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NEWS AND RESOURCES FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

EPA announces final study plan to assess hydraulic fracturing

WASHINGTON (EPA)—The EPA announced Nov. 3, 2011, its final research plan on hydraulic fracturing. At the request of Congress, EPA is working to better understand potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.

In March 2010, EPA announced its intention to conduct the study in response to a request from Congress. Since then, the agency has held a series of public meetings across the nation to receive input from states, industry, environmental and public health groups, and individual citizens. In addition, the study was reviewed by the Science Advisory Board (SAB), an independent panel of scientists, to ensure the agency conducted the research using a scientifically sound approach.

The initial research results and study findings will be released to the public in 2012. The final report will be delivered in 2014.

The final study plan looks at the full cycle of water in hydraulic fracturing, from the acquisition of the water, through the mixing of chemicals and actual fracturing, to the post-fracturing stage, including the management of flowback and produced or used water as well as its ultimate treatment and disposal. Earlier in 2011, EPA announced its selection of locations for five retrospective and two prospective case studies.

More information: www.epa.gov/hydraulicfracturing

EPA’s WaterSense program to label innovative watering technology

WASHINGTON (EPA)—The EPA’s WaterSense program announced Nov. 3, 2011, that irrigation controllers will soon be the first outdoor product eligible to earn the WaterSense label. The most efficient irrigation controllers, which operate like a thermostat for your sprinkler system by telling it when to turn on and off, may provide home and building owners the ability to save 110 billion gallons of water and roughly $410 million per year on utility bills.

“As much as half of the water we use on our landscapes goes to waste due to evaporation, wind, and improperly scheduled irrigation systems,” said Sheila Frace, Director of EPA’s Office of Water’s Municipal Support Division. “WaterSense-labeled irrigation controllers are designed to do the thinking for you and apply water only when needed, to ensure a healthy landscape that doesn’t waste water.”

Residential outdoor watering in the United States accounts for more than 7 billion gallons of water each day, mainly for landscape irrigation. For many homeowners, the practice is “set it and forget it.” When watering schedules for irrigation system are set during the hottest and driest months and not adjusted when the weather changes, the result is overwatering for much of the year. WaterSense-labeled irrigation controllers, which monitor watering needs based on local weather data, can use significantly less water by applying water only when plants need it – reducing annual water bills and offering convenience and peace-of-mind while keeping landscapes healthy.

Controllers with the WaterSense label could be available this spring. Like all WaterSense-labeled products, WaterSense-labeled irrigation controllers must be independently certified to meet EPA’s criteria for water efficiency and performance.

WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by EPA, seeks to protect the future of the nation's water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services. More information on WaterSense is at www.epa.gov/watersense

Revamped sustainable water infrastructure web pages

Communities depend on drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure for the health of their people and the vitality of the local economy. With the release of the Wastewater and Drinking Water Infrastructure Sustainability Policy last fall, the EPA took the next step in its efforts to work with the water sector as it moves towards more sustainable practices. To this end, the EPA has launched an enhanced set of web pages to provide information and resources for meeting the water infrastructure challenges faced in communities across the country. 

Local elected officials and decision makers play a vital role in safeguarding the shared community assets that make up the nation’s water infrastructure. To support local officials as they meet these challenges, the updated web pages also have a new section specifically for these officials. The pages provide information, resources, and materials designed to meet the needs of local officials committed to leaving a legacy of sustainable water infrastructure. The section provides information that every local official should know about their community’s water infrastructure and offers concrete, achievable steps that local officials can take to put their community on a more sustainable path or enhance existing efforts to address their water infrastructure needs.

The revamped sustainable infrastructure web pages: http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/sustain/index.cfm. 

Section for local officials: http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/sustain/localofficals.cfm

Report on the National Characteristics of Drinking Water Systems Serving 10,000 or Fewer People available online

The EPA has updated a report titled National Characteristics of Drinking Water Systems Serving 10,000 or Fewer People.

EPA first published this report in 1999, after the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, to serve as a source of information for small drinking water systems and stakeholders that work with small systems. The central purpose of generating this report is to share characteristics of small public drinking water systems to better understand their challenges and better target technical assistance to improve their technical, managerial and financial capacity.

