WRRC Graduate Student Jacob Prietto Wins Second Place in CAP Water Research Competition
Jacob Prietto, a graduate research assistant at the WRRC, recently won Second Place in the Central Arizona Project’s 2013 Award for Water Research competition. The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in any of Arizona’s colleges or universities. Students submit research papers focusing on water issues that affect Central and Southern Arizona and the Colorado River. Prietto’s award-winning paper, “Stakeholder Incentives for Effluent Utilization in the Tucson Metropolitan Region and Recharge in the Santa Cruz River,” discusses the challenges, opportunities and decisions water managers must account for to effectively develop effluent as a valued water resource. The paper draws on his research, which focuses on the effluent-dominated section of the lower Santa Cruz River. He is collecting and analyzing water quality samples at the wastewater treatment outfalls and monitoring wells along the river to determine their influence on the streambed infiltration of effluent during non-storm flow conditions. Prietto is pursuing a Master of Science degree with the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona. His research paper is available online at: http://www.cap-az.com/documents/public-information/afr/Jacob%20Prietto%2...
USDA and Department of Interior Announce Partnership to Protect Water Supply from Wildfire Risk
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Interior launched the Western Watershed Enhancement Partnership, which will be implemented in collaboration with local water users and private partners. The Partnership is part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and it will work to identify and mitigate risks of wildfire to the nation’s water supply, irrigation and hydroelectric facilities. The National Forest system provides drinking water to more than 60 million people nationwide. The share of water supply originating on national forest lands is particularly high across the West. Healthy forests filter rain and snowmelt, regulate runoff and slow soil erosion. When wildfires occur, these “ecosystem services” are lost. Sediment, debris and ash can wash into streams and rivers damaging water quality, critical water resource infrastructure, and natural habitats. This damage often requires millions of dollars to repair. The goals of the Western Watershed Enhancement Partnership are to restore forest and watershed health, to reduce fire risks and to proactively plan for post-wildfire response actions. The new partnership will begin with a pilot project in the Upper Colorado River in Northern Colorado and additional pilots are expected in Arizona, Idaho, California, Washington, and Montana.
EPA National Stormwater Calculator Available Online
As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the National Stormwater Calculator. This desktop application estimates the annual amount of rainwater and frequency of runoff for any site in the United States, to help homeowners, developers, landscapers and urban planners make informed land-use decisions and protect local waterways from pollution caused by stormwater runoff. Estimates are based on local soil conditions, slope, and historic rainfall records. Users provide information about the specific site’s land cover. They then select the types of features they would like to use to control stormwater from a palette of low impact development (LID) controls or green infrastructure (GI) practices. Information is provided on each of seven defined green infrastructure installations to help users decide which stormwater management practices to install. Each year billions of gallons of stormwater carrying trash and chemicals flow into streams, rivers and lakes. This tool is intended help bring LID/GI into general use as a strategy for mitigating these undesirable stormwater impacts. By the end of 2013, an update to the Stormwater Calculator will be released that includes the ability to link to several future climate scenarios. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/wswrd/wq/models/swc/.EPA National Stormwater Calculator Available Online.
EPA Launches Online Tool for Finding Environmental Impact Statements
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched an interactive map-based tool that provides access to information on environmental impact statements (EIS) filed with EPA. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to consider the impacts and any reasonable alternatives of proposed projects and other actions. For proposed projects with potentially significant impacts, federal agencies prepare a detailed EIS, which is filed with EPA and made available for public review and comment. EPA is required to review and comment on EISs prepared by other federal agencies. The web tool offers multiple search methods for finding an EIS of interest. Identifying information can assist users in locating EIS documents from other repositories. Some EIS documents can be downloaded directly in PDF, as can EPA comment letters. The web tool can be found at http://nepassisttool.epa.gov/nepassist/eismapper/index.html.