News Highlights

Administrator Gina McCarthy’s remarks from the December 9th Celebratory Event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC mention the SWC and its new Call to Action. “EPA continues to coordinate efforts to protect America’s drinking water at the source and to address new and legacy challenges. We convene the Source Water Collaborative, a partnership of 25 organizations united to protect drinking water sources. (…) That’s why the organizations here are launching a call to action—asking utilities, states, federal agencies, and local governments to step up to protect source water. I encourage all of us to act. Utilities can partner with landowners and businesses, and make sure they have plans in place with emergency responders. Local governments can help with land use planning to protect water where it counts most. States can help update source water assessments and act on them to address the greatest threats to their drinking water. And federal agencies can work better together.”

Administrator McCarthy’s prepared remarks are available here. The final video of the 40th anniversary of the SDWA is now available on the ASDWA 40^th anniversary website.

The SWC is encouraging all members to help promote this Call to Action, which is now available on the SWC home page. The SWC’s full promotion of the Call to Action is planned for early 2015. The full promotion will also feature a companion document that includes informational resources and tools for SWC organizations and their members to facilitate the proposed actions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for a three-year appointment to the NDWAC. The 15-member Council was established by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to provide practical and independent advice, consultation and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the activities, functions, policies and regulations required by the SDWA. This Federal Register notice solicits nominations to fill six new vacancies from December 2014 through December 2017. Please review the Federal Register notice for details on submissions.

On May 27, 2014, USDA Secretary Vilsack announced a unique new conservation initiative that is intended to give “private companies, local communities, and other non-government partners a way to invest in what are essentially clean water start-up operations.” “Eligible partners include private companies, universities, non-profit organizations, local and tribal governments and others joining with agricultural and conservation organizations and producers to invest money, manpower and materials to their proposed initiatives.” States and water and wastewater utilities are included in the list of eligible applicants. Anticipated first year USDA funding is nearly $400M. Pre-proposals are due July 14. USDA will select applicants to submit final proposals, due September. 26, 2014. See details here.

Note: NRCS is offering question-and-answer sessions on the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) both online and in person.

Online Sessions:

• June 9 (Monday) at 2 p.m. EST; and
• June 18 (Wednesday) at 11 a.m. EST

Each webinar will last one hour. Click here for log-in instructions for the RCPP webinar.

In-person Session: June 6 (Friday) at 11 a.m. EST. The session will be held in Jamie L. Whitten Building in Room 107-A. If you have questions or to RSVP, contact NRCS.

The Forest Service’s proposed changes to internal Agency directives for Watershed and Air Management will include groundwater resources on National Forest System (NFS) lands as an integral component of watershed management. Key points:

THE PROPOSED DIRECTIVE WILL

• Provide for consideration of groundwater resources in agency activities.
• Encourage source water protection and water conservation.
• Establish procedures for reviewing new proposals for groundwater withdrawals on NFS land.
• Require the evaluation of potential impacts from groundwater withdrawals on NFS natural resources.
• Provide for measurement and reporting to help build our understanding of groundwater resources on NFS land.

THE PROPOSED DIRECTIVE WILL NOT

• Affect procedures or impose any new conditions on state-issued water rights.
• Affect existing or future tribal water rights settlements or water compacts.
• Impose any new regulations or requirements on locatable, leasable, geothermal, or mineral material operations.
• Change the way state water quality regulations or tribal water quality standards are promulgated or administered.
• Give the Forest Service any new authorities.

Opportunity for Public Comment

The Forest Service welcomes public comment within 90 days from the date of publication of the notice in the Federal Register (published May 6, 2014). Comments must be received electronically. Electronic comments may be submitted by following the instructions at regulations.gov or via email to fsm2500@fs.fed.us.

May 20, 2014 Webinar: USDA Forest Service Proposed Groundwater Management Directives

The Forest Service will host a national webinar at 1 p.m. EST May 20 to discuss the components of the proposed policy to manage groundwater resources on the country’s national forests and grasslands. Forest Service leaders and technical specialists will provide an overview on groundwater issues and information on the intent of the agency’s directives.

