News Highlights

The Source Water Collaborative recently announced a new online toolkit to facilitate partnerships to protect drinking water sources through agriculture conservation practices, stormwater and forest management.

The toolkit offers effective steps source water protection professionals working at the local or state level can take to build partnerships with conservation district staff. The toolkit is designed for a variety of audiences – from those who have never worked with their conservation district, to those who have attempted but without success, to those who would like to enhance their current efforts. Click here to link to the online toolkit. Email us if you’d like to receive promotional materials (2-page handout and PowerPoint) to help disseminate the toolkit.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an expanded partnership to implement and coordinate policies and programs that encourage water quality trading and other market-based approaches that provide benefits to the environment and economy. The Department and the Agency will identify opportunities to work collaboratively to help improve water quality trading programs across the country. For more details, click here to read the news release.

Through its Urban Waters Small Grants, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expects to award $1.6 million in federal funding to projects that aim to protect and restore urban waters, which may include source water protection efforts. Grants range in value from $40,000 to $60,000 and will be administered to projects taking place in 18 geographic areas corresponding with the Urban Waters Federal Partnership locations. Applicants with source water protection projects will need to ensure their efforts meet the basic eligibility requirements of the solicitation. Click here to learn more at EPA’s Urban Waters Small Grants webpage.

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking qualified candidates to be considered for a three-year appointment to the National Drinking Water Advisory Council through December 15, 2016. The 15-member council advises the EPA Administrator on activities, functions, policies, and regulations required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. Nominations should be submitted to EPA’s Roy Simon, Designated Federal Officer for the National Drinking Water Advisory Council, at Simon.Roy@epa.gov with the subject line “NDWACResume2013.” Click here for the Federal Register notice.

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) has entered into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. EPA to provide private well owners with the resources they need to reduce the risks to their drinking water supplies.

This EPA-funded cooperative will open a new hotline, publish a monthly tip sheet (click here to sign up now), and produce webinars, among other training and assistance tools. NGWA will promote this training and technical assistance with a public awareness campaign through its website at wellowner.org.

The NGWA toll-free hotline is available now at 855-420-9355 (855-H20-Well). For more information about resources available to well owners, contact NGWA Public Awareness Director Cliff Treyens at ctreyens@ngwa.org or 614-898-7791, ext. 554.

The National Association of State Foresters and the U.S. Forest Service are seeking demonstration project proposals specifically designed to highlight how flexible funding invested in forestry activities across State and Private Forestry (SPF) programs can make a cost effective difference on-the-ground with regard to water quality. Up to six projects totaling $500,000 may be selected for funding. Submitters of successful pre-proposals will be invited to submit a full proposal. See the attached memorandum for full details. Please note: All proposals are to be sent in by your state forestry agency.

Abstracts are now being accepted for The Groundwater Foundation’s 2013 National Conference being held October 15-17, 2013 in Howey-in-the-Hills (Orlando), Florida. The abstract submission deadline is June 14th. Presenters will be selected and notified in early July.

Details about the conference are available here. Please consider sharing this information with others who may wish to present or exhibit.

Presentation formats include 25-minute classroom presentations, plenary speakers, field trip presentations, workshops and poster sessions. Presentation topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Community involvement/participation in water issues
• Climate change and extreme weather’s impacts on groundwater (i.e. drought, floods, etc.
• Population growth/urban sprawl impact
• Public education – challenges and solutions
• Groundwater sustainability strategies (management strategies)
• Social, economic, and environmental interactions
• Funding for groundwater sustainability
• Conjunctive use (engineered solutions, planned or artificial)
• Challenges/solutions to sustainable groundwater management
• Emerging issues (i.e. fracking, nanotechnology, flood capture and recharge, energy/water nexus, carbon sequestration, etc.)
• Wellhead protection’s role in groundwater sustainability
• Groundwater/surface water interactions
• Agriculture and water quality

You are invited to join state, Federal, and local water professionals who will gather at ASDWA’s 28th Annual Conference to tackle the many challenges facing the water community. By contributing your knowledge and vision to the conference’s program you can help ASDWA achieve their goal of protecting public health as they face an array of 21st century challenges. ASDWA solicits both oral presentations and exhibitors of products and services that are invaluable in helping us achieve our collective goals. Deadline for abstracts is June 14th and the deadline for exhibitor applications is August 30th. Click here for detailed information.

