ENVIRO-NEWS: EPA Water Headlines for the week of June 13, 2011

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From: "Makuch, Joseph" <Joseph.Makuch@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Jun 14, 2011 4:10 PM
Subject: [ENVIRO-NEWS] EPA Water Headlines for the week of June 13, 2011
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-----Original Message-----
From: Travis Loop [mailto:loop.travis@epa.gov]
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 9:34 PM
Subject: [waterheadlines] Water Headlines for the week of June 13, 2011

Water Headlines for the week of June 13, 2011

Water Headlines is a weekly on-line publication that announces
publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of Water

In This Week's Water Headlines:

1) U.S. EPA, NOAA Increase Protection of Public, Property in Coastal
Communities through New Partnership

2) EPA Extends Comment Period for Draft Construction General Permit

3) Join EPA for its "Introduction to the National Pretreatment Program"
Webcast
[deletions]

1)  U.S. EPA, NOAA Increase Protection of Public, Property in Coastal
Communities through New Partnership

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a joint agreement that
will protect the safety, health and property of people living in or
visiting coastal communities around the nation.  Under the agreement,
the two agencies will partner with local governmental entities to
improve the sustainability of waterfront communities and protect coastal
ecosystems, including anticipating and reducing impacts of climate
change.

As part of the agreement, EPA and NOAA will provide technical assistance
and training to implement more sustainable construction and land use
practices, develop Innovative, web-based tools to better provide the
public and local government with essential scientific and technical
information, collaborate on the development of the National Coastal
Condition Assessment and Reports which depict the condition of the
nation's coastal waters based on data collected and analyzed by state
agencies, and support place-based projects focused on equitable
development and climate adaptation in coastal urban watersheds.

This  agreement builds on a 2005-2010 EPA-NOAA partnership which
provided training on resilience and smart growth to over 400 coastal
community officials and developed the publication Smart Growth for
Coastal and Waterfront Communities.
For more information about the new agreement, please visit
www.csc.noaa.gov/publications/2011-EPA-NOAA-MOA.pdf

2) EPA Extends Comment Period for Draft Construction General Permit

EPA is extending the public comment period for the draft Construction
General Permit (CGP) from June 24, 2011, to July 11, 2011, to give
stakeholders additional time to review the draft permit and provide
comments. The draft permit, published on April 25, 2011, regulates the
discharge of stormwater from construction sites that disturb one acre or
more of land and from smaller sites that are part of a larger common
plan of development in areas where EPA is the permitting authority,
including four states (Idaho, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Idaho);
Washington, D.C.; most territories; and most Indian country lands.  The
draft CGP includes a number of modifications to the current permit, many
of which are necessary to implement the new Effluent Limitations
Guidelines and New Source Performance Standards for Construction and
Development point sources, known as the "C&D rule."

For additional information on the Construction General Permit and to
view a copy of the Federal Register notice announcing the comment period
extension, please visit http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/cgp.cfm.

3) Join EPA for its "Introduction to the National Pretreatment Program"
Webcast

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering a webcast
titled, "Introduction to the National Pretreatment Program," on
Thursday, June 30, 2011, from 1:00-3:00 PM Eastern time. The webcast is
designed to provide a brief overview of the National Pretreatment
Program for interested parties, including but not limited to states,
publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and industry stakeholders, who
are unfamiliar with the program's requirements.

The National Pretreatment Program is a cooperative effort of federal,
state, and local regulatory environmental agencies established to
protect water quality. The program is designed to reduce the level of
pollutants discharged by industry and other non-domestic wastewater
sources into municipal sewer systems, and, thereby, reduce the amount of
pollutants released into the environment through wastewater. The
objectives of the program are to protect POTWs from pollutants that may
interfere with plant operation, to prevent pollutants that may pass
through untreated from being introduced into POTWs, and to improve
opportunities for POTWs to reuse wastewater and sludges that are
generated.

Topics covered during the webcast will include: how the Clean Water Act
pertains to the National Pretreatment Program, an overview of the
general pretreatment regulations (40 CFR Part 403), and POTW
pretreatment program implementation requirements.

For more information on the webcast, including information on speakers
and instructions on how to register, please visit:
http://www.epa.gov/npdes/training.  For additional information on EPA's
National Pretreatment Program, visit:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=3.
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