Water Infrastructure

Policymakers are giving increased attention to issues associated with financing and investing in the nation’s drinking water and wastewater treatment systems, which take in water, treat it, and distribute it to households and other customers, and later collect, treat, and discharge water after use. The renewed attention is due to a combination of factors. These include financial impacts on communities of meeting existing and anticipated regulatory requirements, the need to repair and replace existing infrastructure, and concerns about paying for security-related projects.

The federal government has a long history of involvement with wastewater and drinking water systems, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) having the most significant role, both in terms of regulation and funding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also plays an important role in rural communities through its water and wastewater loan and grant programs. These programs have been popular; however, states, local communities, and others have asserted that various program gaps and limitations may be diminishing their potential effectiveness. They also point to the emergence of new infrastructure needs and issues.

Congressional interest in these issues has grown for some time and is continuing in the 110th Congress. In each of the past three Congresses, House and Senate committees acted on legislation to reauthorize and modify infrastructure financing programs in the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, but no bills were enacted. The Bush Administration has addressed water infrastructure in a number of general ways, but has not offered legislative proposals of its own. EPA’s principal initiative has been to support strategies intended to ensure that infrastructure investment needs are met in an efficient, timely, and equitable manner.

A Congressional Research Service report (Water Infrastructure Needs and Investment: Review and Analysis of Key Issues ), released on February 29, 2008, identifies a number of issues that have received attention in connection with water infrastructure investment. It begins with a review of federal involvement, describes the debate about needs, and then examines key issues, including what is the nature of the problems to be solved; who will pay, and what is the federal role; and questions about mechanisms for delivering federal support, including state-by-state allotment of federal funds. Congressional and Administration activity on these issues from the 107th to the 109th Congresses also is reviewed.

Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)

Alliance for Climate Protection

The mission of The Alliance for Climate Protection, founded by former U.S. vice president Al Gore, "is to persuade the American people -- and people elsewhere in the world -- of the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis." Its site features articles with suggestions for reducing climate change at home and at work, stories about people who are working to help solve the crisis, and video clips.

The people involved in the Alliance bring with them substantial cross-sectoral experience covering government (both public service and political), business (including energy, technology, finance and media), and civil society (within and beyond the environmental communities).

Sustainable Development

The SustainLane Government Knowledge Base was open only to government officials until just recently, which it became accessible to the general public. According to Warren Karlenzig, SustainLane director:
Now you can read full documents submitted by urban planners and sustainability managers from across the country. Find out what cities, counties, and states are doing to improve their carbon footprints, quality of life and resource efficiency. Find the latest programs in urban ecology.
We anticipate that several different audiences will find this database valuable, including journalists and citizen activist groups. It’s easy to use. Halfway down the front page is a listing of topics, each of which links to relevant materials in the database:
Climate Change Policy
Economic Development
Energy/ Energy Efficiency
Food/ Agriculture
Forestry/ Street Greening
Green Building/ Development
Land Use/ Planning
Parks/ Open Space/ Habitat
Purchasing/ Investing
Sustainability Management
Transportation/ Fleets
Waste Management
Water/ Wastewater
Just below this listing are links to the most recent materials added to the database, including things like the Philadelphia Local Action Plan for Climate Change, a document about Heat Island Effect Mitigation (from the City of Houston), a Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance from San Francisco, and more. New materials via user submission are added on a continuing basis. A search form allows keyword and fielded searching — e.g., by author, city, county, state, category, city size, document type.

Green Power Partners

From the Environmental Protection Agency -

Lists & Rankings:

EPA’s National Top 25 Green Power Partners


1. PepsiCo
2. Wells Fargo & Co.
3. Whole Foods Market
4. U.S. Air Force
5. Johnson & Johnson
6. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
7. Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
8. Starbucks
9. DuPont Co.
10. U.S. Department of Energy
11. Vail Resorts Inc.
12. HSBC North America
13. Cisco Systems Inc.
14. Staples
15. New York University
16. The World Bank Group
17. University of Pennsylvania
18. IBM Corp.
19. U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
20. NatureWorks LLC
21. Sprint Nextel
22. Safeway Inc.
23. Pennsylvania State University
24. Kohl’s Department Stores
25. Nike Inc.

Climate Change

From the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change


Climate Change 2007 — Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability: Summary for Policymakers

International Earth Day

International Earth Day

Website for this version of Earth Day, as celebrated on the spring equinox in March. (Earth Day is generally observed in April.)

Features background of this day that was initiated "on March 21, 1970. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the City of Saint Francis, patron saint of ecology."

Includes an Earth Day charter and guide for earth trustees by Earth Day founder John McConnell, and related material.

URL: http://www.earthsite.org

Water for Life

Water for Life - United Nations

"The United Nations General Assembly, in December 2003, proclaimed the years 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life.'"

This website provides background and news about activities related to this proclamation (including World Water Day, occurring annually on March 22) and reference material on water-related issues such as scarcity, sanitation, and pollution. From the United Nations (UN).

URL: http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/

PlanetHazard

PlanetHazard uses information from the EPA to map over 86,000 companies throughout the United States that emit hazardous air pollutants.

http://www.planethazard.com/

World Conservation Monitoring Centre

United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Centre

http://www.unep-wcmc.org/

Part of the United Nations Environmental Programme, the WCMC's mission is to "evaluate and highlight the many values of biodiversity and put authoritative biodiversity at the centre of decision-making."
Check out the interactive maps or section on parks and protected areas, or review the various international agreements on biodiversity.

Climate Change

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) This panel, established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), assesses "the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation." The panel's websites features reports (including the 2007 report declaring "warming of the climate system is unequivocal"), details about working groups, press releases, and related material. Some documents available in multiple languages.
URL: http://www.ipcc.ch