House Forms Water Caucus

Members of a newly organized bipartisan Congressional Water Caucus sent a Dear Colleague letter in mid-August, inviting members of Congress to join. The letter, signed by five co-chairs and 29 members of the House of Representatives, states that the caucus will allow members of Congress committed to the goals of promoting dialogue about our nation’s water issues to have a meaningful educational venue and forum, and provide timely, scientific information and dialogue about water resources and water use.

The caucus set forth 12 principles of water policy they will pursue, which include ensuring an adequate supply of fresh water for all U.S. citizens, considering all available technologies for increasing the water supply while safeguarding the environment, implementing strategies for water reuse, reducing bureaucratic red tape for local communities seeking to build water infrastructure, encouraging federal support for ground water banking for sustainable water supplies, and collecting and sharing water data to determine the effective policies.

New Grant Program For Water 2025 Plan

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has announced a new grant program under the Department of Interior’s Water 2025 initiative that will enable water users to perform broad studies of the efficiency of their water-delivery systems.

The Bureau of Reclamation will award the funds for System Optimization Reviews, each of which will result in a plan of action that will focus on improving operational efficiency. Most improvements identified in the reviews will be eligible to apply to the Water 2025 Challenge Grant Program for additional funding.

To be eligible for one of the new System Optimization Review grants, applicants must represent an irrigation or water district, tribal water authority, state governmental entity with water management authority, or organizations created under state law with water delivery authority; be located in the 17 western states; provide a 50/50 cost share; request no more than $300,000 federal cost-share; and be scheduled for completion in 24 months.

Water 2025 encourages voluntary water banks and other market-based measures as authorized under state law, promotes the use of new technology for water conservation and efficiency and removes institutional barriers to increase cooperation and collaboration among federal, state, tribal and private organizations.

New Guidance About Watershed Permitting

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a new technical guidance designed to help integrate National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits into watershed management plans. Watershed-Based NPDES Permitting Tech-nical Guidance is a follow-up to the 2003 implementation guidance and leads permitting interested parties through the analysis of watershed data and developing a framework for implementing an NPDES program.

The guidance supports approaches to permitting that may help target the watersheds’ most pressing environmental needs. The approaches will help achieve water quality-based effluent limitations based on water quality standards, while providing opportunities for cost reductions and improved efficiencies, such as water-quality trading. The guidance includes case studies describing how watershed approaches involving NPDES permitting have been implemented across the country.

Disbanding Great Lakes Committee

A legislative study committee formed last year to consider approval of a regional compact to manage the use of Great Lakes water has been disbanded after failing to reach consensus on the issue.

Wisconsin senator Neal Kedzie, said in a letter to legislative leaders that he is disbanding the study committee after a year’s worth of work because the panel could not reach a consensus on legislation that would implement and ratify the agreement. Committee members who opposed the compact were concerned about several issues, but mostly were reluctant to recommend an agreement that would require Wisconsin to surrender sovereignty over management of Great Lakes water to the other seven states involved.

The compact, drawn up over several years and endorsed by the Great Lakes Council of Governors in 2005, would govern how eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces manage the crucial freshwater resource over the next century.

Todd Ambs, who directs water policy for the state Department of Natural Resources and served on the Kedzie committee, says legislation to approve the compact still could be introduced.
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