The Source Water Collaborative & the SMART About Water Program Steve Heare, Director, Drinking Water Protection Division, Office of Ground Water & Drinking Water, USEPA Thanks for inviting me to the SMART About Water training design workshop. EPA is happy to support this important project and the work of West Virginia University’s National Environmental Services Center and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership in helping small water systems protect their source waters from failing septic and sewer systems. I hope to bring you up to date on key activities of the National Source Water Collaborative and how this initiative supports and is in turn supported by the SMART About Water Program.

The Source Water Collaborative: Overview Group of 19 national organizations working to advance source water protection at all levels, by promoting land stewardship and smart planning decisions Vision statement signed early 2006 Web Site: www.ProtectDrinkingWater.org Collaborative formed in early 2006 with 13 members. Now, we’re up to 19 members. American Planning Association | American Water Works Association | Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies | Association of State Drinking Water Administrators | Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators | Association of State and Territorial Health Officials | Clean Water Fund | Environmental Finance Center Network | Groundwater Foundation | Ground Water Protection Council | National Association of Counties | National Ground Water Association | National Rural Water Association | North American Lake Management Society | River Network | The Trust for Public Land | U.S. Department of Agriculture - Farm Service Agency | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | U.S. Geological Survey

The SWC: Recent Activities Planner’s Guide Research Agenda and the Cost-Benefit Tool Your Water. Your Decision. campaign and the Local Officials Guide Recent members: ASTHO, NGWA, USDA The Collaborative has been targeting different audiences to promote source water protection activities. Planner’s Guide – April 2007 – A guide for community planners on how source water protection can be incorporated into the planning process – e.g through comprehensive planning, development review, zoning ordinances. Research Agenda – Summer 2007 – Encourages research to quantify the costs and benefits of source water protection. Research agenda presented to AwwaRF, and they are awarding 150K to develop a user-friendly, web-enabled cost-benefit estimation tool for communities. The main awardee (Oxenford Consulting) will be working with the Collaborative, and others, to work through protocols and assumptions. Your Water. Your Decision. campaign– February 2008 – Marketing effort intended to help local officials and other community leaders make informed choices to protect their communities’ drinking water sources. At the center of the campaign is a guide for local officials on how they can address source water protection through development patterns, budgeting, and stewardship. There are also postcards, a toolkit with suggested talking points and audiences, and a whole slew of weblinks available at www.ProtectDrinkingWater.org Each Collaborative member is promoting the campaign in its own way. Newest members: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials – February 2008 National Ground Water Association and USDA’s Farm Service Agency – June 2007

The SWC: Future Activities Tracking the Your Water. Your Decision. campaign Next Target Audience – Water Utilities Case Studies of Collaborative Activities Reaching out to new members Tracking the Your Water. Your Decision. campaign Tracking how each Collaborative member is distributing the Guide Working with two members (GWPC and ASDWA) on doing more targeted monitoring and feedback with two states – NC and MN (NOTE TO STEVE: GWPC recommended MN (Bruce Olsen) and ASDWA recommended NC (Jay Frick) as two states that are actively promoting source water protection to water systems and local officials & are interested in using the guide and providing feedback on its usefulness. ) Working to use a short customer satisfaction survey on the Collaborative website to get info on audiences, how the guide is being used, and how it might be improved. The Guide,and the website, will be revised as needed. Next Target Audience – Water Utilities Collaborative members expressed interest in targeting water utilities as their next group of interest. Workgroup meeting in April – can update notes in that section, then. Case Studies of Collaborative Activities We’re working to develop a number of case studies on local or state collaborations to protect drinking water sources. The intent is to provide food for thought and also some ideas on how people have worked with partners to advance source water protection. We expect to have 6 case studies by the end of the year, and they will be available on the website. Reaching out to new members Forest Service has expressed interest, as well as the Conservation Fund and American Farmland Trust. May also target groups depending on where we feel we need more support.

The SWC & SMART About Water: Partnership Opportunities SMART About Water will strengthen the partnership of SWC members with local wastewater managers and health officials The SWC will expand the audiences that WVU/RCAP can reach through their training programs Products will be mutually beneficial (training, training materials, guides, websites, etc.) Products (training, training materials, guides, websites, etc.) will be mutually beneficial and should prove useful in helping audiences manage their wastewater with source water protection in mind (“Your Water. Your Decision” guide, e.g.) For example, the SWC’s Your Water. Your Decision guide provides local officials with a quick source of information on local options for protecting drinking water, such as low-impact development, stewardship, and budgeting

Again, thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. Roy Simon, who is Associate Chief of the Prevention Branch in the Drinking Water Protection Division, will now provide you with an overview of EPA’s role in Source Water Protection and identify some important activities we have supported recently or are currently supporting. ProtectDrinkingWater.org