March 20, 2012

1) EPA Initiates Website To Mark 40 Years of the Clean Water Act
2) EPA Releases Document for Identifying and Protecting Healthy Watersheds
3) EPA Webinar: "21st Century Perspectives on Wastewater Treatment Ponds," 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. EDT
4) Template for Construction Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans Available Online
5) EPA Seeks Nominations for its Local Government Advisory Committee

1) EPA Initiates Website To Mark 40 Years of the Clean Water Act
2012 is the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the nation's law for protecting our most irreplaceable resource. This year EPA and others will highlight the tremendous progress in reducing pollution since 1972, the many milestones along the way, the ways that the job is far from over and the tough challenges we face today and in the future. EPA has set up a webpage – www.epa.gov/cleanwater40 – as the central location for information, activities, news and networking. You can also find the Office of Water on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EPAWaterIsWorthIt.

2) EPA Releases Document for Identifying and Protecting Healthy Watersheds
EPA recently released a new technical document titled "Identifying and Protecting Healthy Watersheds: Concepts, Assessments, and Management Approaches." This document provides state water quality and aquatic resource scientists and managers with an overview of the key concepts behind the Healthy Watersheds Initiative. The initiative is intended to preserve and maintain natural ecosystems by protecting our remaining healthy watersheds, preventing them from becoming impaired and accelerating our restoration successes. The initiative encourages states to take a strategic, systems approach to protecting healthy watersheds and preventing future water quality impairments.

This document provides examples of approaches for assessing components of healthy watersheds, integrated assessment options for identifying healthy watersheds, examples of management approaches and assessment tools and sources of data. The document is available at http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/watershed/index.cfm.

3) EPA Webinar: "21st Century Perspectives on Wastewater Treatment Ponds," 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. EDT
Today, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. EDT, EPA will host a webinar to discuss its manual, "Principles of Design and Operations of Wastewater Treatment Pond Systems for Plant Operators, Engineers and Managers." Wastewater pond systems provide reliable treatment of municipal wastewater while keeping operation costs within budget. The manual provides a 21st century perspective on how to keep these systems operating successfully for many years with low cost, with examples of how to obtain the best quality effluents from wastewater treatment ponds.

To view a copy of the manual: http://www.epa.gov/ordntrnt/ORD/NRMRL/lrpcd/projects/ponds.htm
To register for the webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/261857722

4) Template for Construction Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans Available Online
EPA has posted a new template for construction operators to use in developing stormwater pollution prevention plans, which  are site-specific documents required as part of EPA's new 2012 Construction General Permit. The template is designed to help construction operators develop a stormwater pollution prevention plan that is compliant with the minimum requirements of the new permit. The template allows operators to customize the document to the needs of the site, and includes tables and other fields that are easy to fill out. For questions about the template, or the permit in general, please send inquiries to CGP@epa.gov.

For additional information on stormwater pollution prevention plans for construction activities and to view a copy of the template: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/swppp.cfm. For additional information on EPA's 2012 CGP: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/cgp.cfm.

5) EPA Seeks Nominations for its Local Government Advisory Committee
EPA invites nominations from a diverse range of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to its local government advisory committee. The committee is a federal advisory committee composed of locally elected and appointed officials that provides independent advice and recommendations to the EPA Administrator concerning environmental issues affecting local governments and communities.

The committee includes officials representing: cities, counties, and other local governments; small communities; tribal governments and state governments (please see the Federal Register notice at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-02-23/pdf/2012-4220.pdf for the complete criteria). EPA has a strong commitment to maintaining diversity across a broad range of constituencies, sectors, interests and groups. EPA strongly encourages nominations of women and minorities.

Electronic nominations are encouraged and are due March 26, 2012 to Frances Eargle at eargle.frances@epa.gov with the subject line "LGAC Membership 2012." For more information, please see www.epa.gov/ocir/scas_lgac/lgac_index.htm, or contact Frances Eargle at (202) 564-3115.