ASDWA is the professional Association supporting state drinking water programs in their efforts to protect public health and implement the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Their members are the 50 states, territories, the Navajo Nation, and the District of Columbia.

Click to download online article: From the Des Moines Register – Online
Des Moines Water Works turned on the world’s largest nitrate-removal facility Friday for the first time since 2007 after levels of health-threatening nitrates hit records in both the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, two main drinking-water sources.

Bill Stowe, the utility’s general manager, said the process will keep nitrates at safe levels in tap water, but he is concerned about the rising costs and difficulty of treating water as nitrate levels climb.

The $4 million nitrate-removal plant, installed in 1992, costs about $7,000 a day to run. So far, the utility is using four of the eight treatment cells where nitrates are stripped from the water. The Environmental Protection Agency had ordered Des Moines to act to remove nitrates after the contaminant exceeded the federal limit in tap water during the early 1990s.

The predicament shows that voluntary conservation efforts on farms aren’t working and do not bode well for the future of the area’s water supply, Stowe said. He added that nitrates, which also occur naturally, primarily come from crop fertilizer. Better field drainage systems have worsened the situation.

Typically, when nitrates rise in the Raccoon River, the Des Moines River remains well within drinking standards. The utility then dilutes the pollution from the Raccoon water with that drawn from the Des Moines.

This time, they are both at record highs — a troubling oddity, Stowe said.

”We are off our playing field,” he said. “We haven’t seen this before.”

Untreated high levels of nitrates in drinking water have been linked to blue baby syndrome, as well as to various cancers and miscarriages. The federal limit is 10 milligrams per liter nitrate in drinking water; both rivers have posted readings in the range of 20 milligrams per liter.

The Raccoon River hit 24 milligrams per liter this week; the previous record was 22. The Des Moines was just under 18; the record was 14.2.

Stowe said some U.S. Geological Survey gauges couldn’t measure the concentrations because they exceeded the meter’s range.

With decades’ worth of data suggesting nitrates are rising in Midwestern rivers, Stowe hopes the situation doesn’t worsen.

Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said the fact that Water Works didn’t need the removal system for the past six years shows that nitrates have been at manageable levels. He added that nitrates left over from last year, when a smaller than usual corn crop didn’t use as much nitrogen, and the record April rains could have caused a temporary spike.

Northey said strategy now focuses more on reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels than past efforts, which were targeted mostly on soil conservation.

Laurie Johns, spokeswoman for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, said regulations wouldn’t work because farm conditions vary and are best addressed by farmers’ voluntary efforts. No regulation can control record rain, she added.

”With such wild weather swings and 95 percent of Iowa’s land comprised of farmland, there’s not one regulation that would have prevented the current spike in nitrates, short of outlawing crop production in Iowa,” Johns said.

Deborah Neustadt, chairwoman of the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, said farmers should be required to have nutrient-management plans featuring specific practices meant to curb runoff. That way, they could be held accountable for pollution from their operations.

“Why does the rate-payer have to pay for actions of farmers?” Neustadt asked.

Susan Heathcote, water program director of the Iowa Environmental Council, took a similar view. “Local pollution-reduction goals are critical to motivating Iowa farmers and landowners to make the significant changes necessary to ensure clean water,” she said.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide $35 million in financial assistance to farmers and ranchers to implement conservation systems to improve water quality in 165 small watersheds through its 2013 National Water Quality Initiative.

Please share this news with your networks so they can consult with their 319 coordinators, reach out to state conservationists or county NRCS service center, or coordinate with their local conservation districts to act on this immediate opportunity.

Applications for funding consideration during fiscal year 2013 must be received by Friday, July 12, 2013, and eligible projects may work to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and pathogen contributions from agricultural land. Please note that although the deadline mentions July, we have learned that some states seem to have deadlines in May. Drinking water is mentioned in the announcement as follows, “Communities benefit by having clean waterways, safer drinking water and healthy habitat for fish and wildlife.”

A list of the watersheds is available here. Click here to learn more about the NRCS 2013 National Water Quality Initiative announcement.