Archive for March, 2011
Did you know that 90% of people who live in the Mid-Atlantic Region drink water that comes from public systems regulated by EPA and the States? Besides regulating, how else is EPA protecting your drinking water? One way is with the Sole Source Aquifer program. What exactly is this program? The Sole Source Aquifer program helps to protect ground water that serves as the primary drinking water source for a community. This can be done when the ground water supplies at least 50% of the drinking water consumed in the area overlying the aquifer with no alternative sources that could feasibly supply all who depend on it. Once a Sole Source Aquifer is designated, projects receiving federal funding in these areas are subject to EPA review to ensure that they are deisgned with minimal threat to the ground water. EPA regional offices review comprehensive applications which provide extensive data about the aquifer to designate such sources as a Sole Source Aquifer.
Currently there are six designated Sole Source Aquifers in the Mid-Atlantic Region. They are:
- Columbia and Yorktown-Eastover Multiaquifer (Virginia)
- Maryland Piedmont Aquifer (Maryland)
- New Jersey Coastal Plain Aquifer (Pennsylvania and New Jersey)
- Poolesville Area Aquifer (Maryland)
- Prospect Hill Aquifer (Maryland)
- Seven Valleys Aquifer (Pennsylvania)
Just because a drinking source in your community has not been designated as a Sole Source Aquifer does not mean that it shouldn’t be. In many cases, valuable and sensitive aquifers have not been designated simply because nobody has petitioned EPA for such status.
Interested in applying to designate a Sole Source Aquifer in your community? View EPA’s Sole Source Aquifer designation petitioner guidance. What are your thoughts on such a program? This is only one way EPA is continuing to maintain safe drinking water. Check out EPA’s web site to learn about more about ways EPA is protecting drinking water here in the Mid-Atlantic.
Did you know you have the power to monitor local rivers, streams and lakes for water quality? It’s true! Not only in the United States but worldwide over 120,000 people monitored water in 2009. With the help of watershed groups, citizen networks and local chapters of national organizations, it is easy to monitor water by becoming a volunteer monitor. A volunteer monitor is trained to monitor the conditions of local streams, lakes, estuaries and wetlands. Initiatives like this help to not only protect the quality of water, but also to build awareness amongst a volunteer’s community to pollution problems. Volunteers perform the role of helping to identify and restore problem sites, become advocates for their watersheds and increase water quality information available on our waters. Click on your state to find monitoring programs around you.
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is another way you can get involved with your area’s water quality. WWMD is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies. The day is celebrated every September 18. Data can be collected from March 22nd until December 31st. Visit the WWMD website for more information and learn how you can acquire your own water testing kit to monitor your local water body!
Visit EPA’s website to find out more about the Monitoring and Assessment of Water Quality and how you can do your part by volunteering.
Soon the Eagles won’t be the only thing green in the City of Brotherly Love. The Lincoln Financial Field, or “Linc,” which is home to the popular football team the Philadelphia Eagles, plans to go green as well. This massive stadium is making a pledge to become “the most sustainable major sports stadium in the world.” Yes that’s right, not only in the Mid-Atlantic States or the United States, but the world. How are they doing this? Their plans include adding to an already established composting program, which captures more than 25 tons of organic waste and a water conservation program that replaced more than 600 toilets. The Eagles organization will also install wind turbines and solar panels, converting the stadium to renewable energy. In other Philadelphia sports, the Phillies are trying to become as green as their mascot (the Philly Phanatic) with their Red Goes Green campaign launched in 2008 to reduce their environmental footprint.
On the other side of the state, Pittsburgh sports teams have been working hard to give the Eagles some competition and become a black, gold AND green city. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ brand new hockey arena, the CONSOL Energy Center, became the first LEED Gold Certified arena in the National Hockey League when it opened this year. Some of the arena’s environmentally friendly features include green space around the arena, locally bought and recycled construction materials, purchased electricity from renewable resources, water use reduction, indoor air quality, and natural light. Now that the arena is up and running, the greening continues with the use of green cleaning materials, biodegradable utensils, and the donation of prepared but unsold concession food to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The Penguins also partnered with the Steelers to increase recycling from tailgating outside Heinz Field. For the last three football games of the regular season, teams of volunteers circulated in parking lots prior to the game and collected 90,000 aluminum cans, 5,000 glass bottles, 36,000 plastic bottles and cups, and 900 pounds of cardboard to be recycled. An estimated 4,000-5,000 additional pounds of materials were estimated to have been collected for recycling in the parking lot before the Winter Classic hockey game on New Year’s Day at the stadium.
As you can see in our previous blog about the Washington Nationals’ ballpark, “The field isn’t the only thing green at the Nationals’ Stadium,” major sports teams outside of Pennsylvania have also joined the cause, and our own Mid-Atlantic region has been helping lead the way. Let’s hope that this growing trend of sustainability in sports continues!
Want to make your home more sustainable like the Linc and CEC? Need somewhere to start? Try replacing your toilets; you could save up to 11 gallons per toilet everyday! To learn more, check out EPA’s WaterSense site. Comment below on some ways you are saving water!
