Water Program Portal

Social Systems and Justice in the Fifth National Climate Assessment
2024-03-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Climate change impacts our health, environment, and economy, with differentiated effects on communities and peoples around the United States and the globe. Human activities have been the dominant driver of climate change and it is inextricably tied to a history of human development and decision-making from individuals to organizations to entire societies. For these reasons, we cannot fully understand or respond to current or future changes in climate without understanding the history of human organization – that is, without understanding the social systems that influence these climactic changes.
This webinar shares findings from the Fifth National Climate Assessment’s Social Systems and Justice chapter. This is the first-ever chapter to address whether and how the actions taken to create, mitigate, or adapt to climate change are expected to produce just or unjust outcomes. This webinar will review the chapter’s three key messages: social systems are changing the climate and distributing its impacts inequitably; social systems structure how people perceive and communicate about climate change; and climate justice is possible if processes like migration and energy transitions are equitable. It will also discuss related materials from the report’s sectoral and regional chapters.

Effectiveness of Nutrient Management for Reducing Nutrient Losses from Agricultural Fields
2024-02-28 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
Nutrients in agricultural areas are managed based on the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship: apply the right nutrient source, with the right rate, at the right time, in the right place. However, nutrient discharge is an ongoing environmental concern, and management practices for water quality improvements present many challenges due to complex processes and mechanisms in nutrient cycling and other factors associated with agricultural conservation practices such as residue and tillage management.
This presentation will discuss two investigations focused on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) and emphasizes the need for government agencies to work together to address potential economic losses due to implementation of lower fertilizer rates for water quality improvement.

2024 Gulf Coast Water Conservation Symposium
2024-02-24 | Embassy Suites-Energy Corridor in Houston, TX, Houston, TX
This symposium brings together local water utility and resource managers, engineers, architects, educators, communicators, and community members to learn about water resource management and water conservation. The one-day program will provide information on implementing successful water conservation programs, funding opportunities for water conservation projects, effectively engaging customers, and planning for the future.
Location: Embassy Suites-Energy Corridor in Houston, TX.

Cleaner Indoor Air During Wildfires: Phase II Challenge Winners
2024-02-20 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
Exposure to PM2.5, an air pollutant from wildfire smoke and other sources, can be harmful to lung and heart health, especially for those with pre-existing health conditions. Recommended responses to reduce smoke exposure during wildfires include staying indoors with tightly sealed doors and windows and utilizing air filtration systems.
Given that current indoor air filtration technologies have limitations that prevent widespread use, EPA and its federal, state, local, and tribal partners held a Challenge to encourage the development of prototypes for novel, effective, low-cost technologies to reduce indoor PM2.5 concentrations and protect public health during wildfire smoke events.​
Winners will share their innovative prototypes for low-cost solutions that safely reduce indoor fine particulate matter during periods when outdoor PM2.5 concentrations are high. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions during a fifteen-minute Q&A session following presentations.

Lead Service Line Inventory Guidance
2024-02-13 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
1: EPA Lead Service Line Inventory Guidance
Melanie Bolden and Holly Young, EPA Office of Water
Developing a lead service line (LSL) inventory and identifying the location of LSLs is the first step for beginning LSL replacement and protecting public health. The purpose of this presentation is to walk through the EPA’s Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Lead Service Line Inventory. The guidance provides support for the service line inventory requirements according to the 2021 Lead & Copper Rule Revisions, referred to as LCRR.
2: Colorado Lead Service Line Inventory Guidance
Melanie Criswell and Haley Orahood, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
This presentation will cover Colorado’s initial service line inventory guidance policy, which builds on EPA’s LSL inventories guidance document. Colorado water systems requested a policy to formalize requirements and expectations related to issues such as calling galvanized lines non-lead, statistical modeling, and non-lead cutoff dates. Colorado will discuss some of state specific policy decisions on the initial service line inventory and potential Lead and Copper Rule Improvements impacts.

