Washington Update - Summer '04 Newsletter

White House Commitments to Clean Beaches

In April, the Bush Administration announced its "Clean Beaches" strategic initiative, an effort to improve the quality of the nation's beaches and ensure compliance with the Beaches, Environmental Assessment and Coastal (BEACH) Act of 2000. "Clean Beaches" will include grant funding for beach monitoring and notification programs, technical guidance and scientific studies.

The BEACH Act of 2000 mandated that U.S. coastal states, including those bordering the Great Lakes, adopt up-to-date pathogen criteria to prevent beachgoers from harmful bacteria. To date, only 11 out of the 35 affected states and territories have complied with this provision.

Under the Clean Water Act, EPA issues pathogen criteria, which serve as state guidelines for adopting standards. Although EPA issued criteria for E. coli and enterococci in 1986, many states still rely on outdated standards for total or fecal coliforms. EPA's research indicates that there is little correlation between coliform levels and swimming-related illness (gastroenteritis) in either marine or fresh waters. In contrast, correlations for E. coli (in fresh waters) and enterococci (in marine waters) are high, showing that these bacteria are reliable indicators for the presence of harmful pathogens.

The Clean Beaches Plan and related documents are available at:
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/

EPA Funds Drinking Water Counter-Terrorism Efforts

In May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it allocated nearly $5 million in state and tribal assistance grants to assist drinking water systems across the nation. The funding is earmarked to bolster defenses from possible terrorism acts against U.S. public water systems.

Under a program initiated in 2002, the grants are allocated for continued support of counter-terrorism coordination with state, local and federal governments. The effort was developed to ensure drinking water utilities receive technical assistance and training on homeland security issues, including vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans.

Along with the grant allocation, an additional $2 million in funding was established for the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program, an initiative conducted in conjunction with the EPA Office of Water. ETV was developed to create innovative protocols and testing technologies to monitor the safety and security of the nation's drinking water systems and supplies. It is anticipated that these technologies will provide dual benefits to homeland security efforts, offering an additional level of protection from potential biological and chemical contamination of U.S. drinking water supplies.

EPA Establishes DRINK System

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in May that is has developed a publicly accessible, web-based network to provide the latest information on drinking water research. The Drinking Water Research Information Network (DRINK) tracks ongoing research conducted by the EPA and partners from national, regional and international research agencies and organizations.

DRINK contains descriptive information on research projects, including title, abstract, start and end dates, principal investigator and contact information. Users can obtain information on research topics of individual interest and minimize the duplication of research by different organizations.

The creation of DRINK was initiated after the release of an October 1999 U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) report recommending that the EPA better communicate the efforts of the drinking water research community. With the May launch of DRINK the EPA improves its capacity to identify research priorities by determining what researchers are planning to study in the future and the status of their current efforts.

For further information about the EPA's DRINK program, please go to:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/drink/intro.html

New National Wetland Initiative Announced

On Earth Day 2004, the Bush Administration announced a new national goal to improve and protect at least three million additional acres of wetlands over the next five years. President Bush's announcement identified the formation of a partnership of federal, state, local and private entities to achieve the new environmental goal.

Currently, thirty programs to protect and restore millions of acres of the country's wetlands are being conducted across the country, including the "Five-Star Restoration" grant program and the National Estuary Program. Other programs include the Food Security Act's "Swampbuster" program and the Wetlands Reserve Program under the authority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In addition, the EPA is continuing its work on the national Wetlands Mitigation Action Plan and coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state partners to implement the Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands permit program. The Bush Administration's 2005 budget proposes to increase EPA funding by five million dollars for grants to states that will help them address the gaps in wetlands protection.

Read more about the EPA's wetlands program at:
http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands