Water Policy News, Newsletter of the LWVPA-CEF WREN
Volume 19 No. 3
Fall 2010
In This Issue
Chesapeake Bay Meetings
White Clay Watershed
Water Quality Data from Susquehanna Basin
New York City Green Infrastructure
NESC Goes Green
Climate Action Plan
WREN Briefs
WREN grants will be available for both Watershed and Source Water Protection projects in the coming year.  Look for the grant guidelines in December, and applications due in April 2011.  Awarded projects will take place July 2011 - June 2012.
Read about successful projects at
http://wren.palwv.org/local.html
WREN Oct Feature
Groundwater Depletion Rate Accelerating

In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use.

Read more .....

WREN Quick Links
Water Calendar

New WREN Resources
DEP EE Grants Available
Grants for your environmental education projects are available from PA DEP.  The 2010 grant cycle is now open, and applications are due December 17.   Awarded projects begin in July of 2011.
For more info, visit:
DEP EE Grants
PSU Coop Ext Webinars

Oct 27, 2010  

An Update on Water Issues Related to Marcellus Gas Drilling Bryan Swistock


Nov 17, 2010 Pharmaceuticals and their Proper Disposal to Protect Water Resources Jim Clark

Webinars are also archived for later viewing.
Center for Watershed Protection Webcasts
Rooftop Disconnection, Filter Strips & Rainwater Harvesting
October 20, 12-2 p.m.

Cost: $99 early bird

Better Site Design Gets Better December 15, 12-2 p.m.
Cost $99 early bird
2011 River of the Year
Nominations

Nominations are open for the 2011 River of the Year.  Nominations must be submitted by Oct. 30 and the river nominated must be in the Ohio Basin.
Go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YJFCWR8 and complete the info to nominate your river.


NESC Publications
OnTap
Pipeline
SmallFlows
Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
Alphabet Soup Got You Confused?

Don't worry, you're not alone.  When DEP and EPA start flinging around acronyms like TMDL and WIP, many of us start to wonder who's on first.


The best place to start to understand the current plans for the Chesapeake Bay clean-up is to attend one of the public meetings this coming week.  The meetings are sponsored by EPA to discuss the draft TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) it has developed for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  The TMDL is for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment.    PA DEP will be at the meeting to discuss its draft WIP (Watershed Implementation Plan) -  its plan for achieving PA's part of the clean-up. 


The meeting schedule is:

October 18, 2-4 p.m.            Lancaster

Best Western Eden Resort, 222 Eden Road


October 19,  2-4 p.m.           State College

Knights of Columbus, 850 Stratford Drive


October 20, 2-4 p.m.            Williamsport

Lycoming College, Wendle Hall


October 21, 2-4 p.m.            Ashley

Bentley's of Northern PA, 2300 Rt 309


You can find the draft WIP here on the DEP website and the draft TMDL at http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl/  on the EPA website.

One third of PA falls in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
White Clay Watershed Partners Plant Trees

The  best way to protect drinking water sources is to protect the forests that provide that water.  But what do you do when the forests are gone? 

 

In the White Clay Watershed several partners have come together to

attack that problem by rebuilding the forests, one tree, and one township, at a time.  Funded by WREN in 2009, the White Clay Watershed Reforestation Outreach project was initiated to address the limited amount of forest cover within the White Clay Creek watershed in southeastern PA.   Watershed residents attended  a reforestation workshop and 200 volunteers planted 5000 native trees at several planting events. The need for the project came from the recently completed White Clay Creek Reforestation Plan (www.whiteclay.org/resources/publications) that calls for a long term forest cover of 40 % of the watershed to protect water resources.

 

The White Clay Creek watershed is renowned for its natural and cultural resources, including drinking water for approximately 120,000 people, including the City of Newark, DE.  In 2000 the White Clay Creek

and its tributaries were designated part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in recognition of the importance of these resources.  Despite the importance of the natural resources of the watershed, over three-quarters of the streams are designated as impaired water quality, or polluted, prompting the need for reforestation.


The WREN funded project brought together organizations, volunteers and townships to collaborate on the reforestation goal.  Project partners include the White Clay Wild & Scenic Management Committee,

FranklinTownship, London Grove Township, Taproot Native Design, Brandywine Conservancy and Stroud Water Research Center.  New planting projects are scheduled for fall 2010 and spring 2011. 

Real-time Water Quality Data From Susquehanna Basin

Water quality data from several remote stations in the Susquehanna Basin is now available on the Susquehanna River Basin Commission website. 

The most recent station to go live is on Little Mehoopany Creek in Wyoming County.  The station was installed on September 8, and is part of a larger monitoring network that SRBC initiated in January 2010 to monitor water quality conditions in smaller watersheds generally of 30 to 60 square miles in size.  The purpose of the monitoring is to help determine whether streams are or are not being impacted by natural gas drilling activities.   

See the data and learn more about the network at http://www.srbc.net/programs/remotenetwork.htm

New York City Unveils Green Infrastructure Plan
New York City has joined the ranks of cities (including Philadelphia) using green infrastructure to attack the problem of combined sewer overflows (CSOs).   New York's plan will reduce overflows by 40%, reduce energy consumption and save on sewer costs.  Under the plan, the first inch of rainfall on 10 percent of the impervious areas in combined sewer areas of the city will be captured and will not enter the sewer system. Green infrastructure investments will be installed throughout the City's combined sewer drainage areas.  The Plan was announced at a school in Queens where a green roof was installed.
Read the press release  and/or download the Plan on the New York City website.

Looking for funding for your "green initiative" project?  Check out Pennvest funding at http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/programs/9322/green_initiatives/541807
National Environmental Service Center (NESC)
Goes Green

If you have found the newsletters and reports from the National Environmental Service Center (NESC) useful, you'll now find them online only.   On Tap, Small Flows, and Pipeline, both the latest issue as well as several years worth of back issues,  can now be found on the NESC website at www.nesc.wvu.edu.
Sign up for the NESC listservs so that you'll know when  new issues are posted, as well as learn about other interesting things going on in the world of water. You can find the listservs at www.nesc.wvu.edu/listserv/cfm.
NESC at West Virginia University receives EPA funding to provide information and  technical assistance for small communities on all things water.  Their publications include On Tap, a magazine about drinking water; Small Flows,a magazine about wastewater treatment; and Pipeline,a newsletter about wastewater topics for the general public.
 
State-wide Climate Action /Adaptation Plan
 Needs You
The Department of Environmental Protection is seeking interested participants with expertise in Land Use or Planning or Smart Growth to join in our  discussions as we develop adaptation strategiesforimpacts to our infrastructure.  The Infrastructure Working group has about 20stakeholdersfromboth government and non-government organizations which meets every two months throughout 2010 and is now prioritizing identified risks and vulnerabilities that impact transportation,water and energy infrastructure.  The purpose of this effort is to identify practicalclimate adaptation strategies for implementation in both the short-term and long-term and to develop a data/research needs list for the Commonwealth.

The next infrastructure meeting is on November 8 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at the PA Fish & Boat Commission on Elmerton Ave in Harrisburg.

If you are interested in either attending working group meetings held in Harrisburg (or via conference call), or becoming an active participant representing Land Use / Planning / Smart Growth interests - please contact Kim Hoover, Energy and Climate Program Specialist,  by phone 717.772.5161 or email khoover@state.pa.us .
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.
Visit wren.palwv.org to learn more about WREN.