National RCAP Blog
Happy birthday, USDA!
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2012 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today marked the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and highlighted the positive impact that USDA has on the life of Americans each day.
Chicago Tribune: Loyola to ban sale of bottled water on campus
A May 8 article in the Chicago Tribune reports:
"Loyola University Chicago began encouraging students to drink tap water by giving all freshmen reusable bottles last fall and installing more refill stations around campus throughout this past year.
Now it's planning to ban the sale of bottled water altogether.
Starting next fall, the university will stop selling bottled water in its cafeterias and retail locations. Then in 2013, bottled water will be removed from campus vending machines."
EPA updates online water-quality standards guidance
EPA has updated the online version of its water-quality standards handbook to make it more user-friendly and improve transparency by providing links to EPA’s most recent policy documents. The handbook is a compilation of EPA's guidance on the water-quality standards program and provides direction for states, territories and authorized tribes in reviewing, revising and implementing water-quality standards.
EPA promotes safer alternatives to nonylphenol ethoxylates
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released the final report on alternatives to nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) through the Design for the Environment (DfE) Alternatives Assessment Program. NPEs are widely used surfactants with a range of industrial applications and are commonly found in consumer products, such as laundry detergents. When released into the environment, they can be persistent and highly toxic to aquatic organisms. The report identifies eight safer alternatives to NPE that meet EPA’s criteria for safer surfactants.
Webinar on using EPA's energy-use assessment tool for water and wastewater systems
Join us to learn the steps in performing an energy-use assessment at small- to medium-sized water or wastewater systems.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
1:30-3:30pm ET
Register
What have we heard?
Providing safe drinking water and clean water is an energy-intensive activity. Many drinking water and wastewater utilities are recognizing the importance of reducing energy consumption as a means to reduce their operational costs.
EPA Celebrates Drinking Water Week
The week of May 6 to 12 marks the celebration of Drinking Water Week, a time when EPA and its partners celebrate our nation’s vital drinking water resources. Safe drinking water relies on all of us. We must do our part to be informed and involved in our communities to protect our drinking water. EPA has developed a website with more information on what you can do around your home and within your community to protect your drinking water, ways to become involved in matters affecting the quality of your drinking water, and much more.
Webcast series for water and wastewater utilities
EPA has scheduled the first in a series of webcasts built around the core elements of its February 2012 handbook, “Planning for Sustainability: A Handbook for Water and Wastewater Utilities.” Effective planning is essential for utilities to sustainably manage their operations and ensure that water infrastructure investments are cost-effective over their life-cycle, resource-efficient, and support other relevant community sustainability goals.
Register for webcast on “USDA’s NIFA-CEAP Watershed Synthesis: Lessons Learned”
Join EPA for a free Watershed Academy Webcast titled "USDA’s NIFA-CEAP Watershed Synthesis: Lessons Learned” on May 15, 2012, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Principles for an Energy/Water Future document available
EPA has drafted Principles for an Energy Water Future. EPA encourages all stakeholders – including government, utilities, private companies and ratepayers – to consider these principles and incorporate them into their work.
EPA releases draft permitting guidance for using diesel fuel in oil and gas hydraulic fracturing
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released on May 4 draft underground injection control (UIC) program permitting guidance for class II wells that use diesel fuels during hydraulic fracturing activities.
ProPublica: New study predicts frack fluids can migrate to aquifers within years
by Abrahm Lustgarten ProPublica, May 1, 2012, 4:29 p.m.
A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, concluding that fracking chemicals injected into the ground could migrate toward drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously predicted.
EPA to work with drinking water systems to monitor unregulated contaminants
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published on May 1 a list of 28 chemicals and two viruses that approximately 6,000 public water systems will monitor from 2013 to 2015 as part of the agency’s unregulated contaminant monitoring program, which collects data for contaminants suspected to be present in drinking water but that do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
EPA Celebrates American Wetlands Month
May marks the 21st anniversary of American Wetlands Month, a time when EPA and its wetland partners across the country celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to our nation's ecological, economic, and social health. EPA and a host of other public and private partners are planning a number of events as part of this year’s celebration:
ABC News profiles Colonias
ABC News, as part of its "Hidden America" series, produced a story on the Colonias in late April.
An ABC correspondent visited some of these communities in Texas along the Mexican border. The story desribes these communities as a "no-man's land" and "forgotten." These very poor communities that often have no services and where people live in make-shift homes are among the small, often unincorporated communities that RCAP works in.
RCAP Executive Director testifies on Capitol Hill
RCAP Executive Director Robert Stewart testified April 25 before the House Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee of the Agriculture Committee. The subcommittee hosted the first in a series of hearings on the upcoming Farm Bill reauthorization. There were two panels focusing on the programs in the Rural Development Title.
Two new training webinars on EPA's abletop Exercise Tool for Water Systems
EPA has uploaded two training webinars on the Tabletop Exercise Tool for Water Systems: Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Climate Resiliency (TTX Tool) to EPA’s website ). The TTX Tool assists in planning, designing, conducting, and evaluating a tabletop exercise on 15 all-hazards scenarios.
Webinar on how to get the most out of a great website for operators
Webinar on Tuesday, May 15 at 2 p.m. EDT to showcase SmallWaterSupply.org, a place with free online resources and support for water and wastewater operators.
In this webinar, SmallWaterSupply.org project manager Steve Wilson will show you how to use the website to help you get the most out of Internet resources. This will not be a simple tour of the site, but instead will share specific examples of how to use SmallWaterSupply.org to make your job a little easier.
EPA to hold infrastructure operation, maintenance, and management training for tribal water and wastewater operators and leaders
Location: Oklahoma City, Okla., and Albuquerque, N.M.
DEA National Pharmaceutical Take-Back Day: April 28
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with support from EPA, is sponsoring the National Pharmaceutical Take-Back Day on April 28. DEA looks to build upon the success of its first three events, which collected a total of 498 tons of household medications nationwide. These nationwide events provide a unified opportunity for the public to turn in expired, unwanted or unused prescription drugs and other medications to law enforcement officers for safe disposal.
Obama administration announces new partnership on Unconventional Natural Gas and Oil Research
WASHINGTON – Three federal agencies announced April 13 a formal partnership to coordinate and align all research associated with development of our nation’s abundant unconventional natural gas and oil resources. The partnership exemplifies the cross-government coordination required under President Obama’s executive order released earlier that day, which created a new Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources.
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