Introduction
The best way to protect water quality is to avoid polluting the water in the first place. When pollution reaches surface or underground waterways, it can have many adverse effects, including impacts on drinking water sources. Water resource management approaches vary from community to community depending on various factors such as the source of water, size and population of the community, needs of the population, and the water supply system integrity. For example, water conservation may be a very high priority in some locales, while other areas may enjoy an abundance of source water. But in all cases, there is a need to protect and manage water resources wisely. Some water resource management entities have an opportunity to act as pollution prevention role models for others.
As with other local government activities, by incorporating pollution prevention criteria into the decision making processes, public policy makers and water resource managers can
help prevent and reduce waste and pollution,
prevent and reduce potentially harmful chemical exposures to employees and citizens,
reduce risks of accidents and releases, and
prevent or reduce potential liabilities and regulatory compliance burdens while providing service delivery and cost savings to their organizations, customers and communities.
Programs that focus on municipal and industrial pollution prevention help prevent or reduce water pollution. Development of local source water management programs can help achieve Clean Water Act and Clean Drinking Water Act goals.
Typical Wastes Generated or Losses Contributing to Pollution
Overall (affecting surface and ground water):
Releases into storm water sewer systems of hazardous substances such as used oil or household or yard chemicals.
Industrial site releases.
Runoff of excessive pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides.
Lack of education, awareness, and participation (public and private sector) in local collection, recycling and disposal of household hazardous waste materials.
Lack of education, awareness, and participation (public and private sector) in local water conservation activities.
Additional Surface Water:
Lack of residential and commercial development storm water management controls.
Flood control projects that impair water quality.
Soil runoff from construction and other sites.
Top Pollution Prevention Opportunities
Pollution Prevention Outreach and Promotion
Overall (surface and ground water):
Develop local storm water management (National Pollution Discharge Elimination Service (NPDES)) and pollution prevention programs.
Develop local groundwater (wellhead) protection programs.
Develop household hazardous waste collection initiatives.
Require pollution prevention "best management practices" (BMPs) as a permit condition under the Clean Water Act. Agencies could design BMPs on a case-by-case basis or develop generic BMPs that would be applied to all facilities in a given industrial category.
Set protective limits for reduction of discharges to wastewater treatment plants.
Set protective limits for discharges of hazardous substances and petroleum storage.
Adopt landscaping codes (i.e. institute irrigation restrictions, implement increasing block pricing or time of day pricing.)
Investigate reduced water use projects (i.e., ultra-low flush "toilet voucher programs," low flow shower heads, sprinkler systems that are sensitive to rainfall, etc.)
Establish low-income resident programs to conduct in-home water audits, leak repairs, and subsidized retrofits with water conserving fixtures.
Additional Surface Water:
Develop local surface water protection programs.
Develop erosion and sediment control programs.
Set protective discharge limits for storm water controls.
Additional Ground Water:
Develop groundwater monitoring programs.
Limit or exclude industrial discharges to septic systems through design review.
Internal Local Government Operations
Overall (surface and ground water):
Conduct leak detection programs.
Perform plumbing fixture retrofits.
Upgrade water meters to ensure accurate readings (use water inventory meter and retrofit programs).
Develop "best management practices" (BMPs) for local government internal operations, in order to lead by example.
Integrate water conservation into new facility design
Set protective limits for reduction of internal discharges to wastewater treatment plants.
Set protective limits for internal discharges of hazardous substances and petroleum storage.
Limit or exclude internal discharges to septic systems.
Investigate a new source water potential: water recycling for golf courses, parks, roadway landscaping, schools, fire fighting, fountains, street sweeping, vehicle washing, and irrigation projects.
Investigate U.S. EPA's Water Alliances for Voluntary Efficiency (WAVE) program which will soon be expanded to schools, hospitals, and other public facilities. EPA also encourages municipalities, local, and regional water resource boards; water districts; and water utilities to join the WAVE program as supporters.
Additional Surface Water:
Reconstruct or upgrade waste-water treatment plants.
Investigate wetland mitigation banking opportunities.
Set protective internal discharge limits for storm water controls.
Additional Ground Water:
Plug free-flowing Artesian wells.
Success Stories
1) The City of New York/Multi-County Partnership, New York*
The City of New York, which operates as a city/county consolidated government, and the counties of Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster, Putnam, and Westchester in New York State, have signed a watershed protection agreement that will protect the source of New York's drinking water supply. The partnership also includes the agricultural community, watershed municipalities, and the state and federal governments. Benefits to the City include a filtration waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saving billions of dollars in capital costs. Upstate communities benefit from higher property values resulting from environmentally sound agricultural practices and planned sustainable development.
