For those who many not have the opportunity, or the ability to surf the big waves, there is an EPA website that allows you to do a slightly different type of surfing. The website gives you the tools you need to easily Surf Your Watershed!
Find your nearby watershed by using the simple form located on the page. Once you locate your watershed, there are many links filled with information for you to search. For example, I searched the Wissahickon Creek that I bike and hike near on the weekends. Then I followed the first link, “Citizen-based Groups at Work in this Watershed,” and found out that there were 36 different organizations that are working to protect its water quality. Now I can contact one of these groups to find out about cleanups, monitoring activities, restoration projects and other activities! This was only one example of the thousands of surfable watersheds in the country. You can surf until your legs…well, hand… gets tired! And there’s no risk of getting water up your nose or embarrassing yourself in front of a beach full of people.
Tell us what you find when you Surf YOUR Watershed!
Do you have an idea that could restore urban waters but you need funding? This could be your opportunity.
EPA recently announced it will provide up to $1.8 million for projects across the country to protect Americans’ health and restoring urban waters, by improving water quality and revitalizing communities.
The funding is part of EPA’s Urban Waters program which helps communities access, improve and benefit from their urban waters. Urban waters are canals, rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, estuaries, bays and oceans. Examples of projects eligible for funding include:
· training for water quality improvement or green infrastructure jobs,
· educating about ways to reduce water pollution,
· monitoring local water quality,
· engaging diverse stakeholders to develop local watershed plans, or
· promoting local water quality and community revitalization goals.
A web-based seminar on this funding opportunity will be held on January 5, 2012. Proposals must be received by EPA by January 23, 2012. Awards are expected to be made in the summer of 2012. More information about these urban waters small grants and registration for the webinars is available on our national website.
There’s a new look to EPA’s Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet” website.
The pollution diet, or Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), was established by EPA in December 2010, based largely on action plans provided by the watershed’s six states and the District of Columbia.
The website now has a greater focus on activities at the local level happening around the 64,000-square-mile Bay watershed to reduce pollution impacting the Bay and its vast network of connecting rivers and streams.
One of the new additions is a brochure produced by the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Local Government Advisory Committee featuring examples of local actions to cut nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution.
Check out those case studies and the other new items on the site, and let us know what you think.
Maybe it is the calming sound of water moving, whether down a waterfall or crashing onto a beach. Any real estate agent knows that property near water, whether an ocean, lake, river, or stream, commands a higher price. But, with rising sea levels and stronger, more frequent storms, those prime water side properties may now be in danger of flooding, not just once every 100 years, but once every few years.
What is a homeowner to do after a flood? Sell (if they can) or stay? Many choose to stay put, figuring the benefits outweigh the costs of shoveling mucky mud out of their basement and maybe even the first floor, as well as other personal and financial tolls..
Did you know there are even contractors now who deal with renovating flood- susceptible buildings? Their floodproofing techniques include:
- Replacing gypsum and plasterboard walls with concrete
- Covering floors with stone, concrete or ceramics, not carpeting
- Rearranging rooms — putting the kitchen, laundry room, and electric box on the second floor (known as an “upside down house”)
- Running electrical lines not near the floor, but higher up on the wall
Homeowners are advised to use only lightweight, easy-to-move furniture in the basement and on the first floor. It’s a case of adaptation — minimizing the damage that might occur during the next flood.
These techniques are being applied in many areas of the Northeast where this fall we had the double whammy of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. In Pennsylvania, an emergency declaration was issued for more than half of its counties and parts of Wilkes-Barre and Harrisburg and other areas close to rivers were evacuated. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and its federal counterpart, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), provided assistance.
FEMA has developed a Homeowner’s Guide to Retrofitting if you would like to learn more about floodproofing techniques. And EPA has a variety of information and links on what to do before, during and after a flood. http://www.epa.gov/naturalevents/flooding.html
The most ‘app’ealing entries in EPA’s Apps for the Environment challenge have been announced.
We gave you a heads up about the challenge in a blog post earlier this year. Click here to read it.
The challenge encouraged new and innovative uses of EPA’s data to create apps that address environmental and public health issues. Developers from across the country created apps with information on a variety of topics, including water protection. A few even developed games to help people learn environmental facts.
Click this link for information about the winning entries and other submissions. http://appsfortheenvironment.challenge.gov/submissions
I remember being in grade school, and my school was having an Earth Day celebration. This was my first encounter with being educated about protecting our environment, and it inspired me to do what I could to make a difference.
I did small acts then, like encouraging my family to recycle and reduce their water use. In high school, I pushed to implement a recycling program. In college, I became a Penn State Eco-Rep, and I teach students how they can live a more sustainable lifestyle. Currently, I am a student intern in EPA Mid-Atlantic’s Water Protection Division. All of these acts and the ones in between would not have been possible if I was not motivated when being educated on environmental protection from an early age. EPA agrees that environmental education is vital in helping to conserve and protect our environment and takes time to recognize schools that make outstanding efforts to groom the next generation of environmentalists.
