Water Policy News, Newsletter of the LWVPA-CEF WREN
Volume 20 No. 3
Fall 2011
In This Issue
Engage Municipal Partners
Lessons Learned
Stormwater Webinar
Create-Your-Own Brochure
Drinking Water Education
EPA Launches Mapping Tool
RiverSafe Rainbarrels
WREN Briefs 
 
Save the Dates 

  

November 3, 2011
Creating Sustainable Communities Conference

 

November 16, 2011

Murrysville  

Source Water Protection Class
 Contact Terri Dickow PSAB to sign up

1-800-232-7722 x42 


November 17, 2011

Uniontown, PA

Fayette County

 

November 18, 2011
Health Effects of Shale Gas Extraction Conference
Webinars

Results from a Study of Water Wells Near Marcellus Gas Drilling Sites

November 1st  

 NOON to 1:00 PM

Penn State Water Resources Extension
 
Source Water Protection 101
November 3rd
Noon to 1:30 PM
WREN, PSAB, PMPEI, & PA DEP
 
 

New Resource 

 
American Rivers
Report


American Rivers Report on Green Infrastructure 
  

Quick Links

 

Schuylkill Action Network (page 4):


Philadelphia's Green Infrastructure Took on Lee and Irene 

 

Municipal Guide to Low Impact Development 


Water Calendar



Coming Soon
Oct 29th
DEP Manure Management Manual
Grants
 
 
 
Water Testing Help

 

Private Drinking Water Testing Available

 

Headwaters Quality Drinking Water Project has secured funding through the Colcom Foundation's "Marcellus Environmental Fund" to assist families with water sample analyses of private wells in Cameron, Clearfield, Centre, Clinton, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter counties prior to Marcellus Shale gas well drilling activities.

 

Questions on the Program? Contact Brittany Dittemore of PA Headwaters RC&D at 814-503-8653. 

  

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ENGAGE MUNICIPAL PARTNERS NOW FOR

2012 WREN GRANTS

 If we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail.

 Winston Churchill  

partners

Past WREN grant recipients know that working with local officials is key to achieving real improvement in protecting water resources.

 

New land-use tools offer effective ways to protect ground and surface water resources needed to improve our quality of life. It is essential that local decision makers become aware of these tools and apply them to their land-use planning, zoning and land acquisition decisions. When municipal officials are actively involved in Watershed Education Grant projects, they are better able to perform stewardship responsibilities, and the community as a whole benefits.

 

Education of municipal officials is an important objective of WREN grants.  Having an active municipal partner is a requirement. When we review new grant applications next Spring, we will look closely at how municipal partners will be involved in WREN-funded projects.

 

If you're thinking of applying for a WREN grant, the time to start talking with your local officials is now! Applications for 2012-2013 grants will be available in late December. See "Lessons Learned from WREN Project Leaders" article below for more tips on designing a grant project.

Fall 2011 Feature
LESSONS LEARNED FROM WREN PROJECT LEADERS 

Make a difference in your community by designing a water resource education project and applying for a 2012 WREN grant. Here's helpful advice from past project leaders to get you started in this month's Feature Article (Click here for full article). Check out examples of past WREN Projects for ideas.
Clinton CCD Calendar Cover 2012
Produced by 2011 WREN Grant partnership led by Clinton County Conservation District's Scott Koser

Water resource issues are, by their very nature, local. The water we drink, the water we send down the drain, the water that drips from our roofs or puddles our streets when it rains-it is hard to find a conservation issue that is closer to home. You can make changes at your own home, but changes that benefit the whole community will require the involvement of your local municipal officials, who may be unaware of how to address local water concerns.

  

If you are interested in raising awareness about solutions that will protect community water resources among local officials and residents, consider applying for a WREN Grant in March 2012. Our grants range from projects that help raise awareness, to those that encourage specific behavior change like residential stormwater management using rain barrels. We went to the experts, our recent project leaders, and assembled their top tips and "lessons learned" to help you organize a successful project in your own neighborhood.

 

According to the responses we received to a questionnaire sent at the completion of 2011's funded projects, project leaders outlined four major issues: Promotion, Time Management, Volunteers, and Flexibility. Click to read more of this month's Feature Article where we look at each issue, ideas about how it might be addressed, and words of wisdom "from the trenches."

WEBINAR ENCOURAGING HOMEOWNERS TO MANAGE STORMWATER NOW ONLINE

Rain garden pic
Tom Schueler, from the Chesapeake Stormwater Network, led a webinar on October 15 titled "
Increasing the Delivery of Residential Stewardship Practices in Urban Watersheds." If you missed it live, you can view it at any time online. The webinar covers stormwater education and delivering residential stewardship practices. Lessons learned in implementing programs to build rain gardens, disconnect roof leaders, install rain barrels and plant trees to restore the Bay are shared. Learn about the tricks for reaching out to the public and providing meaningful incentives to motivate homeowners to keep stormwater on their property.
 