This report updates the data on small systems based on the new information drawn from the 2006 Community Water System Survey, the 2007 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment, the Safe Drinking Water Information Systems (SDWIS), the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund National Information Management System and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The report is available at http://water.epa.gov/type/drink/pws/smallsystems/state_guidance.cfm

EPA launches new mapping tool to improve public access to enforcement information

WASHINGTON (EPA)–The EPA has released a new mapping feature in EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (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 action 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.

Map users can choose the year, the media (air, water, waste, multiple), and whether they would like to display enforcement information for actions taken at the federal level, state level, or both. Users can then click on a state to view facility locations and click on a facility to list its name, the environmental statute the facility has an enforcement action under, and a link to a detailed facility compliance report.

ECHO provides integrated searches of EPA and state data about inspections, violations and enforcement actions for more than 800,000 regulated facilities.

Enforcement and Compliance History Online: www.epa-echo.gov

OTHER NEWS

RCAP among partners that renew agreement with EPA on septic-system improvements

RCAP Executive Director Robert Stewart (right) signs a renewal of a six-year-old agreement among state and local governments and wastewater industry organizations aimed at improving the performance of septic systems on Nov. 9, 2011. Stewart committed RCAP to continue with the EPA and 15 partner organizations in a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to address pollution from the nation’s 26 million septic systems.

White House Rural Council delivers report on jobs and economic security for rural America

The White House Rural Council released a new report in August last year titled “Jobs and Economic Security for Rural America,” which lays out the economic landscape rural Americans face today and highlights the Obama administration’s key accomplishments in rural communities.  The report focuses on five critical areas: creating jobs and promoting economic growth, improving access to quality health care and education, fostering innovation, expanding outdoor opportunities, and supporting veterans and military families.

“This report underscores the commitment my administration is making to rural communities,” said President Obama. “It highlights some of the many programs and policies my administration has implemented in rural America to support economic growth. It also offers a look at the economic agenda we will continue to pursue during my presidency.”

“This report highlights the importance of understanding some of the specific needs as well as unique opportunities found within rural America,” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said. “It also presents vital strategies that can and will be used to seize those opportunities and tackle some of the toughest challenges facing our rural communities.”

On June 9, 2011, Obama signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Rural Council to accelerate the ongoing work of promoting economic growth in rural America. The council is focused on increasing rural access to capital, spurring agricultural innovation, expanding digital and physical infrastructure in rural areas, and creating economic opportunities through conservation and outdoor recreation.

Related to the areas RCAP works in, the report notes that the administration has provided nearly 9 million rural residents access to a safe water supply and sanitary sewer system and over 3.7 million rural residents access to new or improved systems that will deliver safe, clean drinking water.

In August, the president took a three-day economic bus tour in the Midwest. As part of the tour, he and members of the White House Rural Council hosted the White House Rural Economic Forum in Peosta, Iowa, that brought together farmers, small business owners, private sector leaders, rural organizations, and government officials to discuss ideas and initiatives to promote economic growth, accelerate hiring, and spur innovation in rural communities and small towns across the nation.

The forum was part of a series of more than 100 events held across the country last summer with senior administration officials to advance the council’s objectives.

Read the report here: www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/jobs_economic_security_rural_america.pdf

USDA updates information on conditions and trends in rural income, poverty and welfare

The USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) has provided an update of conditions and trends in the areas of rural income, poverty, and welfare as of Sept. 17, 2011. ERS research in this area focuses on the economic, social, and demographic factors that affect the income and poverty status of rural residents and their participation in federal-assistance programs, including food assistance programs.

The summary states:

Unprecedented economic growth during the 1990s benefited rural areas, but some of that benefit has since been lost due to nationwide recession. Between 1993 and 2000, real median income for nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) households grew by 10.5 percent, and the percentage of people in poverty fell from 17.2 to 13.4 percent. Between 2000 and 2009, nonmetro median household income decreased from $40,999 to $40,135 (in 2009 dollars), while the nonmetro poverty rate rose from 13.4 percent to 16.6 percent. The 2010 nonmetro poverty rate (16.5 percent) did not change significantly from 2009.

The past ten years have also seen the continuation of a 30-year trend toward rising government transfer payments to nonmetro residents, which in 2009 accounted for 24.9 percent of nonmetro personal income, compared to 15.2 percent in metro areas. The increase is mainly a result of the rising cost of medical care nationwide. However, recessionary growth in unemployment insurance compensation and food stamp payments has also been a contributing factor. The nonmetro/metro difference is largely due to a higher proportion of older people and persons with disabilities in nonmetro areas.     

