WREN Briefs
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Drinking Water Protection Workshops
June 22
Pottstown Montgomery County
June 24
Raystown
Huntingdon County
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more info at
www.drinkingwaterwise.org
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WREN May Feature
| Gas Pains
The rush to mine the Marcellus
shale deposit imperils Pennsylvania's woods and wildlife. By Ted Williams
from Audubon Magazine
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LWVPA Marcellus Shale Gas Report
| The LWVPA has completed its study of Marcellus Shale Gas and has issued a report on consensus reached.
LWVPA and local Leagues will use these positions to comment on future regulations and applications.
For more on the League study, and press conference, visit
http://www.palwv.org/.
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| President's Cancer Panel
| A report issued earlier this month says environmental contaminants are a greater cancer risk than previously thought.
Read the Report
Read Kristoff's Op-Ed in the New York Times
Read summary from
Medscape Today
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| Source Water Protection Collaborative
| The Source Water Protection Collaborative has launched a new interactive tool to help organizations reach out to local
officials and land use decision makers. Your Water Your Decision at www.yourwateryourdecision.org helps users create a professional looking guide to a community's specific source water protection needs. The guide can be customized with logo and contact information for your group. 
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New Protections for Water
| Headwaters streams will get new protections with regulations working their way through the regulatory review process.
The Environmental Quality Board has approved regulations that provide 150' buffers on high quality and exceptional value streams, the headwaters streams on which clean drinking water depend.
The regulations are part of revised rules for erosion and sedimentation control. Sediment is a major threat to fish habitat, and raises costs for drinking water suppliers. Buffers control stormwater runoff and protect streams from sediment pollution.
The next step is for review by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission and the PA House and Senate environmental committees.
The EQB also approved revisions to wastewater treatment rules to limit the amount of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) that can be discharged to waterways. Wastewater discharges from new and
expanded facilities must meet a concentration threshold of 2,000
milligrams per liter and wastewater discharges from drilling operations
cannot exceed 500 mg/liter.
Read more...
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River Sojourns
| A River sojourn calendar has been posted on the POWR website
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Join Our List
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WREN AWARDS $50,000 TO LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS
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 1 - Allegheny County, PA Environmental Council 2 - Blair, Bedford, Huntingdon, Fulton counties, Blair County Conservation District 3 - Carbon, Northumberland, Luzerne counties, Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation & Development Council 4 - Clearfield County, Clearfield County Conservation District 5 - Clinton & Union Counties, Clinton County Conservation District 6 - Columbia County, Roaring Creek Valley Conservation Assoc. 7 - Crawford County, Crawford County Conservation District 8 - Lawrence County, Lawrence County Conservation District 9 - Montgomery County, AbingtonTownship Environmental Advisory Counci 10- Northampton County, Northampton County Conservation District 11 - Philadelphia County, Friends of the Manayunk Canal 12 - Somerset County, Somerset Conservation District |
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DCNR SECRETARY KEYNOTES WREN CONFERENCE
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John Quigley, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary, will provide the latest information on Marcellus Shale gas drilling on Pennsylvania's public lands at the annual WREN meeting June 15 and 16 in Carlislie. Quigley will speak at lunch on June 16 to representatives of community groups that received funding from WREN in 2009 and 2010 for local watershed education projects. Select representatives of public water suppliers working with DEP's Source Water Protection Technical Assistance Program will also attend.
The WREN annual conference is designed to bring together community groups and water suppliers to share experiences in watershed education and learn about resources available to improve their local projects. Other featured speakers at the conference include Cathy Myers, currently Special Assistant for PA Recovery, overseeing use of federal
stimulus
funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for energy, water, air and waste projects. Prior to 2009, Myers served as Deputy Secretary for Water Management at DEP. John Hines, current Deputy Secretary for Water Management will also speak at the conference. In addition, sessions are planned on green infrastructure, building partnerships, working with municipal officials and much more. The WREN conference is always valued by participants for the varied resources received and opportunity to network with like-minded water education volunteers and professionals.
The conference is by invitation only. Be sure to reserve your spot with Kathleen Porter.
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DELAWARE BASIN MORATORIUM ON DRILLING PERMITS
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The Delaware River Basin Commission recently announced that new regulations will be developed for natural gas well pad projects in shale formations in the Delaware River Basin. Applications for specific natural gas well pads will be reviewed after the new regulations are in place.
"The drafting process is already underway, so it made logical sense for
the development of new regulations to move forward in advance of any
individual project decisions," DRBC Executive Director Carol R. Collier
said following the May 5 Commission meeting at which the decision was made to develop new regs, and not consider well pad applications until the regs are in place.
Questions remain about permit requirements for exploratory wells.
The DRBC is a multi-state and federal agency with regulatory powers in the four state Delaware Basin. It is governed by commissioners representing Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the federal government.
For more information, visit the DRBC website, and Natural Gas Drilling in the Delaware River Basin. |
ARRA FUNDS PUT TO WORK IN OHIOPYLE
Green Infrastructure at work
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The Ohiopyle State Park is 19,000 acres of natural beauty surrounding 14 miles of the Youghiogheny River Gorge with some of the best whitewater boating in the Eastern U.S. In the center of the Park is the tiny Borough of Ohiopyle which provides the infrastructure (water, roadways, sewers) for the 1.4 million annual visitors to the state park.
With a small tax base (34 households and 21 businesses) the town struggles to provide adequate sewer services for its many visitors. Stormwater infiltration to sanitary sewers has put a severe strain on the sewage treatment plant serving the town.
Recovery Act funds, channeled through Pennvest to PA Environmental Council, will be used to turn the Borough of Ohiopyle into a model green community, consistent with state park goals. A number of green infrastructure activities will remove the bulk of the stormwater that currently overloads the sewage treatment plant during wet weather.
The project will disconnect downspouts from the sanitary sewer system
and install rain barrels and cisterns for rainwater re-use in
landscaping as well as construct 22,780 square feet of pervious
pavement and sidewalks with gravel sumps creating
stormwater storage under the main streets of the town. By
putting "green before gray," this series of green infrastructure measures will
take some of the stress off the existing sanitary system ("gray
infrastructure") by storing up to 225,592 gallons of stormwater during peak
rain events.
The funding for the project was awarded in January, 2010 and work is already underway. |
This colorful
invitation from East Fallowfield Township's WREN Project recruited
over 30 volunteers to build and learn about rain gardens.
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| Read more about this WREN Project
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| Water Policy News is published three times a year by the Water Resources Education Network, a project of the League of Women Voters of PA - Citizen Education Fund. Please send your water education related programs and activities to WREN Communications Director.
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