In recent months, EPA has forged ahead on several fronts to advance its agency-wide sustainability focus with separate initiatives in the areas of water resources research and water infrastructure. At a December meeting of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC), representatives from the agency’s Office of Research & Development (ORD) announced plans for a revamped water research strategy to cover cross-program, innovative issues that are more closely aligned with the sustainability focus, such as increasing the energy efficiency and cost effectiveness of drinking water treatment techniques and reducing unintended consequences of some regulatory actions. In March, EPA convened a group of water and wastewater utility executives to provide input on its Water Infrastructure Sustainability Policy, under development to help water systems enhance their planning processes by including consideration of other community sustainability goals, life-cycle cost analyses and evaluation of alternative approaches, such as natural or green systems.
At the NDWAC meeting, EPA officials said the agency is reshaping its research program to strengthen collaborations, emphasize sustainable solutions, advance innovation and creativity, focus on using external researchers and academia more effectively, and use system-wide thinking to tackle bigger problems. ORD is drafting a research framework for a Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR) research program and will develop a research plan over the summer with external review at both stages. The agency hopes to implement the SSWR research program in October 2011.
ORD is looking to assess a number of issues, including: managing risks associated with carbon dioxide sequestration; evaluating contaminants for the protection of human health and the environment; developing innovative tools for managing water resources, including stormwater; and supporting a “systems approach” for protecting aquatic systems. The SSWR program will also address potential water supply risks associated with the energy development practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, including new case studies to reflect the range of geographic and geologic situations where fracking occurs.
On a March 7 conference call, EPA sought input from a group of water managers on its proposed approach and framework for a guidance to help utilities enhance their existing planning to ensure that new and replacement projects are sustainable and consistent with other community sustainability priorities. AMWA representatives to the group are Patrick Becher, Executive Director of Mohawk Valley Water Authority, and Tracy Mercer, Director of Clearwater Public Utilities. In developing the guidance, EPA plans to refine the core elements based on the group’s feedback and then describe implementation steps, reference useful resources and case studies of utility planning, and develop “diagnostic questions” utilities can use to gauge the extent of their implementation of the core elements. The utility managers group will then have the opportunity to comment on the draft guidance.
An overview of EPA’s sustainability initiatives can be found online.