America's Children and the Environment
2026-02-18 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Virtual
EPA’s America’s Children and the Environment (ACE) serves as a national barometer for children’s environmental health, featuring over 35 environmental and health indicators. ACE indicators monitor the progress of EPA’s core mission to protect children’s health. Essential to the ACE tool is its ability to compile vetted data from a variety of high-quality, nationally representative sources to present informative and reliable indicators on children’s environmental health; inform and enhance discussions on key children’s environmental health issues; track trends in children’s environmental health and help identify opportunities for EPA to further our core mission to protect the nation’s children and families. This webinar will explain the foundations of ACE indicators, ACE’s utilization of new resources and tools, and how ACE is dedicated to better empowering parents and caregivers with practical guidance and resources under Make America Healthy Again (MAHA).

Headworks: The Start to Wastewater Treatment
2026-02-19 10:00 - 11:00 | Virtual
Join us for a one-hour essential overview of headworks—the critical first line of defense in wastewater treatment facilities. This one-hour webinar is designed for wastewater operators, utility board members, and municipal decision-makers seeking to understand how headworks systems protect and support treatment facilities.
We’ll cover the essential components found in headworks (screens, grit removal, and flow measurement), explore common operational and maintenance considerations, and explain how effective headworks performance impacts the entire treatment process. Whether you’re hands-on in daily operations or making strategic decisions about your utility’s infrastructure, you’ll gain practical knowledge about this vital preliminary treatment stage and its role in protecting downstream equipment and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Presenter: James Markham, Research Engineer at the Southwest Environmental Finance Center

2026 DC Environmental Film Festival Water Programs Preview
2026-02-19 15:00 - 17:00 | Reservoir Center for Water Solutions
Join us at the Reservoir Center for Water Solutions for an exclusive first-look at our 2026 films and programs focused on water issues.

DCEFF returns March 19-28! Join Festival organizers and partners at the Reservoir Center for an exclusive first look at some of this years programs focused on water issues.
You’ll see clips, hear exciting announcements about what to expect this March, and have a chance to connect with an amazing community of environmentalists and film enthusiasts.
More About DCEFF 2026:
The Environmental Film Festival returns March 19-28 for our 34th year. Our 2026 theme Against the Current will frame a lineup dedicated to amplifying the unwavering voices of those who press on in defense of our planet, even in the face of significant challenges.
Screenings and conversations, many of which are free, will again take place at venues throughout the DC metro area, including museums, embassies, universities, and other arts and cultural institutions.

Advancing Nutrient Solutions for Estuary Management
2026-02-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
Developing Dissolved Oxygen Criteria to Protect Propagation of Atlantic Sturgeon in Tidal Fresh Delaware River – Jim Hagy, EPA Office of Water
For decades, dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in the tidal-fresh Delaware River have been too low to support propagation of migratory fish, including the endangered Atlantic Sturgeon. In 2022, EPA determined that propagation of oxygen-sensitive migratory fish was an attainable use. Following an intensive period of method development and related policy development, EPA proposed new protective DO criteria in late 2023. EPA finalized the criteria in September 2025. This presentation will describe the physiologically-based cohort model and other aspects of the technical approach that EPA developed to support the rule.
2) Optimizing Nutrient Reductions Across the Long Island Sound Basin – Naomi Detenbeck, EPA Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions
This presentation provides an overview of the updates to EPA’s River Basin Export Reduction Optimization Support Tool (RBEROST); a description of linkages to source loads from the USGS dynamic SPARROW model for North Shore watersheds and a groundwater-based model for loads for South Shore watersheds; and preliminary results. RBEROST is designed to enable stakeholders to identify cost-effective solutions to meet watershed nutrient loading targets, considering potential upgrades to septic systems or wastewater treatment plants, implementation of stormwater best management practices or agricultural conservation practices, and restoration of riparian zones. EPA previously released two static versions of RBEROST and is preparing to release an expanded, dynamic version.

Presenters
Jim Hagy, EPA Office of Water
Dr. Hagy is a coastal environmental scientist in EPA’s Office of Water who has conducted scientific research and supported water quality management and policy development related to nutrients, eutrophication, and hypoxia in U.S. coastal waters. His research has addressed science and policy throughout the United States, with particular focus on Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf Coast, and recently Long Island Sound and the tidal-fresh Delaware River. Dr. Hagy’s recent work provided the technical basis for revised dissolved oxygen criteria for the tidal fresh Delaware River, which EPA promulgated in September 2025.

Naomi Detenbeck, EPA Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions
Dr. Detenbeck is an ecologist at EPA’s OASES Coastal Science Solutions Division in Narragansett, RI. Her current research is focused on the development and application of decision-support tools for watershed management (WMOST, RBEROST), refinement of spatial statistical temperature models for evaluating restoration options, and development of EPA’s Estuary Data Mapper. Her past research has included work on biogeochemistry, wetlands, landscape ecology, nutrient criteria development, and watershed classification. She holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Minnesota.

Moderators:

Brenda Rashleigh, EPA Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions
Brenna Friday, EPA Office of Water
