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Editor's
Notes:
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The Pennsylvania Rural Water Association
(PRWA) has announced the launch of PRWA Financial Services. This new program
provides financing, billing and collection services, and line insurance.
Loans can be used for construction financing, equipment loans,
working capital lending, and debt refinancing.
Happy World
Water Monitoring Day! This international water monitoring event
occurs annually on October 18 to commemorate the passage of the Clean
Water Act. Between September 18 and October 18, communities and groups
are encouraged to monitor the condition of local rivers, streams,
estuaries, and other water bodies, and submit the data online for
inclusion in the international database.
The Stroud
Water Research Center is seeking volunteers to help plant 2,300
trees this fall, provided through the TreeVitalize Program. Trees will
be planted along the banks of White Clay Creek on Oct. 14, 21, and 28 in
Jennersville (Route 1 and Route 796), Chester County.
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Topic of
the Month
Recent PA DEP Ruling Clarifies
Antidegradation Requirements
PA DEP recently appeared in front of the
Environmental Hearing Board in defense of an Individual NPDES permit that
was issued to Alpine Rose Resorts, Inc. in a High Quality watershed. In the
case, Blue Mountain Preservation Association, Inc. argued that DEP did not
follow the Antidegradation requirements set out in 25 Pa. Code Chapter
93.4a-d. The judge ruled that specific and particular analyses are required
to be undertaken as part of the antidegradation regulation compliance. More...
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News Clips
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Delaware River States Plan To Lower NYC Reservoirs,
Form Task Force
A plan for managing releases
from New York City’s reservoirs and for establishing
a task force to examine broader flood mitigation
issues in the Delaware River watershed is currently
being developed. More...
New Federal Law Offers Incentives for Land
Preservation
The new Federal Pension
Protection Act helps protect family farms, working forests, wildlife,
and water with added tax benefits. More...
PA DEP Issues Violation
Notices to Owners of 46 Dams Without Emergency Action Plans
PA DEP recently issued notices of
violation (NOVs) to the owners of 46 high-hazard dams that are operating
without emergency action plans. More...
The Greener Side of Brownfields
Years of abandonment
have allowed many of our nation's derelict and contaminated factory
sites (brownfields) to return to nature, providing habitat for endangered
species and other wildlife and valuable open space for recreation.
Can brownfields redevelopment plans, designed for economic and
aesthetic benefits, actually be a detriment to these hidden urban natural
treasures? More...
Philly Floodplain Mapping Too Precise
Temple University's new precision
floodplain mapping techniques reveal that more homes and people are
at risk across the Philadelphia region than the federal government
previously believed. More.....
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Policy Update
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PA Governor Rendell called
on Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation to work with Congress to provide
a supplemental appropriation of $8 million for streambank
stabilization and debris removal along waterways impacted by June’s
heavy rain and flooding. The governor is also suggesting a potential
amendment to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Assistance Act
to alleviate future stream-related problems. |
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The Bush administration has declared
that federal employees may no longer pursue whistleblower claims under
the Clean Water Act. |
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NJDEP/NJDOT are encouraging
residents and policymakers to share their ideas about the future of New
Jersey's network of recreational trails by participating in several
forums being held this month. Trail users also can complete an online
survey which aims to gauge public opinion on trail use patterns,
issues, deficiencies and priorities. |
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USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Pennsylvania announced that USDA is issuing payments of $2,250,000 in Emergency
Conservation Program (ECP) funding to farmers and land owners in
fifteen counties due to flooding.
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Under the new Healthy
Lawns and Clean Water Initiative, Pennsylvania
and its partners in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are working to cut the amount of phosphorus used in lawn care products throughout
the 64,000-square-mile basin in
half by 2009. |
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The Celtic
people were in superstitious awe of times and places "in
between." Holy sites were often located in border places - the shore
between land and water, bridges, boundaries between territories
(especially when marked by bodies of water), crossroads, thresholds, etc.
Rituals and holidays were also held during border times - twilight and
dawn marking the transitions of night and day; Beltaine
(May Day) and Samhain
(Halloween) marking the transitions of summer and winter.
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Calanais Stone
Circle, Scotland
Photo courtesy Diego Meozzi, Stone
Pages.com
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At Samhain,
time lost all meaning and the dead walked among the living. Many of the
modern traditions of Halloween derive from Pagan and Druid customs. It was
a time of prophesies, of disguising oneself to avert evil, of performing
rites of protection from the dead and Otherworldly spirits. http://www.druidry.org/obod/festivals/samhain.html
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From Tools of Death to
Symbols of Hope
One of Colombia's top musical instrument
makers, Luis
Alberto Paredes, has branched out from traditional guitarmaking and
began fashioning
electric guitars from shotguns and AK47 rifles once used by fighters
caught up in the country's lingering guerilla conflict. Paredes got
the idea from observing that an armed security guard held his gun in a similar manner
to the way one holds a guitar.
