Sustainability Roadmap Provides Next Steps for EUM
A new guide from EPA, Moving Toward Sustainability: Water Sector Utility Roadmap of Practices, has been issued to help water systems address management challenges. The project is a “build-out” of the Effective Utility Management (EUM) attributes and provides new ideas and directions for utilities that have already made substantial progress in implementing the attributes. Developed with input from a steering committee of water and wastewater utility managers, the guide discusses how water systems can move from a conventional management framework to an “emergent” model.
The roadmap is online at http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/sustain/sustainable_systems.cfm.
EPA Releases Strategic Plan and Water Technology Innovation Blueprint
In April, EPA released its FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan and Version 2 of its Water Technology Innovation Blueprint. In announcing the strategic plan, Administrator Gina McCarthy said the agency will address the “complex array of environmental challenges we face by advancing a rigorous research and development agenda that informs and supports our policy and decision making with timely and innovative technology and sustainable solutions.”
The blueprint, Promoting Technology and Innovation for Clean and Safe Water, aims to identify new management approaches and techniques to support water sustainability. It lists actions EPA will take to “support our common quest for water sustainability,” related to advocating for technology innovation and supporting the delivery of proven technologies.
The strategic plan is online at http://www2.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan and the blueprint is found at http://www2.epa.gov/innovation/water-technology-innovation.