[Watersheds] EPA’s Nonpoint Source News-Notes, Issue #102 (March 2018) - Final Issue

Tue Mar 27 09:44:24 EDT 2018

From: Waye, Don [mailto:Waye.Don at epa.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 11:39 AM
To: Distribution of the publication Nonpoint Source News-Notes <news-notes at lists.epa.gov<mailto:news-notes at lists.epa.gov>>
Subject: [news-notes] EPA’s Nonpoint Source News-Notes, Issue #102 (March 2018) - Final Issue

EPA’s Nonpoint Source News-Notes, Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf> (March 2018)
**FINAL ISSUE**

After 102 issues and 29 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is ceasing publication of Nonpoint Source News-Notes. This is the final issue. News‑Notes has always been about you, our readers. Your dedicated and creative water quality protection efforts across our country have constantly amazed and inspired us. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of it.

Sincerely,
  Don Waye (EPA) and Kary Phillips (Tetra Tech, Inc.)
  Co-editors, NPS News-Notes

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NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf> 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 #102 SNAPSHOT (see next section for article excerpts):

** COVER
  (1) Farewell to Nonpoint Source News-Notes

** NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL SCENE
  (2) Green Infrastructure in Parks: Encouraging Community-Based Partnerships
  (3) Clearinghouse Helps Communities Finance Water Projects
  (4) Report Outlines Tools to Protect Aquatic Life from Hydrologic Alteration

** SPECIAL FOCUS: NUTRIENT POLLUTION AND ALGAL BLOOMS
  (5) Summer 2017 Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone Was Largest in Recorded History
  (6) Collaborative Nutrient Reduction Efforts Target Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia
  (7) Federal Resources Help Protect People and Wildlife from Harmful Algal Blooms

** NOTES FROM THE STATES, TRIBES AND LOCALITIES
  (8) Kentucky Stockyard Limits Stormwater Runoff and Promotes Water Reuse

** SOFTWARE SPOTLIGHT
  (9) National Stormwater Calculator Expands and Goes Mobile

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

** BACK PAGE
(10) Hal Wise’s Legacy Lives On
(11) Thank You to Our Entire News-Notes Team!
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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** NOTES ON THE NATIONAL SCENE
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf>.

(1) Farewell to Nonpoint Source News-Notes
It’s a bittersweet moment. After 102 issues and 29 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will cease publication of Nonpoint Source News-Notes. This is the final issue, although the archived issues will remain available on EPA’s News-Notes. We dedicate Issue #102 to Harold (Hal) Wise 1917–1994), who founded News-Notes in 1989…

(2) Green Infrastructure in Parks: Encouraging Community-Based Partnerships
Public park land and other green spaces serve their surrounding communities in many ways—providing recreational outlets, offering peaceful places for respite and reflection, preserving the environment, and often protecting water quality. To help managers realize their parks’ full potential, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently released Green Infrastructure in Parks: A Guide for Collaboration, Funding, and Community Engagement. The guide is intended to encourage partnerships between park agencies and stormwater agencies to improve park lands, increase access to parks, better manage stormwater, increase community resiliency to changing weather patterns, and provide funding to implement and maintain park enhancements that benefit communities....

(3) Clearinghouse Helps Communities Finance Water Projects
Are you looking to upgrade your community’s water resources infrastructure and make other improvements to protect your local waters? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Finance Center developed the web-based Water Finance Clearinghouse portal (www.epa.gov/wfc<http://www.epa.gov/wfc>) to connect communities with funding sources and financing resources. The Clearinghouse provides communities with searchable databases featuring more than $10 billion in potential water funding sources and more than 600 water finance resources (e.g., reports, tools, case studies) to support local water infrastructure and watershed protection projects.…

(4) Report Outlines Tools to Protect Aquatic Life from Hydrologic Alteration
Do you know the extent to which human activities and unpredictable weather events can harm aquatic life? Do you need suggestions on how to protect your streams from extreme weather events? In December 2016 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey released a joint technical report, Protecting Aquatic Life from Effects of Hydrologic Alteration, to help you with these questions. The authors explain how changes in natural flow systems can harm aquatic ecosystems, and then present example narrative water quality assessment criteria and outline strategies that states, tribes and territories can use to asses and protect waterways.…

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** SPECIAL FOCUS: NUTRIENT POLLUTION AND ALGAL BLOOMS
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf>.