NACWA Winter Conference: Claiming the High Ground for Public Clean Water Utilities
2024-02-13 - 2024-02-16 | Austin, TX
With the theme, Claiming the High Ground for Public Clean Water Utilities, NACWA’s Winter Conference will explore how the water sector is leading by example and setting the record straight over who is responsible for the water quality improvements we have seen in the United States.
Public clean water utilities have silently performed the roles of dedicated public servant, responsible environmentalist, and indispensable essential service for years. Since the passage of the Clean Water Act over 50 years ago, these utilities have collaborated with federal and state regulators and various stakeholders in an ongoing effort to pursue the best solutions to protect their communities. This unwavering commitment has led to significant and measurable advancements in water quality and economic progress across the country. Yet, the public clean water community continues to face persistent mischaracterizations about its motivations and actions from an array of stakeholders.
Join us to hear how clean water agencies are claiming the high ground through innovation and enhancements to their operations, establishing a workplace culture that is attractive to a talented and diverse workforce, and working to better tell their stories of success – all at a time when the stakes have never been higher.

39th Annual WateReuse Symposium
2024-01-23 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Hilton Denver City Center, Denver, CO
The 39th Annual WateReuse Symposium is a celebration of a unique moment for water reuse. New funding, new collaborations, and new regulatory frameworks are elevating opportunities for reuse projects nationwide. As water reuse practitioners, we have reached this summit together. Together we can remove barriers and empower safer, more resilient, and more sustainable communities and businesses with water reuse.
The 2024 WateReuse Symposium takes place March 11-14 in Denver, Colorado. The Water Research Foundation and WateReuse Association have collaborated to present over 100 hours of research, technical, and policy content for utility staff, industrial water users, consultants, elected officials and other critical stakeholders interested in water reuse!

Water Quality Risks: Justice40 and Critical Water Infrastructure in Florida
2023-12-13 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
Through its water quality efforts in Florida, Ocean Conservancy aims to better understand outsized impacts to disadvantaged communities while working with partners to improve marine and coastal water quality. Phase one of the Critical Water Infrastructure case study focused on the Cities of Jacksonville and Orlando, and the County of Miami-Dade, due to high numbers of disadvantaged residents (59%). The results illustrate the high exposure of these residents to water-based hazards using geospatial analyses. Stakeholder interviews uncovered barriers to addressing concerns and accessing financial resources. The study concludes with an analysis of EPA State Revolving Fund spending in each location. In addition, researchers would like to hear from the audience about their water infrastructure resilience efforts and opportunities for additional engagement.
A través de sus iniciativas en materia de calidad del agua en Florida, Ocean Conservancy pretende comprender mejor las consecuencias desproporcionadas para las comunidades desfavorecidas, a la vez que trabaja con socios para mejorar la calidad del agua marina y costera. La primera fase del estudio de caso de Infraestructuras hídricas críticas se centró en las ciudades de Jacksonville y Orlando, y en el condado de Miami-Dade, debido al elevado número de residentes desfavorecidos (59 %). Mediante análisis geoespaciales, se demuestra en este estudio de caso la elevada exposición de estos residentes a los riesgos relacionados con el agua. Las entrevistas con las partes interesadas revelaron los obstáculos que impiden abordar los problemas relacionados con la calidad del agua y el acceso a los recursos financieros. El estudio concluye con un análisis del gasto del Fondo Rotatorio Estatal de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental en cada lugar. Además, los investigadores les gustaría conocer la opinión del público sobre sus esfuerzos de resiliencia respecto a las infraestructuras hídricas y las oportunidades de participación.

Water Workforce Virtual Workshop
2023-12-05 08:00 - 2023-12-06 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
Make Sure the ‘Force’ Is with You: How to Attract, Retain & Equip a Modern Workforce
December 5 & 6 | 1:00 PM ET – 4:00 PM ET
This two-day event brings together industry experts, utility leaders, and workforce development professionals to tackle the pressing workforce challenges of our time.

Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Webinars
2023-11-28 14:00 - 15:00, 2023-10-25 14:00 - 15:00, 2023-10-10 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
EPA’s WIFIA program hosts webinars for prospective borrowers to foster a greater understanding of the WIFIA program requirements and pave the way for successful applications to the program.
Join EPA’s upcoming webinars to learn more about the program’s upcoming financing opportunities.
Intended Audience:

Prospective borrowers including municipal entities, tribes, corporations, partnerships, and State Revolving Fund programs
Private and non-governmental organizations that support prospective borrowers

Upcoming WIFIA Program Webinars:

Apply for WIFIA Loans: Tuesday, October 10, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Eastern time)
Apply for WIFIA Loans: Wednesday, October 25, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Eastern time)
WIFIA Loans to State Infrastructure Financing Authorities: Tuesday, November 28, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Eastern time)

Texas NRCS Quarterly Watershed Program Update
2023-11-16 15:00 - 17:00, 2023-08-24 15:00 - 17:00, 2023-08-24 08:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Texas Watershed Program has scheduled quarterly conference calls throughout 2023 to keep watershed sponsors and others interested in Texas’s watershed program up to date on current and upcoming program activity.
The NRCS Landscape and Planning staff in Temple, Texas, will provide information on program opportunities and requirements related to Watershed Operations, Watershed Rehabilitation and Emergency Watershed Protection programs.