Components of the Watershed Protection Agreement That Are Currently Under Way:
Upgrading the nine City-owned upstate sewage treatment plants;
Rehabilitating and upgrading City-owned dams and water supply facilities in the watershed;
Implementing the Watershed Agricultural Program;
Constructing or upgrading public and privately owned wastewater infrastructure, including failing septic systems;
Acquiring hydrologically sensitive lands in high priority areas near reservoirs, streams and wetlands;
Establishing the Catskill Fund for the Future, an economic development bank to support responsible, environmentally sensitive projects in the watershed;
Extensively reviewing proposed developments and other projects to ensure compliance with watershed regulations and standards and the protection of water quality;
Monitoring water quality in streams, reservoirs, and the distribution system;
Forming the Watershed Protection and Partnership Council; and
Establishing the Sportsmen's Advisory Councils to review and recommend possible public recreational uses of City-owned lands in the watershed.
*This case study contains excerpts from "Innovative City/County Partnership - A Report from the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities." For further information, contact Joel A. Miele, Sr., P.E., Commissioner, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Phone: 718/595-6565.
2) Cincinnati Water Works Wellhead Protection
In April 1998, Judy Suzurikawa, a member of the Cincinnati Water Works Wellhead Protection Team, presented a paper at the "Source Water Assessment and Protection '98" conference in Dallas, Texas. Ms. Suzurikawa's paper, "Database and Geographic Information System (GIS) for Management of a Multi-Jurisdictional Wellhead Protection Area," discussed various management tools, a geographic information system, and computer databases used by the Hamilton to New Baltimore Groundwater Consortium to track water quality issues in the Great Miami Buried Valley aquifer. The Hamilton to New Baltimore Groundwater Consortium consists of Cincinnati Water Works and five other public and industrial water suppliers. The purpose of the Consortium is to monitor the quantity and quality of groundwater and to implement a comprehensive groundwater protection program. The Consortium's multi-jurisdictional Wellhead Protection Plan was fully endorsed by the Ohio EPA in January 1998. The Consortium has cost-effectively avoided duplication of effort by its members while promoting a unified, consistent groundwater management program for the region. The Consortium's web site, listed in the references below, describes the Consortium's purpose and programs. The web site also describes and illustrates examples of
groundwater contamination and many preventive measures. The City of Cincinnati was designated a Groundwater Guardian Community at the end of 1997 by the Groundwater Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska. Cincinnati Water Works has been actively involved since 1990 in the joint development of a Groundwater Protection Program for the Charles M. Bolton wellfield and adjacent wellfields in the Greater Hamilton/Fairfield area in Ohio.
References:
"$mart Investments for City and County Managers: Energy, Environment and Community Development," U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, EPA 231-R-98-004, April 1998.
"Preventing Pollution in Our Cities and Counties: A Compendium of Case Studies," NPPR, NACo, NACCHO and U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1995.
"Database and Geographic Information System (GIS) for Management of a Multi-Jurisdictional Wellhead Protection Area," Cincinnati Water Works, 1998, Proceedings, NWRI Source Water Assessment and Protection 98 Conference, Dallas, TX.
"When it Rains, It Drains-What Everyone Should Know About Storm Water," Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality, Surface Water Quality Division.
"Innovative City/County Partnerships - A Report from the Joint Center for Sustainable
Communities," The United States Conference of Mayors and National Association of Counties, 1998.
U.S. EPA Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20460 (http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/p2home).
International City/County Management Association, Smart Growth Network (SGN):
http://www.smartgrowth.org; 202/962-3591; email Noah A. Simon nsimon@icma.org.
"Drinking Water - The Safe Drinking Water Act vs. the Small Systems 'How Safe is Safe,'" EMGT 850, 1996.
"Building State and Local Pollution Prevention Programs," U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Administrator, EPA-130-R-93-001, December 1992.
Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN), contact: David George at International City and County Management Association (ICMA) at 202/962-3531; email
dgeorge@icma.org.
Water Efficiency Program; San Jose/Santa Clara Valley Water District and Water Pollution Control Plant, 3025 Tuers Road, San Jose, CA 95121.
South Bay Water Recycling, 2540 North First Street, Suite 316, San Jose, CA 95131; 408/232- 0832.
The U.S. EPA's WAVE Program: EPA Office of Water, Contact: John Flowers, WAVE
Program Director, Phone: 202/260-7288; EPA's WAVE Technical Support Hotline:
800/993-WAVE.
The Hamilton to New Baltimore Groundwater Consortium's web site: www.gwconsortium.org.
"Beyond Delineation and Assessment: Community Action to Protect Source Water Using
Farm*A*Syst\Home*A*Syst": http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Abstracts/Castelnuovo.html.
"Cryptosporidium and Water" by the CDC Working Group on Waterborne Crypto, provides guidance on setting-up a local task force to deal with the threat to drinking water:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/crypto/crypto.htm.
The Lincoln-Lancaster Health Department (NE) developed a guide and checklist for septic and wells that was implemented through citizen volunteers. For information, contact the Lincoln Lancaster Health Department at 402/441-8000.
"Tools for Drinking Water Protection" Video Workshop - The League of Women Voters developed this excellent video on local government and citizen action on water quality issues. Their resources are listed on the web at http://www.lwv.org/where/protecting/water_read.html
For more information, contact:
J. Bruce Suits, City of Cincinnati, Office of Environmental Management
Phone: 513/352-6270; Fax: 513/352-4970; E-mail: bruce.suits@cinems.rcc.org