You can register for the webinar at:
https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8002989786/Registration.aspx?PageName=lw1z0hnb0l12bd70

See links below for more details:

http://www.fs.fed.us/geology/groundwater.html

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/2014/releases/05/water-resources.shtml

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/05/06/2014-10366/proposed-directive-on-groundwater-resource-management-forest-service-manual-2560#h-27

SWC members are encouraged to submit an abstract for ASDWA’s 2014 Annual Conference, to be held October 20-23, 2014 in Albuquerque, NM.  Approximately 250 participants are expected to attend.  Presentation Themes may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Source water protection and sustainability of water supplies
• Climate change, water and energy efficiency, and conservation
• Clean Water Act/SDWA connections, nutrient pollution, and Harmful Algal Blooms
• 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 initiativesData management
• Emerging drinking water treatment technologies and optimization of current technologies
• Distribution system issues
• Emerging contaminants in drinking water, both chemical and microbial
• Drinking water research
• Risk assessment, risk communication and consumer outreach
• Implementation of regulations – challenges and successes

Please note: priority will be given to submissions 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, title, affiliation, and contact information for the speaker to Deirdre Mason of ASDWA at dmason@asdwa.org by June 16, 2014.

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture released the 2014 Request for Applications for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. Applications are due June 12.

Organizations can apply for grants to provide education, training, technical assistance and outreach for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and managers of non-industrial private forest land. Priority will be given to projects that are partnerships and collaborations led by or including non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, and school-based agricultural educational organizations with expertise in new agricultural producer training and outreach. Approximately $19.2 million is available for 2014 awards.

NIFA is hosting two webinars for interested applicants, on April 30 and May 6 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

ASDWA and GWPC will conduct a webinar to showcase the new Source Water Collaborative Toolkit and share state source water program experiences from Minnesota and Nebraska in developing relationships and working with their conservation district partners. Please encourage your colleagues to participate. This webinar is ideal for state drinking water, ground water, clean water, and agriculture programs, EPA Regions, and other interested stakeholders.

The free webinar is scheduled for Thursday, April 3rd 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT. Find information about the presenters and register for the webinar here.

Conservation Partners will fund organizations to partner with NRCS field offices to deliver technical assistance for high priority conservation objectives. The full news release with details on the RFP is available here. A webinar for applicants will be available on March 6, 2014, from 2:30-3:30 PM, EST. An overview of the program priorities, application process and question and answer period will be offered. Please register here.

Conservation Partners is a collaborative effort between USDA’s NRCS, NWFW and other regional/initiative-specific partners. The purpose of the partnership is to provide grants on a competitive basis to increase technical assistance capacity to implement three programs: NRCS’s Landscape Conservation Initiatives, NFWF’s Keystone Initiatives, and the NRCS-U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnership – Working Lands for Wildlife.

Eligible applicants include: non-profit 501(c) organizations, farmer and commodity-led organizations, educational institutions, tribal governments, and state or local units of governments (e.g. state agricultural and/or conservation agencies, counties, townships, cities, conservation districts, utility districts, drainage districts, etc.). Individuals, federal government agencies and for-profit entities are NOT eligible for grants under this program.

The new NRCS–Forest Service partnership – the Chiefs’ Joint Landscape Restoration Partnership – will invest over $30 million in financial and technical assistance. The 13 projects announced in 12 states focus on wildfire mitigation/risk reduction, wildlife habitat, and protection of water quality/supply. Drinking water source protection is mentioned for 4 states (MN, MT, NH, WVA), but many of the projects may also have source protection benefits. The news release provides more details and is available on the USDA website. The agencies are reviewing additional sites for future collaboration and will continue to capitalize on NRCS and Forest Service overlying priorities and programs.

NRCS is offering a funding opportunity to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies, while leveraging the Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection in conjunction with agricultural production. The funding opportunity is now available. The application period will close on March 7, 2014. A webinar for potential applicants will be hosted on Thursday, February 13th at 1 pm EST. Details about this announcement and how to register for the webinar are available at the NRCS website.