Fix a Leak Week March 14-20, 2011
March 14-20, 2011 is the 3rd annual Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program’s “Fix a Leak Week,” a time to remind Americans to check their household plumbing for leaks. This is a chance to be Green and save some Green!
Beat the leak! Check. Twist. Replace.
That’s all it takes to start saving water around the house. Check your home for leaks. If your water meter changes at all during a two hour period when no water is being used, you probably have a leak. Twist and tighten your fixture connections. Tighten fixtures with a wrench or apply pipe tape to ensure that fixture connections are sealed tight. If you can’t stop the drip, it may be time to replace your fixture. Look for WaterSense-labeled products at a home improvement store near you.
Did you know???
A showerhead leaking at 10 drips per minute wastes more than 500 gallons per year. That’s enough water to wash 60 loads of dishes in your dishwasher! Leaks can account for, on average, 10,000 gallons of water wasted in the home every year. That’s enough to fill a backyard swimming pool! The average household spends as much as $500 per year on its water and sewer bill.
Be sure to look for WaterSense labeled new homes that are designed to reduce residential water use both indoors and out. WaterSense homes allow you and your family to enjoy all the comforts of home while using less water and energy and spending less money on utility bills!
What Can YOU do???
By making just a few small changes to your daily routine, you can save water, save money, and conserve water supplies for future generations. Be sure to look for the WaterSense symbol on toilets, showerheads and faucets. The symbol will soon be on water softeners, pre-rinse valves, and landscape irrigation controllers.
The WaterSense symbol identifies products that not only save water and the environment without sacrificing performance. You can not only save water, but save Money too! Look for WaterSense-labeled products at a home improvement store near you.
We’re For Water!
Join us and thousands of your friends and neighbors in taking simple actions to save water. Take the “I’m for Water” pledge, and make a resolution this year to save this precious resource. Take the pledge at: www.epa.gov/watersense/pledge. For more information on Fix a Leak Week and the WaterSense program, go to www.epa.gov/watersense. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Make 2011 about water and take the pledge today!
Managing water resources is a challenging job under any circumstances. You have to account for the many different uses of the water (drinking, industrial, agricultural, and ecological, just to name a few) and make sure that both the quality and quantity of the water are adequate to make sure all these sectors have enough clean water. But changing conditions can make water management even more complex. Climate change is (literally) a hot topic these days, with a lot of discussion of rising global temperatures, carbon emissions, and renewable energy. But what impact could climate change have on water resources?
Here are just a few of the potential water-related effects of climate change in the U.S:
- Changes in precipitation: greater variation of precipitation (increased heavy rainfalls as well as intense droughts), changes in the size of vital water bodies and wetlands, water quantity (reductions in ground and surface water), and water quality (increased runoff that causes erosion and sedimentation)
- Increased water temperature: lower dissolved oxygen levels, increased algal blooms, and altered distribution in aquatic species (since most species are adapted to survive in a certain range of temperatures)
- Rising Sea Levels: increased coastal erosion, displacement of coastal wetlands, and salt water intrusion in drinking water supplies
Want to learn more? You can find much more information about the potential impact of climate change on water resources and EPA activities related to water and climate change. EPA’s Watershed Academy has also done a number of webcasts on water issues related to climate change that are full of information.
So what is EPA doing about it? EPA has developed a national water program strategy for the adaptation to climate change, mitigation of greenhouse gases, as well as further research and education on how climate change relates to water, with 44 key action items. EPA’s Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU) program provides resources for the water sector to develop and implement long-term plans that take climate change impacts into account. Resources include a climate ready toolbox and a software tool to assess climate-related risk (Climate Resilience Evaluation and Assessment Tool, or CREAT).
There’s also the Climate Ready Estuaries Program, which focuses on the specific impact of climate change to these unique ecosystems. In the Mid Atlantic region, we are lucky to have the Delaware Estuary as one of these distinctive natural resources. To assess how vulnerable this estuary is to climate change and explore strategies to mitigate the risks, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary joined with EPA as one of six national pilots in the Climate Ready Estuaries Program in 2008. Last year a Climate Change and the Delaware Estuary report was published which examined three case studies (tidal wetlands, drinking water, and bivalve shellfish) as examples of natural resources that could be affected and have an impact on habitats, humans, and aquatic life.
What are others doing about it? There are efforts all across the nation. The Source Water Collaborative includes EPA and 22 other national organizations that have an interest in safe drinking water. As you’ve heard in our previous blogs, the Source Water Collaborative is sponsoring the Delaware River Basin Forum on March 10th. This basin-wide event will address the issues that affect water resource sustainability that millions in the region rely on every day. One of the issues to be highlighted is the regional impacts of climate change. Visit the DRBF website for event locations and more.
And what is the Healthy Waters Blog doing about it? We’re striving to bring you the most current information possible on important issues like climate change that concern your water resources. We’ll also have a live blog the day of the Delaware River Basin Forum with frequent updates of happenings at the central Philadelphia location and satellites. Check back here throughout the day on March 10th!
So what are you doing about it? You can start by getting informed. Tune into the conference, either by attending in person at any one of the locations, or by viewing the live webcast of the forum online from wherever you are! Here’s even more you can do.