Save the Date for ASDWA’s Upcoming Webinar on Source Water-Capacity Development Collaboration

Please save the date for the following webinar about ways to collaborate, based on practical state experiences, between source water protection and capacity development programs:

 

Title:  Capacity Development and Source Water Protection Collaboration

Date:  Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Time:  2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (ET)

 

• Purpose:  This webinar will explore opportunities for state drinking water capacity development and source water protection program coordinators to work together to help their water systems achieve compliance and prevent MCL exceedances.

 

• Target Audience:  State and EPA Regional capacity development and source water protection coordinators, technical assistance providers, and any other interested stakeholders are encouraged to attend.  Registration is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend.

 

• What you will learn:  Participants will learn how two states are collaborating to use both their source water protection and capacity development programs to benefit small water systems.  Source water protection aligns well with capacity development efforts in areas such as:  enhanced compliance; increased resiliency; cost savings from monitoring waivers and filtration variances; and potential offsets in additional treatment costs for particular contaminants or problems with the water supply.  Source water protection is also a key component of the multi-barrier approach to public health protection.

 

For more information and to register:  Stay tuned, ASDWA will provide registration information and more details this summer!

 

National Assessment Shows Geographic Distribution and Trends of Pesticide Use

For the first time, national maps and trend graphs show the distribution of the agricultural use of 459 pesticides for each year during 1992-2009 for the entire conterminous U.S.  The maps and supporting national database of county-level use estimates for each pesticide were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for use in national and regional water-quality assessments.  The national use analysis is based on methods developed by USGS to estimate annual county-level pesticide use for agricultural crops grown throughout the conterminous United States. Pesticide-use data compiled from proprietary surveys of farm operations were used in conjunction with annual harvested-crop acreage reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to calculate use rates for each crop and year.  For California, use estimates were obtained directly from annual California Department of Pesticide Regulation Pesticide Use Reports.

 

New interactive national maps and trend graphs are available at:  http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/pnsp/usage/maps

 

Complete results of the USGS analysis of pesticide use are available in two reports, which support the online maps and graphs.

 

Methods Used to Estimate Agricultural Pesticide Use: http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20135009

 

Estimated Annual Pesticide Use Data for 459 Pesticides: http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ds752

 

 

New Information and News on Nitrate

USGS Publishes Study Finds Decades-Old Nitrate in Groundwater is Impacting Water Quality in Streams and Rivers

 

On May 7, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published a study entitled, “Decades-old Nitrate Found to Affect Stream Water Quality.”  In this study, USGS scientists closely examined surface and ground waters at seven study sites from across the nation to find that most of the nitrate observed in streams located in groundwater-dominated watersheds was derived from groundwater sources. The slow release of groundwater nitrate to streams may also affect the water quality of large rivers. These findings also suggest that increasing nitrate concentrations in groundwater are having a substantial effect on nitrate concentrations in rivers and nitrate transport to the Gulf of Mexico. Because nitrate moves slowly through groundwater to rivers, the full effect of management strategies designed to reduce nitrate movement to these rivers may not be seen for many years.  For more information about the study and USGS programs, visit the web site HERE.

 

Des Moines Register Reports that Nitrates in Rivers Hit Record Levels

 

On May 10, the Des Moines Register published an article entitled, “Record nitrate levels in Raccoon, Des Moines threaten Des Moines-area tap water.”  The article discusses the associated costs of operating the Des Moines Water Works nitrate removal facility to ensure public health and meet Federal SDWA requirements.  The article also provides statements from the utility’s general manager and the spokeswoman for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation related to voluntary conservation efforts on farms and record rains that affect nutrient runoff.  To view the article, visit the web site HERE.

ASDWA’s 2013 Annual Conference Call for Papers and Exhibitors

Call for Papers

 

Abstracts are now being accepted for ASDWA’s 2013 Annual Conference.  This year’s conference will be held October 28 – 31, 2013 at the Hilton Long Beach in Long Beach, CA.  Approximately 250 participants are expected to attend.

 

Presentation Themes may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Emerging drinking water treatment technologies and optimization of current technology
• SDWA implementation approaches and strategies including collaborations and partnerships
• State revolving loan fund tools and techniques/green infrastructure strategies
• Drinking water security strategies and tools
• Small systems: TMF, sustainability strategies, technologies, and compliance
• Workforce, operator certification, and/or technical assistance initiatives
• Source water protection and sustainability of water supplies
• Climate change, water and energy efficiency, and conservation
• Clean Water Act/SDWA connections, nitrogen and phosphorous pollution
• Data management
• Distribution system issues
• Emerging contaminants in drinking water
• Drinking water research
• Risk assessment, risk communication and consumer outreach

When reviewing proposals, ASDWA will give priority to those received from state drinking water program administrators and their staff.  If you would like to make a presentation, please submit a one-page abstract with the proposed presentation title, and the name and contact information for the speaker to Deirdre Mason of ASDWA at dmason@asdwa.org by June 14, 2013.

 

Call for Exhibitors

 

Exhibit space applications are now being accepted for ASDWA’s 2013 Annual Conference. Exhibitors will have a unique opportunity to discuss critical legislative and regulatory issues with state drinking water administra­tors, EPA officials, and others in the drinking water com­munity.  In addition, exhibitors will be able to present their products and services to conference attendees.

 

Anyone interested in exhibiting at the ASDWA Annual Conference should contact Tom Maves at 703-812-4773 or tmaves@asdwa.org.  The deadline for applications is August 30, 2013!

Download the Call for Papers and Exhibitors

For more information about the 2013 ASDWA Annual Conference, view our online Brochure at http://eepurl.com/y2jZb, or visit us at www.asdwa.org/Conferences.

 

Social Marketing Strategies and Tools for Watershed Projects Featured in EPA Webcast

On May 1^st, EPA’s Watershed Academy sponsored a webcast entitled “Using Social Indicators in Watershed Management Projects.”  Social indicators provide information about the social context, awareness, attitudes, capacities, constraints, and behaviors of people in a project area.  During the webinar, speakers from Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison highlighted strategies and tools to understand the basic concepts of behavior change by targeting audiences, selecting effective interventions, and evaluating their impacts on engaging the public in non-point source watershed projects.

The presenters shared information and lessons learned from a series of pilot projects in EPA Region 5 (the Great Lakes area) to develop a system for collecting and using social data to evaluate water quality management efforts that complement existing administrative and environmental indicators and goals.  The conveners of the pilots used the seven steps of the Social Indicators for Planning & Evaluation System (SIPES) model for carrying out the project and gauging their success (see presentation slides on EPA web site and resources on the Great Lakes pilots web site).  They also used the Social Indicators Data Management and Analysis (SIDMA) Tool to develop, administer, and interpret data derived from audience surveys in the project areas to devise outreach strategies.  The SIDMA tool is free and can be used by anyone who wishes to create an account at http://www.iwr.msu.edu/sidma/.

For more information about the Great Lakes pilots and to obtain a variety of social indicator resources, including those mentioned in this article, go to:  http://greatlakeswater.uwex.edu/social-indicators.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, the Purdue University will conduct additional FREE webinars in June and July on using social indicators.  For more information and to register, please contact Nick Babin of Purdue at nbabin@purdue.edu.

For more information about this webcast and to view the presentation slides, visit the EPA web site.