Background
The Water Environment Federation and the US Environmental Protection Agency are cooperating on the development of a technical training program for those involved in the design, review, and implementation of watershed-based plans (WBP) in support of activities funded under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.

The goal of this program is to maximize the effectiveness of WBPs by helping grantees develop and implement projects that have quantifiable and measurable objectives. The program will include a combination of web-based instruction and live training.

The audience for this program includes State and Tribal officials involved in the management of Section 319 funds (ie, grantors), the recipients of these funds (ie, grantees), and grantee contractors.

WEF’s Activities
To facilitate this program, WEF formed the Watershed Training Task Force, which is chaired by Avinash S. Patwardhan, Ph D, PH, CH2M HILL. The task force conducted a needs assessment of State NPS Coordinators and developed a workshop entitled Strategies for Implementation Using Integrated Watershed Planning.  In June 2005, the Task Force conducted a pilot test of the workshop at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia.

The Task Force also offered two live webcasts in response to the needs assessment. The first was conducted in August 2005. It addressed several aspects of low-impact development. The second was conducted in the fall of 2005. It focused on several aspects of trading and watershed-based permitting.

For additional information about the activities of WEF's Watershed Training Task Force, please contact Greg McNelly at gmcnelly@wef.org.