(5) Summer 2017 Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone Was Largest in Recorded History
Scientists have determined that the summer 2017 Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxic zone, sometimes referred to as the “dead zone,” was the largest measurement since mapping of the zone began in 1985. This zone, an area of low-oxygen water (less than 2 ppm) that cannot sustain fish and marine life, covered 8,776 square miles (mi2)—an area roughly equal to the size of New Jersey. Each year, the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers carry enormous loads of wastewater from cities in the American heartland and nutrients lost from millions of acres of farm fields to the northern Gulf of Mexico. These nutrients feed large algal blooms that, in turn, cause a hypoxic (low oxygen or “dead”) zone to form in bottom waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the nutrient losses to the Gulf occur during heavy rains and floods. In very wet years like last year, the hypoxic zone is far larger than its average size....

(6) Collaborative Nutrient Reduction Efforts Target Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia
Higher-than-average spring rainfalls and elevated nutrient loads in early 2017 contributed to a summer 2017 Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone that encompassed the largest area recorded: 8,776 square miles. Despite strong efforts, reducing nutrient loads from a vast landscape, where tens of millions of people live and grow the food that feeds even more, is an extraordinarily large task. The multiagency Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force, established almost two decades ago, collaborates to find and implement solutions to the nutrient enrichment challenges in the Mississippi–Atchafalaya River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico.…

(7) Federal Resources Help Protect People and Wildlife from Harmful Algal Blooms
Did pea-green lakes and rivers appear in your community in 2017? Hot and dry conditions across many areas of the Unites States coincided with elevated nutrient levels in surface waters to create harmful algal blooms (HABs) in waters from California to New Hampshire to Florida. To inform state and local officials and provide them with the tools they need to protect the health of people and wildlife living in their watersheds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other federal agencies offer numerous guidance manuals, news sources, and other resources related to cyanobacteria and HABs. States and communities can access these materials to help protect public health as they prepare for warmer days ahead in 2018. Many states also maintain their own HAB-related web pages.…

===================================================
** NOTES FROM THE STATES, TRIBES AND LOCALITIES
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf>.

(8) Kentucky Stockyard Limits Stormwater Runoff and Promotes Water Reuse
From disaster sometimes comes opportunity. When the 100-year-old Blue Grass Stockyards along the banks of the impaired Town Branch Creek in Lexington, Kentucky, caught fire and burned to the ground in January 2016, it jeopardized the jobs of dozens of people as well as the regional livestock market for thousands of farmers. The massive three-alarm blaze at the seven-acre collection of wooden sheds, barns, and offices spread and also destroyed four neighboring businesses. The stockyard, one of the largest livestock facilities in the eastern United States, was destroyed. After the fire, owners of the stockyard knew they had an unprecedented opportunity to do something different. It was time to start anew—bigger, better and cleaner.…

===================================================
** SOFTWARE SPOTLIGHT
===================================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf>.

(9) National Stormwater Calculator Expands and Goes Mobile
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Stormwater Calculator software application is now better than ever. It was recently expanded to include a cost module and climate scenarios, and is now available as a mobile web application so you can take it with you into the field. Using national databases and user-entered data, the NSWC can be used to estimate the annual amount of rainwater and the frequency of runoff from a specific site, with and without low impact development/green stormwater infrastructure practices in place. It is designed to be used by anyone interested in reducing runoff from a property, including site developers, landscape architects, urban planners and homeowners….

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**REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf>.

Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution
-- Federal Agencies Partner on Animal Agriculture Education Project
-- Report Features Farm Conservation Water Quality Success Stories.

