Tomorrow! – WRF Webcast on How to Talk about Contaminants, Risk, and the Unknown

Date:  Thursday, June 22, 2017

Time:  11:00am – 12:30pm (eastern)

REGISTER HERE

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) will host a free webinar tomorrow entitled, “Throwing Precaution Out the Window:  How to Talk about Contaminants, Risk, and the Unknown.”  The webcast will feature a presentation by Dr. Gabriella Rundblad of King’s College London to share the findings of the WRF project (#4551), Terminology for Improved Communications Regarding Contaminants of Emerging Concern.  This project explored how language and cognition impact public trust, where the public is more likely to trust a message about the minute presence of known dangers than the lack of evidence for health effects caused by unknown dangers.

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June 22 AWRA Webinar on Online Source Water Quality Monitoring for Drinking Water Applications

This Thursday, the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) is hosting a free webinar about EPA’s guidance document entitled, “Online Source Water Quality Monitoring For Water Quality Surveillance and Response Systems.”  During the webinar, Steve Allgeier of EPA will discuss the systematic process for designing an effective online source water monitoring system to help detect water quality incidents (e.g. spills and harmful algal blooms), optimize treatment processes, and characterize long-term trends.

Date:  Thursday, June 22, 2017
Time:  1:00pm (eastern)

Webinar participants will learn best practices on how to:

• Identify source water threats and assess risks
• Select water quality parameters and monitoring locations
• Design water quality monitoring stations
• Design information management systems to support data analysis
• Develop procedures to respond to unusual source water quality conditions

Seating is limited – Register here!

 

EPA Water Quality Modeling Webinar

On Wednesday July 12th from 1:00pm – 3:00pm (eastern), EPA’s Water Modeling Workgroup will host a webinar titled “Introduction to WASP,” as part of its webinar series to help water quality professionals better understand surface water quality modeling and how models can be used to solve common problems that face water quality regulators. These webinars are focused on modeling as it applies to the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), Standards, and Water Quality Permitting Programs, but they are applicable to a wide range of audiences, including state source water protection program staff.  This webinar will introduce the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) water quality model. WASP enables users to interpret and predict water quality responses to natural phenomena and manmade pollution for various pollution management decisions. The webinar will also highlight how this tool is being used by several states and others for their TMDL, nonpoint source, and municipal stormwater programs.

REGISTER HERE

 

New SWC Learning Exchange Resources on Source Water Protection and Emergency Planning

As part of the Source Water Collaborative’s (SWC) ongoing Learning Exchange, the website now provides a series of new resources to help link source water protection to emergency planning. This was a key recommended action identified in the SWC’s Call to Action, and is part of an effort, along with the June 6th webinar, to share a set of comprehensive resources on this topic.

The new SWC Learning Exchange Resources include:

• June 6^th Webinar Recording: The recorded webinar from June 6th that shares lessons learned from the November 2016 spill on the Potomac River and how to improve planning for emergency preparedness and response, featuring speakers from Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), Fairfax Water and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
• Early Warning Systems: A featured story on Pennsylvania’s early warning systems.
• Resource Links: Links to resources such as a methodology from the Water Research Foundation for locating and managing dynamic potential contaminant data, U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Health-Based Screening Levels, and much more.

To view these and other resources, visit the SWC Learning Exchange webpage at:  http://sourcewatercollaborative.org/connect-with-others/learningexchange/.

 

 

 

 

WRF New Cyanotoxin Webcast Series to Start this Month

The Water Research Foundation will kick off a new series of three webcasts this month to share the latest information and resources about cyanotoxins in drinking water.  All of these webcasts are being offered free of charge and are open to the public.  Following are the webinar topics, descriptions, and registration information.

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Development of a Risk Communication Tool Kit for Cyanotoxins

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

3:00pm – 4:00pm (eastern)

Register Online

This Webcast is designed to provide listeners with the necessary knowledge to develop and deliver effective cyanotoxin risk communications (WRF project #4697). Listeners will learn about specific attributes of the cyanotoxin risk management framework that can create potential communication barriers, for example the complexity of the EPA health guidance and the uncertainty inherent in monitoring and testing timing and protocol. Listeners will also be introduced to the linguistic research carried out during the project, which was used to develop recommended health advisory/alert language.