School may be out for summer, but students and schools in the Schuylkill River watershed haven’t taken a vacation from protecting their watershed. Some of these schools recognize the importance of teaching the younger generations about environmental topics such as water conservation and pollution sources. And they are not only teaching but also modeling good practices in management of their own facilities.
For their part in protecting drinking water sources through educational programs, class projects, and land management practices, several schools, colleges, and universities were recognized at the 2011 Schuylkill Action Network Drinking Water Scholastic Awards. This event was hosted at Upper Perkiomen School District Education Center in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. In attendance was EPA Region 3 Deputy Regional Administrator Bill Early who spoke about the importance of environmental education. Some environmental acts that were recognized included: installing rain gardens, planting and repairing buffers, and testing water. Some students also created educational videos to educate the watershed community on why it’s important to keep our water clean.
Click on the picture above to watch a video overview of the 2011 Schuylkill Action Network Drinking Water Scholastic Awards. Click on the link to learn more about the Schuylkill Action Network and how they are promoting education and outreach. Have kids at home? How are you educating them about environmental protection? Leave a comment and let us know!
Looking for a “rainy day” project? Get your tools ready – we’re making a rain barrel. Not to worry. It involves little cost and little labor and the benefits are huge.
A rain barrel is a system that collects and stores rainwater directly from your roof via your gutter. It’s also a great green craft that protects the environment and saves you money!
A rain barrel can save most homeowners on average 1,300 gallons of water during the summer months because you can store and use the water from the rain barrel instead of water from the tap to water your garden or lawn or wash your car. So saving water with a rain barrel not only helps to protect the environment, it saves you money and energy because of decreased use of treated tap water.
Some other benefits of having a rain barrel are that water from storm drains is diverted into the barrel instead of adding to runoff to streams. Also, your garden can stay healthy with water that is free of chlorine, lime or calcium. So whether you want to show off your creative side and build your very own rain barrel or want to buy a ready-made one, a rain barrel is the right step towards your newer, healthier and greener garden!
To create your own rain barrel all you need are these basic materials:
- 55 gallon polyethylene plastic barrel
- 2 inch male threaded by 2 inch pipe adapter
- Tube silicone sealer/cement
- Outdoor faucet valve
- 1/2 inch threaded bushing
- 1/2 inch female threaded socket
- Teflon tape
- Screen fabric
- Cinder blocks
- Optional – paint to match your house color
And these basic tools:
- Jig Saw
- Power Drill with 3/4 inch Spade Bit
- Scissors
- Pipe Wrench and Pliers
- Screw Driver
- Hack Saw
This green craft is simple to construct. Just click here to get the simple assembly instructions to make your rain barrel.
Making a rain barrel at my house was easier than I imagined and I had fun while doing it. So much fun that I actually constructed three! What I find most enjoyable is watching how quickly it fills up on a rainy day. Also, once it’s filled, using it and knowing that I created this rain barrel myself gives me great pleasure. I would recommend it to all who are looking for a fun and easy project that will help protect our environment and save them money.
There are other EPA employees in our Philadelphia office that have also been showing their handy sides and installing rain barrels at their homes and in their communities. They all talk about how great their barrels work and how they either want to get or already have gotten a second barrel to store more water.
One of my co-workers cut up an old hose to use as a device to convey the water from the barrel to her garden. She told me, “When I want to water the garden, I open the valve & let gravity do the rest.” Other colleagues are such expert rain barrel craftsmen that they have set up rain barrel programs in their communities. Fred told us that his Township Environmental Advisory Committee assembles homemade rain barrels using local volunteers and sells them to residents at $35 a piece (also check out Fred’s blog about rain barrels from last summer).
Want to take your garden to an even higher level, with an even greater environmental impact? Having a rain barrel that drains right into a rain garden is the best combination for managing stormwater on your property. Check out our blog on rain gardens to see how you can join the Rain Gardens for the Bays Campaign to green our neighborhoods and protect our streams and bays by creating thousands of rain gardens in local watersheds!
Do you have a rain barrel at your house? What other green projects have you done or can you think of? Share your ideas in the comments section!
Are you a mobile apps developer? Do you know one? Well now is your chance to show us what you can do with EPA data on a mobile device!
EPA’s Apps for the Environment Challenge is a contest that puts your tech-savvy to the test. EPA challenges you to find new ways to combine and deliver environmental data in a mobile app. You can use EPA data by itself, or combine it with other environmental and health data to make a useful resource for individuals or communities. Besides addressing one of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s Seven Priorities, the only limit to what you can create is your own imagination! You have until September 16, 2011 to submit your application, and you can get all the details here.
