1. EPA Water Quality Programs Katie Flahive 202-566-1206 Flahive
EPA Water Quality Programs Katie Flahive
North Central / Southern Region
Extension Program Leaders Meeting
June 3, 2015

2. What I’ll Cover Today
Nonpoint Source Pollution and Section 319 of the Clean Water Act
Example of Collaboration: SERA-46 – Hypoxia Task Force
Challenges

3. What is a “Nonpoint Source?”
Point Sources are defined by the CWA as conveyances that discharge: pipe, ditch, channel, conduit, well, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), etc. (NPDES)
Nonpoint Sources - NPS (§319)
Not specifically defined under the CWA—anything that is not regulated as a point source
Includes: agriculture stormwater discharge and irrigation return flows

4. Nonpoint Sources Dominate the Nation’s Impaired Waters
(Source: Draft CWA 305(b) National Water Quality Inventory:

5. Section 319 of the CWA
319(b) - State Management Programs (NPS Management Programs)
319(h) - Grant Program
In addition to CWA, states follow grant guidelines in spending 319 funds:
Recent revisions (4/13) note that implementation work is directed by Watershed Based Plans (9-element plans)
Discuss the importance – the foundation of 319 is in 319 b – the NPSMP.
This is the underpinning of the grant program.
With this plan a state is eligible to receive grant dollars
Add the guidelines ( and circulars) as determining how federal grant dollars are to be spent. Important shift in latest revision is the 9 element plan – mention alternatives and to check with their state.

6. Section 319 Funds, cont’d
Most states run RFP or other competitive processes and award subgrants for watershed projects
Check your state’s NPS website

7. (46 Septic system related)
A snap shot of types of 319 projects funded
Agriculture related
1,968
Land disposal
197
(184 – Septic related)
All sources
733
Hydromodification
609
Historical
117
Resource Extraction
177
Other
578
Urban
1,507
(46 Septic system related)
Marinas 54
State NPS Coordinators:

8. §319 and USDA Conservation Programs
Are complementary: shared goals; rely on local partners, voluntary action by landowners
§319 funds expand and complement USDA funds
EQIP financial assistance funds may only go to practices
Planning and siting that is key for water quality outcomes
Build and sustain local coalitions for action
Assistance through local CDs and other partners adds capacity for technical assistance, outreach
In 2011 half of state NPS agencies reported active ongoing collaboration with USDA – we would like to see this expand to all states
Growing the partnership with USDA is a top priority for EPA – Conservations districts plan an important role
NWQI – LGUs play an important role in monitoring in many states

9. Hypoxia Task Force Members
5 Federal Agencies and Tribes:
US Army Corps of Engineers
US Geological Survey
US Environmental Protection Agency
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
US Department of Agriculture
National Tribal Water Council
12 State Agencies:
Arkansas
Ohio
Missouri
Louisiana
Iowa
Illinois
Tennessee
Mississippi
Minnesota
Kentucky
Indiana
Wisconsin
Mississippi River Basin
HTF States
The Task Force is a federal/state partnership that works collaboratively to reduce excess nitrogen and phosphorus to the Mississippi River and eventually to reduce the size of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf.
The map here shows the entire Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, which encompasses all or parts of 31 states (CLICK TWICE)
The Task Force consists of 12 Basin states shaded in green and listed on the slide. They include the states that contribute the highest nutrient loads delivered to the Gulf. Five federal agencies and a Tribal representative are also members of the Task Force.
It provides a forum for state water quality and agriculture departments to partner on local, state, and efforts to mitigate nutrient loading, encouraging a holistic approach that takes into account upstream sources and downstream impacts.
(new sentence based on Joe’s suggestion to emphasize connections and partnerships) This collaboration between so many agencies has provided a good foundation for strong partnerships within the Hypoxia Task Force and with many external partners, which I will describe in more detail later in the presentation.
Each state is represented by either:
Agriculture agency , Environment (pollution control) agency, or Natural Resources agency

10. HTF Goal and Environmental Impact
5-yr average
Long term
Average
HTF
Coastal
Goal
Each summer the hypoxic is measured. The size of the zone is an important indicator of how much progress is being made to reduce nutrient inputs to the Gulf.
While the slide shows variation in the zone size due to a number of factors, such as droughts and floods, its areal extent has remained relatively steady.
The 2014 area of hypoxia measured 13,080 square kilometers (=5,052 square miles). The 2014 dead zone size is below the five-year average (14,353 square kilometers), but still well above the Hypoxia Task Force goal of 5,000 square kilometers.
Source: N. Rabalais

11. SERA-46 – HTF Collaboration: Unfunded MOU
How did this come about?
Objective 1: Establish and strengthen relationships that can serve the missions of multiple organizations addressing nutrient movement and environmental quality.
Objective 2: Expand the knowledge base through the discovery of new tools and practices as well as the continual validation of recommended practices.
Objective 3: Improve the coordination and delivering of educational programming and increase the implementation effectiveness of nutrient management strategies that reduce nutrient movement for agricultural and non-agricultural audiences.
Extension and Research members from each state – each brings incredible value to the basin-wide efforts as a whole, as well as bringing their other efforts and collaborators to the table
EPA and our federal partners on the Task Force see this as a model for engagement across the country
Opportunity to leverage work in state priority watersheds as well

12. Grants and Other Funding Opportunities

13. Manure Nutrient Recovery Technology (MNRT) Innovation Challenge
Why an Innovation Challenge? Provide exciting platforms to solutions by tapping into the ingenuity and creativity of the private sector and others
Goal: Encourage development and adoption of MNRTs that can extract and/or transform the nutrients in manure and sequester them into products that could be used onsite, transferred, or sold to where they are needed, yielding environmental and economic benefits
What can EPA do? Facilitate by working with stakeholders to identify barriers to MNRT adoption, connecting innovators and animal agriculture partners, and stimulating markets for co-products generated by MNRTs
How will the Innovation Challenge Work?
Phase 1 - Challenge Development/Announcement
Phase II - Designs: EPA advertises and solicits designs from developers
Phase III - Technology development
Phase IV: Demonstration, Testing, and Monitoring

14. Nutrient Water Sensor Challenge
An open-innovation competition to accelerate the development and deployment of affordable sensors that can measure nutrients in aquatic environments
 Specifically, the Challenge sought sensor solutions that:
are accurate over concentration ranges commonly observed,
are easy to use in maintenance-free, autonomous, remote deployments of three months
cost less than $5,000 to purchase
can be commercially available by 2017
We are currently compiling interested researchers that are willing to pilot test the sensors – please send me an

15. EPA – USDA NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON WATER QUALITY MARKETS
SEPTEMBER 15 – 17, 2015 at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Workshop will highlight recent progress in water quality trading across the country with an emphasis on policy, resources, and tool development
Workshop will provide EPA and USDA with an opportunity to lay out their vision for the role of water quality markets in advancing conservation and water quality goals, and provide you with the tools to engage in water quality markets
 The Workshop will feature: 
Regional water quality trading forums
Conservation finance opportunities
Stormwater trading
Payments for watershed services programs and other related environmental markets
Recent developments in Economics, Science & Technology

16. Please be in touch when you are in DC, we’d love to sit down and talk
Questions?
Please be in touch when you are in DC,
we’d love to sit down and talk