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Evaluation and Optimization of Cyanotoxin Analytical Methods

Thursday, July 13th, 2017

3:00pm – 4:00pm (eastern)

Register Online

This webcast will explore the results of Performance Evaluation of Methods for the Analysis of Cyanotoxins (project #4647). The goal of this project is to compare the Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA (Method 546) ADDA-ELISA methods and EPA Method 544, “Determination of Microcystins and Nodularin in Drinking Water by Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS)” and investigate the inconsistencies between the methodologies as well as the precision and accuracies within each method. The findings for this project will be published in 2018; however, valuable preliminary findings will be shared during this webcast.

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Treatment Approaches for Managing Dissolved and Intracellular Cyanotoxins

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

3:00pm – 4:00pm (eastern)

Register Online

This webcast will highlight the effectiveness of conventional and advanced treatment processes for managing intracellular and extracellular cyanotoxins while minimizing unintended consequences. In addition, a summary of the Hazen-Adams CyanoTOX model v.2.0 will be presented. Case studies will be used to illustrate how the model worked at various utilities and will be used to provide a basis for evaluating treatment options.

US Water Alliance Publishes Equitable Water Management Paper

The US Water Alliance has released a comprehensive briefing paper on the connections between water management and vulnerable communities living in America entitled, “An Equitable Water Future.”  The report demonstrates how water challenges affect affordability, environmental and social justice, economic development, health, safety, and more. These challenges are often felt more acutely by disadvantaged communities, whether by geographic, economic, or racial status. The paper presents a framework that can move the nation forward, focused on three pillars of equitable water management:

1. Ensure all people have access to clean, safe, affordable water service;
2. Maximize the community and economic benefits of water infrastructure investment; and,
3. Foster community resilience in the face of a changing climate.

The entire paper is available online here.  For questions, please contact Abigail Gardner of US Water Alliance at agardner@uswateralliance.org or 412-421-0809.

 

 

 

EPA HABS Webinar on Treatment, Communications, and Management

On Tuesday, June 27th from 2:00pm to 3:30pm (eastern), EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) will host a webinar entitled, “Harmful Algal Blooms: Treatment, Risk Communications Toolbox, and Management Plans,” as part of the EPA Small Drinking Water Systems Webinar Series.  During the webinar, EPA presenters will:

• Share information about multiple EPA tools that facilitate proactive planning for harmful algal blooms, including the support document Recommendations for Public Water Systems to Manage Cyanotoxins in Drinking Water and the Cyanotoxin Management Plan Temple and Example Plans.
• Provide a brief overview of drinking water treatment options for cyanobacteria and their toxins, focusing on the impacts of permanganate addition to suspensions of toxin-producing Microcystis aeruginosa, followed by powdered activated carbon addition.

Register for the webinar here

USGS Finds Unconventional Oil and Gas Production Not Currently Affecting Drinking Water Quality in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas

A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows that unconventional oil and gas production in some areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas is not currently a significant source of methane or benzene to drinking water wells. These production areas include the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville shale formations, which are some of the largest sources of natural gas in the country and have trillions of cubic feet of gas.

This is the first study in these areas to systematically determine the presence of benzene and methane in drinking water wells near unconventional oil and gas production areas in relation to the age of the groundwater.  Age-dating indicates groundwater in wells is often several thousand years old suggesting decades or longer may be needed to fully assess the effects of unconventional oil and gas production on the quality of groundwater used for drinking water.  For more information, see the USGS Technical Announcement.

Don’t Forget to Register for June 6th SWC Learning Exchange Webinar

Date:  Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Time:  2:00pm – 3:00pm (eastern)

Registration Link

The Source Water Collaborative (SWC) will host a webinar entitled, “Linking Source Water Protection and Emergency Preparedness and Response.”  The webinar is part of the SWC’s Learning Exchange that includes a series of webinars such as this one, along with available resources, case studies, stories, and social media messages on a variety of source water protection related topics. This webinar will leverage the case study from the spill on the Potomac River (in Virginia) in November 2016 to provide recommendations for a variety of participants including water utilities, and federal, state, and local governments.

During the webinar, Alan Roberson (Source Water Collaborative Steering Committee Co-Chair and Executive Director of ASDWA) will provide some opening remarks, and Greg Prelewicz (Fairfax Water) and Steve Beiber (MWCOG) will provide a presentation about the Potomac River spill incident and lessons learned, and answer audience questions.  Participants will learn:

• How to link source water protection and emergency preparedness and response
• What worked and what didn’t work during/after the spill
• How lessons learned can improve planning for emergency preparedness and response

For more information about the webinar, see the attached handout.  And stay tuned…new materials and resources on this topic will be posted on the SWC Learning Exchange web page in the near future.