Local Infrastructure Hub: Promoting the Impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
2023-11-14 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
As part of the Local Infrastructure Hub, the United States Conference of Mayors is hosting a series of Zoom sessions with our partners Bloomberg Philanthropies and Results for America, which will feature Biden Administration officials and policy experts to share key funding guidance and policy and innovation expertise. These sessions focus on elevating best practices to help cities create competitive outcomes-driven applications.

Small Drinking Water Systems Webinar Series
2023-10-24 14:00 - 15:30, 2023-09-26 14:00 - 15:30, 2023-08-22 14:00 - 15:30, 2023-07-25 14:00 - 15:30, 2023-06-27 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York)
EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and Office of Water (OW) host this free webinar series to communicate the latest information on solutions for challenges facing small drinking water systems. The series is designed for state, and territory, and tribal personnel responsible for drinking water regulations compliance and treatment technologies permitting, water system operators, technical assistance providers, local government personnel, and others in the drinking water sector.

Date
Topic

May 30, 2023
Harmful Algal Blooms and Algal Toxins

June 27, 2023
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)

July 25, 2023
Wildfire Impacts on Drinking Water

August 29, 2023
Cybersecurity

September 26
Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring rule (UCMR 5)

October 31
PFAS

November 28
TBD

EPA Webinar: PFAS and Emerging Contaminant Technology Transfer to States and Tribes
2023-10-18 | Virtual
EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) hosts this monthly public webinar series to translate EPA research and share research resources and information that are useful, practical/applied and available to meet research needs of states/territories and other entities, such as tribes, local governments, and communities. In addition, the EPA Tools and Resources Training Webinar Series provides in-depth overviews and step-by-step tutorials on popular EPA science-based models and tools.

EPA Tools & Resources Training Webinar: Computational Toxicology and Exposure Online Tools
2023-10-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
EPA’s Safer Chemicals research produces a variety of computational tools to assist users in decision-making, researching, and evaluating chemicals for potential health and environmental effects. These tools offer a wealth of chemistry, toxicity, and exposure data that is publicly accessible. This webinar will provide an overview of some of these tools available including the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard, ECOTOXicology Knowledgebase (ECOTOX KB), Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility (SeqAPASS) and more.

Register for the ECOTOX/SeqAPass/Dashboard training webinar.

Sea Grant Marine Debris Challenge Competition Informational Webinar
2023-10-03 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
Sea Grant anticipates approximately $16,000,000 in FY 2024 and 2025 federal funds will be available to support innovative, transformational research to application projects that will address the prevention and/or removal of marine debris. Proposals are sought that will build upon and extend existing knowledge and efforts related to marine debris; support broad, non-proprietary, and innovative research to address critical gaps with respect to marine debris; and make that information available to communities and stakeholders.
Approximately 5-12 projects of up to three years duration may be funded. Matching funds will not be required for this competition.
This opportunity is open to any person or group within the United States or its territories, as well as tribal nations within those geographies. Applicants must submit proposals in partnership with a relevant Sea Grant program. Please note that it is not a requirement that investigators, including the PI, are part of a Sea Grant program.
Letters of intent are required in order to be eligible to submit a full proposal. Letters of intent or applications that do not come through a Sea Grant program will be rejected without review.
Please carefully review the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for specific instructions on how to apply for the competition via grants.gov.
Letters of intent must be submitted to NSGO by January 31, 2024.
Applications must be submitted to Grants.gov by March 27, 2024.
An informational webinar about the funding opportunity will be held on October 3, 2023 at 4:00 pm ET. Register in advance here.
If you have questions or need further assistance in identifying a Sea Grant Program to partner with, please contact oar.sg.marine-debris@noaa.gov and specify that your question is related to the Marine Debris Challenge Competition funding opportunity in the subject line.

