[Watersheds] FW: EPA's Nonpoint Source News-Notes Issue #101 Now Available

[Panciera, Ernie (DEM)]

EPA's Nonpoint Source News-Notes, Issue #101 (May 2017)


NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017> is now online. EPA's NPS News-Notes newsletter explores new and innovative programs, tools and resources available to help you manage polluted runoff.  The newsletter's cover page includes links to each section, article and announcement listed below. Previous issues may be downloaded from the Nonpoint Source News-Notes website<http://www.epa.gov/newsnotes>.

ISSUE #101 SNAPSHOT (see next section for article excerpts):

** NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL SCENE
  (1) Report Highlights Role and Achievements of Nonpoint Source Program
  (2) Opportunities Increase for Using Clean Water State Revolving Funds for Nonpoint Source Projects
  (3) Salt Levels in North American Lakes Are Rising
  (4) Federal Partners' Strategy Supports Mississippi Basin States

** NOTES FROM THE STATES, TRIBES AND LOCALITIES
  (5) Farm and Forest Easement Fund Expands Protections for New York City's Drinking Water
  (6) Reclamation Activities Boost Expanding Improvements in Tennessee Watershed

** NOTES ON AGRICULTURE
  (7) Booklet Shares Strategies to Reduce Nitrogen Loads from Drained Cropland
  (8) Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Helps Target Conservation Practices
  (9) New Apps Provide Soil, Land and Climate Data

** NOTES ON EDUCATION
  (10) Environmental Film Festivals: Sharing Messages, Offering Insight
  (11) Webinars Help Water Quality Professionals Understand Watershed Models

** REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
** RECENT AND RELEVANT PERIODICAL ARTICLES
** WEBSITES WORTH A BOOKMARK
-------------------------------------------------------------

IN THIS ISSUE:
===================================================
** NOTES ON THE NATIONAL SCENE
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017>.

(1) Report Highlights Role and Achievements of Nonpoint Source Program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) October 2016 report, National Nonpoint Source Program-a catalyst for water quality improvements, offers the first-ever overview of nonpoint source pollution control work occurring nationwide and highlights some of the dedicated people behind it. The report introduces the Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Program and grant program established through section 319 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The authors compiled data from more than 300 Success Stories and more than 2,000 projects from CWA section 319 grants issued in 2008-2013. Using these data, along with other information including impaired waters lists, U.S. and agricultural census data, and the National Land Cover Database, EPA developed helpful statistics and graphics for reference and use by anyone interested in NPS issues...

(2) Opportunities Increase for Using Clean Water State Revolving Funds for Nonpoint Source
Projects
Over the years, a number of states have taken advantage of their authority to apply Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) to help implement their nonpoint source (NPS) management programs. And opportunities to leverage these funds to address NPS needs are growing in several important ways, thanks to an increased focus on these funds, as well as changes to the CWSRF ushered in by a 2014 law... Given the potential for CWSRF to help address NPS problems in even greater ways, it's important to understand that a central characteristic of the CWSRF program is that each of the 50 states and Puerto Rico have latitude to tailor their specific programs to suit their own priorities. This customization has translated into great diversity in the way states have applied these funds to address their NPS needs...

(3) Salt Levels in North American Lakes Are Rising
North America's freshwater lakes are growing saltier as a consequence of development and exposure to road salt. The results of a study of 371 lakes (Salting Our Freshwater Lakes) published in the April 4, 2017, edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicate that many Midwestern and Northeastern lakes are experiencing increasing chloride trends, with approximately 44 percent of lakes sampled in these regions undergoing long-term salinization...

(4) Federal Partners' Strategy Supports Mississippi Basin States
Partnerships working to improve water quality in the Gulf of Mexico remain strong. In December 2016, the federal members of the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force, known more informally as the Hypoxia Task Force (HTF), released Looking Forward: The Strategy of the Federal Members of the Hypoxia Task Force, an update to their federal strategy from 2013. This updated strategy shows that the states and federal agencies that comprise the HTF continue to work collaboratively to implement the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008. Since the release of the 2008 plan, each HTF state (i.e., Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin) has developed a nutrient reduction strategy through stakeholder participation that serves as a road map for implementing nutrient reductions in its state. These state strategies serve as the cornerstone for reaching the HTF goals to reduce nutrient loads delivered to the northern Gulf of Mexico...

