoff, the largest contributor to water quality problems nationwide, EPA states.
Once the data are entered, the tool produces an outline of a comprehensive watershed plan tailored to a specific watershed. It features links to EPA, other federal agencies and state water programs. The Watershed Plan Builder walks the practitioner through various watershed planning steps including watershed monitoring and assessment, community outreach, selection and application of available models, best management practices, implementation, feedback.
The Watershed Plan Builder will be available to watershed organizations, federal and state agencies, tribes, universities and local governments to beta test the application and provide feedback through September. A team of experts from EPA’s water programs developed the tool, with input from state, tribal, and local agency experts and other local watershed practitioners.
For more information, see www.epa.gov/owow/watershedplanning.
Florida Strengthens Protection for the Everglades
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) recently formalized a rule that further guarantees water to protect and restore America’s Everglades. Known as the Regional Water Availability Rule, the requirement prevents water users from tapping the famed River of Grass for new or additional supplies of water, according to an SFWMD press release.
Setting aside the water in the Everglades for environmental restoration, permitted users like urban water utilities along Florida’s southeast coast will now have to find alternative sources to supply regional growth, the release notes.
In South Florida, water suppliers in Miami–Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties currently depend on an estimated 1,892,500 m3/d (500 million gal/d) of water per day from the Everglades to recharge and sustain the Biscayne Aquifer — the area’s primary drinking water source. Recognizing the need for more protective limits for the River of Grass, last year the district began developing the Regional Water Availability Rule to limit increased reliance on the Everglades system and Everglades-dependent groundwater, formally identifying them as “sources of limited availability,” according to the news release.
Cities needing additional water supplies will now be required to seek sources that are not dependent on the Everglades for recharge, according to SFWMD. These alternative water supply solutions may include recycling water, using reclaimed water to recharge the Biscayne Aquifer, or drawing water from the deeper Floridan Aquifer, which requires treatment to remove saltwater content.
Existing water supply permits are not being revoked, states the news release. The rule affects new applicants seeking a permit and existing permittees seeking permit renewal. The rule specifically prevents permitted water supply allocations from being greater than levels that existed prior to April 2006.
U.S., European Union Sign Pact on Common Environmental Challenges
U.S. and European Union scientists and researchers plan to work more closely in solving common environmental problems and sharing information on such emerging issues as nanotechnology under a new agreement finalized in February in Brussels, Belgium.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and Jose Manuel Silva Rodriguez, European Commission (EC) director general for research, signed the “Implementing Arrangement on Environmental Research and Ecoinformatics,” according to an EPA news release.
Ecoinformatics is advanced computer and information technology necessary for environmental research.
“The United States and Europe share in the commitment of being good global neighbors,” Johnson said. “This agreement marks a new level of collaboration which will ensure our efforts to protect the environment and our citizens are supported by sound science.”
Cooperation under the EPA–EC Implementing Arrangement is expected to take many forms, including direct collaboration between U.S. and European researchers and associations; joint sponsorship of conferences, workshops and meetings; coordinated calls for proposals and mutual participation in peer reviews; and exchanges of information, methodologies, and data, the news release notes.
Among the collaborative research topics included in the agreement are efforts to address the links between environmental pollution and human health, as well as uses and impacts of nanotechnology in environmental monitoring, soil remediation, and water quality. Other topics include sustainable chemistry and materials, environmental information systems, development of environmental and sustainability indicators, environmental technologies, air quality management, decision support tools, and environmental modeling.
Read the agreement at www.epa.gov/international/regions/Europe/index.html.
EPA Web Module Offers Watershed Outreach Training
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Watershed Academy recently posted a free, updated online training module on “Getting In Step: A Guide to Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns.”
This module, according to an EPA news release, offers a tested step-by-step system to help local governments, watershed organizations, and others maximize the effectiveness of public outreach campaigns to help solve nonpoint source pollution problems and protect local waterways.
The module is based on EPA’s free, downloadable outreach guide “Getting in Step: Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns” (published in December 2003 and available at www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/outreach/documents).
To view the new Getting in Step online training module, see www.epa.gov/watertrain/gettinginstep.
©2007 Water Environment Federation. All rights reserved.
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