Sea Grant Marine Debris Community Action Coalition Competition Informational Webinar
2023-10-02 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
The National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) anticipates approximately $3,000,000 in FY 2024 and 2025 federal funds will be available to individual Sea Grant programs in order to support approximately 10-20 Marine Debris Community Action Coalitions.
This competition is open to all Sea Grant programs. Matching funds will not be required for this competition.
Letters of intent are required in order to be eligible to submit a full proposal. Letters of intent or applications that do not come through a Sea Grant program will be rejected without review.
Please carefully review the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for specific instructions on how to apply for the competition via grants.gov.
Resources and forms, including a new application package checklist, are available on the Implementation page of Inside Sea Grant.
Letters of Intent due December 14, 2023
Full Proposals due March 5, 2024
Informational webinar on October 2, 2023 at 4:00 pm ET (register here)
Contact oar.sg.marine-debris@noaa.gov with any questions, and specify the opportunity in the subject line.

20th Annual EPA Drinking Water Workshop: Small System Challenges and Solutions
2023-09-11 - 2023-09-14 | Northern Kentucky Convention Center(Greater Cincinnati, Ohio Area), 1 W Rivercenter Blvd, Covington, KY, 41011, United States
We are excited to be celebrating the 20-year anniversary of our workshop and hope you can join us for this in-person event. For 20 years, the workshop has brought together professionals from states and territories, Tribes, federal agencies, academia, NGOs, local agencies, and others to share the latest information on challenges facing small drinking water systems and solutions to address them. To optimize networking, increase engagement, and to promote a shared learning experience, the workshop will be held as an entirely in-person event this year.
Primarily designed for tribal, state, and territory personnel responsible for drinking water regulations compliance and treatment technologies permitting, the workshop will provide current information, resources, and training needed to help in building systems capacity and sustainably and with providing equitable access to drinking water. System owners and operators, local and government personnel, academics, design engineers, technical assistance providers, and consultants may also benefit from attending.
Individuals who are unable to attend the event in person, will have the opportunity to benefit from some of the sessions in a virtual setting as part of the Small Drinking Water Systems Webinar Series. ASDWA will now be partnering with EPA on this series. The series will now be more of an extension of the in-person workshop and will continue to provide the latest information on solutions for challenges facing small drinking water systems. Webinars in this series are typically held quarterly, on the last Tuesday of the month, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.

FY24 WaterSMART CWMP and AERP Informational Webinar
2023-08-31 12:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
The Bureau of Reclamation will host an informational webinar on Thursday, August 31, 2023, from 1:00 – 3:00 pm MDT to discuss the Cooperative Watershed Management Program Phase I and the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Projects funding opportunities. Click here to join the live event or use the same link to watch a recording after the completion of the live event.
On August 7, 2023, the Bureau of Reclamation published a funding opportunity for Phase I of the WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program. The funding opportunity provides funding for collaborative, grassroots watershed groups to complete group development activities, watershed restoration planning, and watershed management project design. Reclamation will provide up to $300,000 in Federal funds to an applicant over a three-year period, with no more than $100,000 to be available per year. No non-Federal cost-share is required. Click here to access the CWMP Phase 1 funding opportunity on grants.gov. It is also accessible by searching grants.gov for funding opportunity number R23AS00362. There are two application submission periods under this funding opportunity. Applications for the first submission period are due by December 5, 2023, and applications for the second submission period are due by September 3, 2024.
On March 14th, 2023, Reclamation published a new funding opportunity, the WaterSMART Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program. Through the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program, Reclamation funds the study, design and construction of large-scale ecosystem restoration projects that are collaboratively developed, have widespread regional benefits, and result in the improvement of the health of fisheries, wildlife, and aquatic habitat. Study and design projects are eligible for between $500,000 and $2 million in Federal funding, and construction projects can receive between $3 million and $20 million. A non-federal cost share of at least 35% is required. Click here to access the AERP Funding Opportunity on grants.gov. Applications submitted by the close of the first funding period on June 1, 2023, are now under review. Applications for a second submission period to allocate FY24 funding are due January 24th, 2024. A total of $95 million will be distributed between the two funding cycles.
Learn more about this and other funding opportunities at Reclamation’s WaterSMART webpage. If you have questions regarding applicant and project eligibility or the evaluation criteria, click here and select the applicable funding opportunity to schedule a time to talk with the program coordinators.

Partnerships for Advancing Clean Water Infrastructure
2023-08-08 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual
Join federal environmental policy experts, Mayors, and leaders in the field to discuss the best strategies for working with your state’s leadership to enhance your cities water quality infrastructure.