===================================================
** NOTES FROM THE STATES, TRIBES AND LOCALITIES
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of the articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017>.

(5) Farm and Forest Easement Fund Expands Protections for New York City's Drinking Water
Protecting source water pays off. New York City's (NYC's) program designed to safeguard the health of watersheds that provide its drinking water is nationally known, both for its wide-reaching efforts to prevent pollution and for saving urban ratepayers billions of dollars in water treatment costs. After all, it's cheaper to keep clean water clean than it is to treat water once it's contaminated. Now, the partnership between NYC's nine million drinking water customers and rural farmers and landowners is expanding. A recently announced stewardship endowment fund financed by the city through its drinking water utility is providing $43 million to safeguard agricultural and forestry easements through ongoing inspection and monitoring activities...

(6) Reclamation Activities Boost Expanding Improvements in Tennessee Watershed
Restoring a watershed is rarely a quick endeavor-it requires long-term planning, dedicated stakeholder participation, widespread best management practice (BMP) implementation, and integration of multiple pollution control programs. Even then, anticipated water quality and ecosystem improvements might be delayed by weather events, the introduction of new pollution sources, and a host of other factors. Fortunately, persistence has paid off for Tennessee. Every year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Nonpoint Source Success stories website features approximately 50 new stories about waters across the nation where water quality has been restored, thanks to the efforts of local, state and federal partners. In Tennessee's Crab Orchard Creek watershed, long-term water quality improvement efforts are being rewarded with a steadily expanding area of restored waters, beginning at the mouth of the watershed and moving upward...

===================================================
** NOTES ON AGRICULTURE
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of the articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017>.

(7) Booklet Shares Strategies to Reduce Nitrogen Loads from Drained Cropland
Farmers care about water quality. And now a coalition of six major university extension offices from America's heartland have teamed up with an agricultural association to produce a new booklet to highlight best practices to curb nitrogen from croplands with tile drainfields. The new booklet, Ten Ways to Reduce Nitrogen Loads from Drained Cropland in the Midwest, provides information to help these farmers choose how to best protect their local and regional waterways from nitrate pollution. The 44-page booklet focuses on 10 key ways that farms with drainage systems can be managed to reduce nitrogen loads while maintaining high agricultural productivity. Although developed for Midwest farms, the booklet includes valuable information applicable to any tile-drained farmland...

(8) Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Helps Target Conservation Practices
Using a new set of geographic information system (GIS)-based software tools, farmers and watershed managers in the Midwest are applying precision conservation concepts on agricultural lands. Developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's-Agricultural Research Service, the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Toolbox is designed to help farmers identify where different types of conservation practices could be placed to reduce, trap and treat water flows, thereby improving water quality...

(9) New Apps Provide Soil, Land and Climate Data
Knowledge of their local soils and climate is critical for farmers to match best farming practices to specific soil types-a harsh lesson learned in the last century from the U.S. Dust Bowl experience. During the 1930s, farmers in the U.S. Southern Plains applied farming methods that were mismatched with the region's dryland conditions. The practices loosened the region's drought-ridden dryland, exposing soil to severe wind erosion. The dust storms that resulted wreaked havoc for more than a decade. Today, feeding the world's seven billion people while also protecting land and water resources remains a challenge for land managers. Food production based on well-matched farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, and animal welfare is the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture. A team led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service soil scientist Jeffrey Herrick has developed an innovative cloud computing platform and suite of mobile apps to give farmers and land managers information they need...

===================================================
** NOTES ON EDUCATION
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of the articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017>.

(10) Environmental Film Festivals: Sharing Messages, Offering Insight
Film festivals are fun-they showcase new movies by talented filmmakers and bring communities together. These days, more film festivals are popping up that are dedicated solely to environmental films made by independent producers. Viewers can attend screenings of short and feature-length films about nature, adventure, wildlife, environmental justice, ecology, and conservation. Many of these touch on nonpoint source pollution and water quality protection issues...

(11) Webinars Help Water Quality Professionals Understand Watershed Models
Want to know more about watershed models? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formed the Water Quality Modeling Workgroup in 2013 to facilitate collaboration among EPA and state employees who are using water quality models for Clean Water Act implementation purposes (e.g., total maximum daily loads, water quality standards). The workgroup steering committee offers a series of two-hour webinars to help water quality professionals better understand how models operate and can be used to solve problems facing water quality professionals...

================================
**REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
================================
The following is a list of topics. For the full descriptions, see NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017>.

Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution
-- Innovative Conservation Grants Protect Water Quality in Diverse Communities
-- Midwest Row Crop Collaborative Announced
-- Website Highlights Farmer Heroes

Data Resources
-- Web-based Water Quantity and Quality Modeling System Available
-- Web Portal to Help Communities Prepare for Weather Resilience

Green Stormwater Infrastructure
-- EPA Announces Winners of 2016 Campus RainWorks Challenge
-- EPA Launches Guide for Long-Term Stormwater Planning
-- Publication Addresses Using Green Infrastructure to Increase Resiliency
-- Report Highlights Groundwater Recharge Benefits of Green Infrastructure

Watershed Management
-- EPA's National Lakes Assessment Finds Nutrient Pollution is Widespread in Lakes
-- Report Links Leaf Litter to Phosphorus in Stormwater
-- Report Reviews Removal of Obsolete Dams
-- Updated SECURE Water Act Report Available
-- Urban Waters Receives EPA Funding for Revitalization
-- Urban Waters Voices Video Series Highlights Successes

Other
-- EPA Finalizes Rule on Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems
-- Final 2017 Construction General Permit Issued
-- Gulf Shrimp Prices Reveal Hidden Economic Impact of Hypoxic Waters
-- Survey Reveals Public Perceptions of Water Quality in Iowa
-- USGS Field Method is a Breakthrough for Contaminant Analysis in Water

============================================
**RECENT AND RELEVANT PERIODICAL ARTICLES
============================================
The following is a list of articles. For the full descriptions, see NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017>.

-- Financing Integrated Green Stormwater Infrastructure to Improve Community Health, Resiliency
-- Rain as a resource: St. Paul innovates shared, sustainable stormwater management

=================================
** WEBSITES WORTH A BOOKMARK
=================================
The following is a list of websites. For the full descriptions, see NPS News-Notes Issue #101<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-news-notes-issue-101-may-2017>.

-- Low Impact Development Center<http://lowimpactdevelopment.org/>
-- Microplastics in our Nation's Waterways<https://owi.usgs.gov/vizlab/microplastics/>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Nonpoint Source News-Notes is available in PDF format at www.epa.gov/newsnotes<http://www.epa.gov/newsnotes>. To receive notification when a new issue is posted on the Web, join the NPS News-Notes notification electronic mailing list. Send an e-mail message to lyris at lists.epa.gov<mailto:lyris at lists.epa.gov>. Include the following message in the subject line or the body of the message: "subscribe news-notes [your name]"

If you have questions, or wish to contribute an article or idea for an upcoming issue of NPS News-Notes, please contact waye.don <at> epa.gov.

Don Waye
U.S. EPA - Nonpoint Source Control Branch
Phone: 202-566-1170



------------------------------------------

You are currently subscribed to NEWS-NOTES as: ernie.panciera at dem.ri.gov<mailto:ernie.panciera at dem.ri.gov>



To unsubscribe, send a blank email to news-notes-unsubscribe at lists.epa.gov<mailto:news-notes-unsubscribe at lists.epa.gov>

OR:

Use the listserver's web interface at https://lists.epa.gov/read/login/?go=https://lists.epa.gov/read/?forum%3Dnews-notes to manage your

subscription.



For problems with this list, contact news-notes-owner at lists.epa.gov<mailto:news-notes-owner at lists.epa.gov>

------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://listserve.ri.gov/pipermail/watersheds/attachments/20170518/9b51b3a7/attachment-0001.html