ASDWA Session Held this Week at the AWWA Sustainable Water Management Conference
The AWWA Sustainable Water Management (SWM) Conference was held this week in Seattle where ASDWA co-sponsored a technical session entitled “Harness the Power of the Clean Water Act to Protect Sources of Drinking Water.” Approximately 400 people attended the meeting from across the US including representatives from water utilities, associations, federal agencies, consulting firms, and four state drinking water programs. Other sessions at the conference focused on the sustainability of water supplies, water utility climate change adaptation, source water protection, pay for performance best practices for forest preservation and wildfire prevention, land use and water integrated planning, and more.
The ASDWA session speakers included: Michelle Tucker from EPA Region 10 who provided an overview of how the Clean Water Act (CWA) can protect sources of drinking water; Sheree Stewart from the Oregon Source Water Protection (SWP) Program who spoke about how the state is using GIS to address point and nonpoint sources of pollution and emerging contaminants at the source; Corina Hayes from the Washington SWP Program who shared information about state efforts to use Drinking Water SRF funds to help communities develop SWP plans; David Dunn from the Washington Department of Ecology who spoke about how to leverage different CWA funding mechanisms (including the CWSRF) for SWP in Washington State; Bill Trueman from the Skagit Public Utility District (PUD) who shared how they used CWSRF funding to purchase land to protect their drinking water source; Deirdre Mason from ASDWA who spoke about ASDWA, state, and EPA CWA and Safe Drinking Water Act (CWA-SDWA) coordination efforts to address regulated and emerging ; and Bo Williams from EPA Headquarters who spoke about the National Source Water Collaborative’s CWA-SDWA infographic for water utilities and local stakeholders to provide input into state CWA provisions and permitting efforts. To learn more about these efforts, check out:
- Oregon’s new resource guides for surface water and groundwater that provide information about technical assistance, funding, and resources for public water systems in Oregon.
- Washington’s Source Water Protection web page and Water Quality Funding web page for SWP grants and loans.
- Skagit PUD’s property purchase announcement.
- ASDWA’s CWA-SDWA Coordination web page with resources, state case studies, and recorded webinars.
- The Source Water Collaborative’s Source to Tap Infographic on how to use the CWA to protect sources of drinking water.
For more information about the AWWA SWM conference, visit the AWWA website.
