Clean Water Blog

The University of Minnesota Stormwater Education Program works with many organizations to help protect water quality. They promote innovative stormwater best management practices (BMPs) through locally tailored workshops known as Stormwater U. 

Upcoming workshops are:

Stormwater BMP Management:  Now What?  9/9/10

Winter Maintenance of Parking Lots – 10/7/10; 10/28/10

Winter Maintenance of Roads – 9/28/10; 10/15/10

Turfgrass Maintenance with Reduced Environmental Impacts – 12/7/10

**Visit the website for detailed workshop information and to sign up**

http://www.extension.umn.edu/Stormwater/stormwaterU.html

CONTACT:
Jalil Isa
isa.jalil@epa.gov
202-564-3226
202-564-4355

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EPA Launches Web Forum on How to Best Protect America’s Drinking Water

August 17, 2010  WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a web-based discussion forum to gather public input on how the agency can improve protection of drinking water. The information will be used in implementing EPA’s new drinking water strategy announced by Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in March.

“We look forward to reviewing the ideas and feedback from the public,” said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “This online discussion is for anyone who wants to share their input on protecting drinking water and improving public health.”

EPA seeks input from water professionals, advocates, and anyone interested in drinking water quality issues about best solutions for issues facing our nation’s drinking water—planning, developing scientific tools, controlling water pollution and use of resources.

The discussion forum will feature a series of topics based on the four segments of the drinking water strategy: addressing contaminants as groups rather than one at a time, fostering development of new technologies, using the existing authority of several statues to protect drinking water, and partnering with states to share more complete data.

The forum will be open for discussion for about a month, with each topic area being discussed separately.  Addressing contaminants as groups will also be discussed separately at a web-based meeting at the end of July.

To join the discussion: http://blog.epa.gov/dwstrat

More information on the new Drinking Water Strategy: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sdwa/dwstrategy.html

View all news releases related to water    

Low-flow showerheads and dual-flush toilets are wonderful, but what if you want to save water in the bathroom without having to install something new? Simply fill up a half-liter (or larger, if it’ll fit) bottle with water and put it in your toilet tank, a trick that can save up to 7,500 gallons per year.

Dog waste is often scattered across backyards, in neighborhood parks, and along public greenways that are in close proximity to small waterways. If you don’t clean up after your pet, rain can carry bacteria into storm drains and local streams that then empty into sources of drinking water.  Parasites and bad microorganisms like roundworms and e coli can be transmitted to humans if it gets into the drinking supply.

As a dog owner, do your “duty” to scoop that poop and dispose of it in your trash. Better in the landfill than in the lakes and streams where we boat and fish, or the drinking water that comes into your home.

We all have a special lake.  Maybe you have a cabin next to it, maybe it’s in the city and you visit it all the time, or maybe you’ve only been there once but your memories are fond.  Whatever your reason, we want to know what lake matters to you and why. 

How the This Lake Matters Contest works:

Photographs and videos (the “Images”) will be collected from May 13 through September 6, 2010. All submissions must legibly include the words “This Lake Matters,” and feel free to get creative!  After September 6, we’ll pick 5 finalist Images. When making our selections, we’ll consider the number of Flickr comments.

The finalist Images will be posted on the Conservation Minnesotta website.  Web visitors will then have a chance to vote for their favorite finalist Image (photograph or video) from September 15 through September 30.   The finalist Image (photograph or video) with the most votes will be awarded a Flip Camera.

To enter the contest and for more information, please visit Conservation Minnesota at:   http://www.checkmylake.org/lake/what/?subsec=237

Showering is one of the leading ways we use water in the home, accounting for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water use, or about 30 gallons per household per day. That’s nearly 1.2 trillion gallons of water used in the United States annually just for showering, or enough to supply the water needs of New York and New Jersey for a year! By retrofitting your entire bathroom with WaterSense labeled fixtures, you can save even more.

The average household could save more than 2,300 gallons per year by installing WaterSense labeled showerheads. Since these water savings will reduce demands on water heaters, households will also save energy. In fact, a household could save 300 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power its television use for about a year. If every household in the United States installed WaterSense labeled showerheads, we could save more than $1.5 billion in water utility bills and more than 250 billion gallons of water annually, which could supply more than 2.5 million U.S. homes with their water needs for a year. In addition, we could avoid about $2.5 billion in energy costs for heating water.

Whether you are replacing an older, inefficient showerhead or simply looking for ways to reduce water use and utility bills in your home, look for the WaterSense label on showerheads along with faucets, faucet accessories, and toilets to help you identify models that save water and perform well.