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Link Of
The Month
New EPA Watershed Assessment Tool Site
EPA has developed a new data architecture for watershed reporting and
mapping called WATERS (Watershed Assessment,
Tracking, and Environmental ResultS). WATERS offers multiple reporting and mapping tools
that can perform cross-program
queries either on watersheds or particular waterbodies. Queries can
reveal information such as permit records and discharge monitoring records
from a point source facility on a waterbody, or water quality monitoring
information from a sampling station on a waterbody. In addition, EPA and
USGS will be unveiling a suite of products called NHDPlus, that will allow more advanced queries and
analyses such as stream network modeling, flow direction, and pollutant
dilution modeling. As these data are completed, they will become available
for download on the WATERS website. http://www.epa.gov/waters/tools/index.html
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A National Gardening
Association study recently found that fewer than 50 percent of people
working in their yards employ practices consistent with important
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environmental principles, such as building healthy soil, preventing
landscape pollution, reducing stormwater runoff, and managing pest
problems responsibly. To help people become
more aware of the links between their yards and the environment, a diverse
voluntary coalition called the “Lawns and the Environment Initiative”
has been formed to develop the Environmental Guidelines for Responsible
Lawn Care and Landscaping. The Guidelines can be downloaded here.
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New
Tools and Publications
PA Fish and Boat Catch-and-Release
Studies
Pennsylvania’s trout anglers are big on recycling – fish that is. Two
newly-released Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission/Penn State University
studies found that the state’s trout anglers have high catch rates and
high release rates as well. In fact, most trout caught in Pennsylvania’s
waters are released, in turn extending and improving recreational fishing
opportunities. The studies found that anglers fishing stocked trout streams in the
spring caught slightly more than one trout per hour fished, on average;
63.1% of those fish were subsequently released. During the course of the
legal fishing season on wild trout waters, an amazing 92.7% of wild
trout were released. http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Fish_Boat/newsreleases/2006/creel.htm
New Guide Highlights Incentives for Agriculture Water Quality Trading
By selling the amounts of nutrients or sediment reduced by conservation
practices, agricultural producers are finding opportunities to profit from stewardship activities. A new manual, Getting Paid
for Stewardship: An Agricultural Community Water Quality Trading Guide, helps
interested partners get started. The guide has information for producers who
want to develop a trading program in their watershed, provides a basic
understanding of trading, and includes contact information. http://www.conservationinformation.org/?action=learningcenter_publications_waterqualitytrading
Two New Smart Growth Reports
A new report from the International Economic Development Council
(IEDC), "Economic Development and Smart Growth,"
highlights the connections between smart growth and economic outcomes such
as job growth, occupancy rates, tax base, and private investment. The report
uses detailed case studies to
illustrate economic outcomes in places that have incorporated smart growth
development strategies. The case studies profile diverse projects in
Lakewood, Colorado; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Paducah, Kentucky;
Indianapolis, Indiana; Portland, Oregon; Burlington, Iowa; Silver Spring,
MD; and Columbus, Ohio. http://www.iedconline.org/downloads/smart_growth.pdf
A second new smart growth
publication strives to address the growing debate in recent years about the exact definition of
smart growth. The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the
Smart Growth Network have released "This Is Smart Growth," a new
resource that illustrates and explains smart growth concepts and outcomes. The publication
features 40 places around the country where good development has improved residents' quality
of life. Photos illustrate how these communities have invested taxpayer
money wisely, offered people more choices in housing and transportation,
protected natural and working lands, promoted healthy environments, and created
a lasting legacy for the community. http://www.smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=2367
New Report on Bioretention Practices
North Carolina State University
recently released a new document detailing the results of a research project
examining the performance of bioretention cells installed in four North Carolina
cities. The authors of Bioretention Performance, Design, Construction, and
Maintenance report that bioretention cells will efficiently remove nutrients and
other pollutants from stormwater. The document summarizes the research findings,
discusses design considerations, and explores how filter media can be changed to
address various nutrients. http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/PublicationFiles/Bioretention2006.pdf
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Newsletter
Editor/ Design and Layout:
Rebecca Buerkett |
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