The share of residents with incomes below the poverty level is also greater in nonmetro than in metropolitan (metro) areas, a trend that has persisted since the 1960s when poverty rates were first officially recorded. In both metro and nonmetro areas, poverty is similarly characterized as unequally distributed by race/ethnicity, family structure, and age. Areas with a high incidence of poverty are concentrated in the South, and most reflect the relatively low income of their racial/ethnic minorities, female-headed families, and households with children.

All regions and most nonmetro population groups have recently experienced poverty-rate increases due to the 2007 to 2009 recession, but single-parent families and Hispanics in particular have been significantly impacted. In total, an estimated 7.9 million people living in nonmetro areas were poor in 2010, which is 0.6 million greater than the number of nonmetro poor in 2008.

More information: www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/IncomePovertyWelfare

Former RCAP director: Minorities pay more for water and sewer

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Racial minorities pay systemically more for basic water and sewer services than white people, according to a study by Michigan State University researchers.

This “structural inequality” is not necessarily a product of racism, argues sociologist Stephen Gasteyer, but rather the result of whites fleeing urban areas and leaving minority residents to bear the costs of maintaining aging water and sewer infrastructure.

Gasteyer, assistant professor of sociology, is the former Director of Community Development at the RCAP national office.

“This study demonstrates a disturbing racial effect to the cost of basic services,” said Gasteyer. “People of color have the fewest opportunities to leave urban centers and are left to pay for the crumbling legacy of a bygone economic era.”

The findings by Gasteyer and Rachel Butts will appear in an upcoming issue of the research journal Environmental Practice.

The researchers analyzed census data on self-reported water and sewer costs in Michigan. The study found that urban residents actually pay more than rural residents, which refutes conventional wisdom, Gasteyer said.

But perhaps more importantly, Gasteyer said, water and sewer services cost more in areas with greater proportions of racial minorities.

Detroit is the “poster child” for this problem, Gasteyer said. The city has lost more than 60 percent of its population since 1950, and the water and sewer infrastructure is as much as a century old in some areas. Billions of gallons of water are lost through leaks in the aging lines every year, and the entire system has been under federal oversight since 1977 for wastewater violations.

“A fair proportion of Detroit’s large low-income population cannot afford the burden of rate increases meant to offset infrastructure repairs, leading to tens of thousands of customers getting their water turned off every year,” Gasteyer said.

Water and sewer lines are aging throughout the country. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, hundreds of billions of dollars will be needed to repair deteriorating systems over the next 20 years.

Paying for those upgrades likely will be a major issue in shrinking cities such as Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Birmingham, Ala., and many others, Gasteyer said.

“Everything is wearing out, and we are going to have to grapple with how we pay for these so-called liquid assets that need to be upgraded,” Gasteyer said. “At the same time, we need to be cognizant of who may be paying an unsustainable burden as those rates go up.”

Report on nation’s water infrastructure released

Infrastructure is the lifeline of our economy, and like everything, it has a lifespan. In many areas, the roads, drinking water systems and dams are simply too old. The 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has graded the country’s water and wastewater infrastructure with a D-minus.

ASCE’s report released in mid-December last year, titled “Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Water and Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure,” shows that this infrastructure is aging and overburdened and that investment is not keeping up with the need. However, a modest increase in investment in drinking water, wastewater, and wet-weather water-quality measures can prevent future economic losses.

The ASCE regularly evaluates infrastructure in each industry—transportation, water and sewer, bridges, dams and others.

The water report looked at the economic impact of underinvestment—the cost in terms of lost business sales, loss in gross domestic product, job losses, and water-borne illnesses if aging water and sewer systems are not replaced. According to the report’s authors, the U.S. could suffer more than $700 billion in losses by 2020 and ten times that amount by 2040 if we don’t act more quickly.

The authors also analyzed the water infrastructure needs in the U.S. compared with current and projected spending to identify the funding gap. The EPA sees the need at $126 billion in 2020, while roughly $42 billion will get funded, leaving a gap of $84 billion in repairs and projects that won’t be addressed. This gap only widens over time.

The full report on water: www.asce.org/uploadedFiles/Infrastructure/Failure_to_Act/ASCE%20WATER%20REPORT%20FINAL.pdf

Other articles in this issue:

• Director's Letter
• USDA and EPA encourage partnerships among water systems
• Five things you can do to save on energy in your utility
• Legislative Matters
• RCAP produces new publications and other resources for small communities