Update on ASDWA Source Water Protection Activities
The ASDWA Source Water Committee works to support state source water assessment and protection activities; involvement in national initiatives; and opportunities to further local efforts to protect and sustain the quality and quantity of drinking water supplies. Following is an update on some of our current activities.
- State-EPA CWA-SDWA Collaboration Initiative: The state-EPA workgroup (with all EPA Headquarters water offices, several Regions, and several states) is working to finalize the toolkit that focuses on opportunities for collaboration and synergy across clean water, drinking water, and ground water programs. The toolkit is organized using each of the sections of the Clean Water Act including: water quality standards and impaired waters listings; NPDES permits; and nonpoint sources and TMDLs. The workgroup expects to publish the Toolkit in October.
- Source Water Collaborative (SWC):ASDWA continues participating in the Source Water Collaborative and is co-chairing its Steering Committee (along withGWPC). The Collaborative has several projects underway at this time that are almost complete and are expected to be available in the near future. These include:
- SDWA-CWA Guide for Local Involvement: A small workgroup of the SWC is developing a guide focused on clean water and drinking water coordination opportunities for collaborative member organizations representing water utilities and local level constituents. The workgroup is planning to work with and help carry out the efforts of the state-EPA CWA-SDWA workgroup at the local level (see above) for influencing CWA tools and processes.
- How-to Collaborate Toolkit: The SWC has used the experiences and lessons learned from a number of existing collaboratives to develop the on-line “How-to Collaborate” guide to foster the development of state, regional, and local collaboratives.
- White Paper: The SWC Steering Committee is developing a white paper to promote source water assessment updates and further protection/prevention actions to address and mitigate impacts from potential sources of contamination and chemical storage tanks.
- State-EPA Nutrients Workgroup: ASDWA and several states have also joined a recently formed state-EPA workgroup being led by the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA) and plans to systematically work through the elements of EPA’s March 2012 Call to Action memo on nutrients control.
- Water Reuse Discussion Group: ASDWA has recently engaged several of its members to participate in a new state-EPA ad hoc Water Reuse group to discuss state practices and needs on this subject.
- EPA’s DWMAPS Geo-Platform: ASDWA engaged a number of states to participate in the development of a new EPA tool for states and water utilities to update source water assessments and implement protection plan actions.
For more information about source water protection, visit ASDWA’s web site at www.asdwa.org/sourcewaterprotection.