Tom mentioned a few interesting factors.  First, according to a 2010 survey of local stormwater managers, their top priority was to learn how to better reach out and educate homeowners. Secondly, that the best way for the public to learned its stormwater lessons is by building and planting things in their yards and engaging in fun outdoor activities.  Hmmm..sounds like a great opportunity for a WREN Grant Partnership!

 

Check out the other helpful webinars offered by the Mid-Atlantic Water Program to assist MS-4 communities with stormwater management.

CREATE-YOUR-OWN WATER PROTECTION BROCHURE - FREE


Want to start a local conversation about drinking water protection, but lack a marketing piece? The national Source Water Collaborative developed a tool to help create a custom brochure with concrete steps local officials can take to protect drinking water, and to encourage 

EPA Your Water Your Decision Brochure

use of best practices, expertise, and other resources that can help them protect their sources of drinking water.     

 

Say you only need a few brochures for a particular meeting, have little time, no money, and no graphic artist. No problem! Pick a photo, add your own logo, highlight local concerns, and contact information, and be ready to go in minutes.

 

The online tool is free and it's easy to create a handout in just a few minutes. Check out the "Your Water. Your Decision" tool. 

 

(click the image to see an example we created using the tool.)

WREN PARTNERS WITH PA STATE ASSOCIATION OF BOROUGHS & PA MUNICIPAL PLANNING EDUCATION INSTITUTE TO OFFER 
SOURCE WATER PROTECTION TRAINING
Webinar Nov 3rd, Class Nov 16th - Murrysville 

Everywhere WREN travels around the state, we've heard the call for protection of local water resources, and interest in what can be done to protect these precious resources from potential contamination.  Girl Drinking Water Shadow 

While 85% of Pennsylvanians depend on public water supplies, many local officials are not familiar with how they can use source water protection as a powerful tool to avoid costly contamination and ensure the long term reliable supply of safe drinking water, a fundamental public asset.  Since many water suppliers do not own all or most of their water supply lands, local land use decisions can have a major impact on the purity of  drinking water sources "in the wild," and place an expensive burden on aging water treatment plants to remove pollutants.

 

To assist local municipal officials and other interested residents, WREN has formed a new partnership with PMPEI and PSAB, with participation by PA  DEP, to offer source water protection training. The PA Boroughs Association is a recognized provider of municipal training. PMPEI is a partnership of the PA Chapter of American Planning Association and the Cooperative Extension.  

 

The team plans to offer 3 evening training sessions around the state.  The first training is scheduled for November 16th from
6 pm to 9 pm at the Murrysville Community Center in Westmoreland County, and is open to all.  Program fee of $15 includes materials.  Continuing Education Credit may be available.  The team plans to kick things off with an introductory free webinar, What You Need to Know to Safeguard Public Drinking Water Supplies (Source Water Protection 101), on November 3rd from 12:00 noon to 1:30pm

 

Two additional training classes are being planned for March 2012.
To register for the Webinar, or the training class, please visit the PSAB training webpage, click on Training Schedule, or call Terri Dickow at the Boroughs Association to sign up 1-800-232-7722 ext 42. 

 

EPA LAUNCHES NEW MAPPING TOOL TO IMPROVE PUBLIC ACCESS TO ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION


EPA ECHO Map  

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of a new mapping feature in EPA's
(ECHO) database. As part of EPA's ongoing effort to improve transparency, the EPA and State Enforcement Actions Map will allow the public to access federal and state enforcement information in an interactive format and to compare enforcement information by state. The map will be refreshed monthly to include up to date information about the enforcement actions taken to address violations of air, water, and waste laws.

LOCALLY PRODUCED RIVERSAFE RAINBARRELS BOOST 

CHESAPEAKE BAY STORMWATER PROGRAMS

RiverSafe Rainbarrel 

RiverSidesan urban stormwater rain harvesting company, has started production of 750 RiverSafe RainBarrels in Ellicott City, Maryland, for the District of Columbia's RiverSmart Homes program. The District of Columbia's Department of Environment initially selected the innovative RiverSafe RainBarrel as its preferred residential cistern design in 2006. The unique RiverSafe RainBarrel combines the rain cistern and integrated diverter, bypass and filtration system that makes it a valuable tool municipalities, sewage agencies or counties can utilize to effectively address individual property roof runoff.
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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.   
Visit wren.palwv.org to learn more about WREN.