Data Resources
-- Australian Student’s Stormwater Mapping Toolbox Used Worldwide
-- Combining Water Assessment Data from Multiple Sources
-- Phone App Offers Access to National Low Impact Development (LID) Atlas
-- Story Map Highlights Nutrient Pollution and its Solutions

Educational Resources
High School Envirothons Offer Unique Educational Opportunities
Tool Facilitates Engaging Forest Landowners and Fostering Stewardship

Green Stormwater Infrastructure
-- EPA Announces Winners of 2016 Campus RainWorks Challenge
-- Green Infrastructure Training Tools Offered
-- Report Explores Private Financing for Green Infrastructure
-- Report Highlights Economic Markets and Green Stormwater Infrastructure
-- Report Recommends Actions to Integrate Green Infrastructure in NYC

Harmful Algal Blooms
-- Automated Bibliography Features Agriculture-Linked Algal Bloom Research
-- Online Training Introduces Remote Sensing of Harmful Algal Blooms
-- Paper Describes Use of Algal Indicators to Diagnose Nutrient Pollution
-- Researchers Use Genes as Early Warning System for Harmful Algae Blooms
-- Team Creates Warning System for Toxic Algae in Lakes

Hydromodification
-- Map Marks U.S. Dams Removed During the Past Century

Watershed Management
-- Municipalities to “Pay-For-Success” to Meet Clean Water Requirements
-- Report Shows Trading Programs Not Widely Used
-- Watershed Approach Mitigates Stormwater Impacts from Roadways
-- Winter Maintenance Assessment Tool Reduces Salt in Minnesota

Water Monitoring
-- Data Show Pesticides Prevalent in Midwestern Streams
-- National Water Quality Monitoring Council Newsletter Released
-- Stream Selfie Campaign Underway
-- Water Quality Monitoring Fact Sheet Series Available

Other
-- EPA Releases Route to Resilience Tool
-- Tools Provide Compliance Assistance for Construction Stormwater Program

============================================
**RECENT AND RELEVANT PERIODICAL ARTICLES
============================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf>.

-- Eutrophication Will Increase During the 21st Century as a Result of Precipitation Changes
-- Harmful Algal Bloom – Associated Illnesses in Humans and Dogs Identified Through a Pilot Surveillance System — New York, 2015
-- Rare Fish Sheds Light on Improved Water Quality

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** WEBSITES WORTH A BOOKMARK
=================================
The following are excerpts. For the full text of articles, see NPS News-Notes Issue #102<https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-03/documents/102issue.pdf>.

-- Coastal and Waterfront Smart Growth<https://coastalsmartgrowth.noaa.gov/welcome.html>
-- Nonpoint Source Success Stories<https://www.epa.gov/nps/nonpoint-source-success-stories>
-- Polluted Runoff: Nonpoint Source Pollution<https://www.epa.gov/nps>
-- State Progress Toward Developing Numeric Nutrient Water Quality Criteria for Nitrogen and Phosphorus<https://www.epa.gov/nutrient-policy-data/state-progress-toward-developing-numeric-nutrient-water-quality-criteria>
-- Water Quality Changes in the Nation’s Streams and Rivers<https://nawqatrends.wim.usgs.gov/swtrends/>

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** BACK PAGE
===================================================

(10) Hal Wise’s Legacy Lives On
Much has changed since Hal founded Nonpoint Source News-Notes and in the decades since we lost him. But, as his colleague and friend, I know he’d be gratified that News-Notes continued to connect, inspire and inform the community that formed around it….

(11) Thank You to Our Entire News-Notes Team!
NPS News-Notes owes its longevity to a dedicated team of people who’ve continued to bring Hal’s vision to life over the years. We’ve striven to bring you a balance of informative national-level news, interesting and innovative local stories, and helpful tidbits about valuable tools and resources. We’d like to extend our special thanks to the many other people who have led and supported the NPS News‑Notes development process through the years…

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Nonpoint Source News-Notes is available in electronic form 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]”

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

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