July 18 SAVE THE DATE – National Roundtable on New Tools for Water Quality: Trading and Beyond

It’s been a decade since EPA’s Water Quality Trading Policy was established.  Financial, regulatory and demographic challenges and opportunities underscore the need for innovative tools and market-based strategies.  The U.S. Water Alliance’s Business Advisory Council will convene key policy makers, industry leaders, agriculture, environmental groups, and others to discuss practices and policies for advancing market-based [...]

“Cut and Dry”

Federal water budgets have never been as robust as water boosters would like, even during the brief and heady days of 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulation, but things are about to get leaner and meaner. Looming sequestration cuts, fiscal cliffs, and agency “food” fights over scarce federal dollars add up to a bleak, [...]

“One Water” Resolution

I’m not keen on New Year’s Resolutions (especially the ephemeral ones that come and go faster than desert rain, which I happen to love) but 2013 deserves at least one good and lasting Resolution. Here’s mine:  I resolve to partner with individuals and organizations like never before to help advance “One Water” – the concept [...]

Free Webcast Series on Hydraulic Fracturing Drills into Concerns for Water

Last week, U.S. EPA released a progress report on their Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing due in 2014. To shed light on this and more, the U.S. Water Alliance and Pennwell Publishing are co-producing a series of webcasts that will get down to the nitty-gritty, go beyond emotional debates, and bring energy [...]

EPA Administrator Jackson Stepping Down

On December 27, 2013, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced she would resign in January 2013 after the President’s State of the Union Address. It’s common for an EPA Administrator to step down after serving a full 4 year term of a President (which is the case for Jackson, who was nominated and confirmed very early [...]

Lake Erie: Canary in the Coal Mine

Back in the 1970′s, Lake Erie was often referred to as the Great Lakes’ “canary in the coal mine.” Today, a combination of old and new challenges to the lake’s health is leading to more monitoring by federal, state, and international officials, as well as private citizens from the area. Amy Jo Klei, the Ohio [...]

US EPA’s Climate Ready Water Utilities Initiative

Climate change has affected the U.S. in many ways in 2012. The U.S. EPA has created the Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) software to assist drinking water and wastewater utilities in assessing their risk to climate change impacts and in developing adaptation strategies in response. In addition to evaluating risk at a utility, [...]

The Water Fiscal Cliff

While the fiscal cliff may have been averted for a while, there is still a water infrastructure cliff looming on the horizon. Michael Reuter serves as director for The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program and for the Great Rivers Partnership, and he has written an opinion/editorial on the need to reshape the way we [...]

Noel Net Loss

As friends and family gather for the holidays, I’m reminded of certain water policy rituals that once played out, like clockwork in December in the nation’s capital, and I’m asking myself this question: Whatever happened to the “no net loss” of wetlands policy? I have clear memories of policy battles waged in December 2002, 2003, [...]

D.C. Mayor Signs Bill Requiring Tests For Emerging Contaminants in Drinking Water

District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray has signed legislation that will require DC Water, the city’s water utility, to test for 30 unregulated contaminants in the district’s drinking water and wastewater effluent. The data collected by DC Water will help further the research and understanding of emerging water quality issues in the District. The results of this [...]