Water Resources

The breathtaking $1 trillion estimated price tag to repair and expand our nation’s drinking water infrastructure is both sobering and compelling (LaFrance, 2013). To address this costly issue, some water utilities and the communities they serve are turning to a solution nearly as old as our nation itself—protecting forested watersheds. Increasing evidence suggests that healthy forests produce water that is less expensive to treat, transport, and store.

Streams are impacted by the development of roads, building of condominiums and box stores, placement of stream crossings and culverts, even stream restoration activities. Many of the activities are subject to state and/or federal dredge and fill permits. So, how extensive are these impacts and what is happening in each state to address them? Read more (PDF download)

Nancy Steele was recently featured in a California film on how swales and rain gardens can protect watersheds from runoff. See the episode (#7) and others

From the American Journal of Public Health: The Drinking Water Disparities Framework: On the Origins and Persistence of Inequities in Exposure Carolina L. Balazs, PhD, and Isha Ray, PhDAt the time of research, both authors were with Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley. Contributors

The state Department of Environmental Protection is facing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit over its refusal to provide a public interest law firm with a slice of agency data that shows recent water pollution levels at coal-mining operations across West Virginia. Lawyers from Appalachian Mountain Advocates sued DEP in Kanawha Circuit Court after the agency turned down their request for “discharge monitoring report,” or DMR, data that mine operators are required to file with the agency to disclose pollution levels under state and federal clean water laws.

I have been working in the area of water resource policy and management for two decades and specifically on reducing the impacts of stormwater pollution for the last eleven years. At ASWM, among my many other projects, I am currently working to identify states where stormwater management considerations are being integrated into the management of wetlands and, conversely, where the protection and restoration of natural wetlands are effectively being integrated into stormwater management planning.