Not a coder but think you might have the next big idea for an environmental app? There’s a place for your input. Visit EPA’s Data and Developer Forum to submit your idea for an app, as well as submit comments or questions about EPA’s existing apps, data resources, and data sets. The brainstorming has already started, so check out the ideas for apps that others have had to get inspired!
We’d like to challenge you one step further and encourage you to come up with an app that uses water data about the Mid Atlantic region. That’s right, we’re talking about a Healthy Waters App! There are lots of places to find data about the waters of our region. EPA and state websites have loads of interesting data that includes water quality monitoring and assessment, Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), permitted facilities, non-point source projects, drinking water sources and facilities, beach sampling, and clean water grants….just to name a few! You might also find interesting water data from other federal agencies, like the USGS, Forest Service, National Park Service, or CDC. What other sources of water data can you think of?
We’d love to hear from you in our own comments section… how would your Healthy Waters App use Mid Atlantic data? I’m no computer scientist, but if I could make a Healthy Waters App, I think I would make one where I could type in my address (or let my cell phone GPS determine my location) and have it tell me where my drinking water comes from, any consumer confidence reports the facility has issued, what watershed I’m currently in, any impairments nearby waterbodies have, all shown on a map of course. Or maybe I would want it to tell me where the nearest EPA-funded water project is. Or maybe I would want to have mobile beach advisory alerts, so I knew when and where it was safe to go for a swim. Or maybe…
Well that’s enough from me! Tell us about the Healthy Waters app that you would make, and get cracking on your code to submit your app to the challenge!
The days are longer, the weather is warmer and Memorial Day is right around the corner. Memorial Day is the unofficial kickoff for beach season for millions of Americans. Whether you are going to your family’s traditional beach or making a first time visit to a more exotic locale, it is important to understand and learn about the beach you are visiting.
The EPA has a program called BEACH. The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Program focuses on improving public health and environmental protection for beach goers and providing the public with information about the quality of their beach water.
You can visit the BEACH program by clicking here.
The EPA also has a tool called BEACON (Beach Advisory and Closing On-Line Notification). Users can use BEACON to find beaches and learn more information about the beach. You can find beach closing notices, water quality data and even a map showing where the beach is. There are also state contacts listed with names of people that have more information. Click on the state below to begin researching the beach you frequent to cool off!
How can you protect the beach while you are feeling the soft sand between your toes? Here are some eco-friendly reminders and ways to stay healthy at the beach!
- Use walkovers instead of walking across the sensitive dunes; this will help reduce erosion.
- Reduce, reuse and recycle the things you take to the beach – don’t leave them there
- Throw away your trash and pet waste — use public trash containers at the beach or take it home with you.
- Use public restrooms.
- Pick up trash.
- Cut the rings off plastic six-pack holders so that animals (like fish, turtles or seals) can’t get tangled in them — leave no solid plastic loops.
- Join local beach, river or stream clean ups.
- Dispose of boat sewage in onshore sanitary facilities instead of dumping it into the water.
- Don’t disturb wildlife and plants – you’re visiting their home.
- While you are at the beach, wash or sanitize your hands before eating.
What beaches do you enjoy visiting? What concerns you most about the beaches you visit? Share your thoughts and ideas below on our comments page!
If you were to guess how many dams there are in America, what would you say? Maybe a couple hundred? A couple thousand? The answer is that there are over 85,000 dams in the United States, the equivalent of building a dam on an American waterway every day since we declared our independence in 1776.
Over 2,200 of those 85,000 dams can generate hydroelectric power, an excellent source of renewable energy. But, while people reap the benefits of dams every day from the power they generate, irrigating crops or recreational purposes, dams can also have a detrimental impact on the environment.
Dams are designed to interrupt a river or stream’s natural flow which can cause numerous ecological side effects. They can increase water temperature by slowing water, and causing harm to native fish species. When water is released from a dam, it’s usually from the bottom of the reservoir, which contains less dissolved oxygen, potentially harming or killing aquatic life.
Sediment also builds up behind dams, which can cover up vital fish spawning areas. In addition, dams can create barriers that inhibit fish returning from the ocean swimming upriver to spawn, and they block freshwater fish from their prime spawning, rearing and foraging habitat.
Currently, there is a growing awareness in the U.S. to remove dams no longer serving their intended purpose. Removing a dam from a waterway restores the natural flow and brings back the aquatic ecosystem. An organization called American Rivers, which has worked to remove dams for almost 40 years, has an abundance of valuable information, including videos about the benefits of dam removal for restoring rivers.
In 2006 a dam was removed in Manatawny Creek, in eastern Pennsylvania as a result of a conservation plan developed by the Berks County Conservancy. Numerous partners and stakeholders, including EPA, contributed to removing this “orphaned” dam, which was no longer in use and becoming dilapidated. Removing orphaned dams is usually much easier than removing dams which are still in use because they are structures that do not have a modern day purpose.
Do you know of any dams in your area? Has a dam been removed nearby and you have seen the benefits? Share your thoughts on our comment page!