In other news below:
-- Agency issues comment request on cooling water requirements
-- Clean Water Act committee renewed for two years
-- EPA and utilities to promote water performance measures for utilities
-- EPA proposes extensions of animal feeding operation water deadlines
-- $2.9 million in small business contracts for new environmental technologies
-- Wal-Mart's CWA violation results in land purchase and fine
-- Twenty-two environmental projects to share $3 million
-- EPA intends to terminate permits for EDS waste wells
-- EPA issues determination on 11 contaminants
-- EPA and USDA to study impact of winter manure spreading and runoff
-- EPA sets new nitrogen limits for Blue Plains treatment facility
• EPA honors three local universities for sustainability projects
-- Columbia, Cornell and Stevens Institute students score with green designs
NEW YORK, NY, May 24, 2007 -- Providing clean drinking water for villagers in Ghana and Honduras and harnessing ocean wave energy are projects that demonstrate the promise of sustainable development and the enthusiasm and ingenuity of engineering students from three regional universities. Columbia University and Cornell University in New York and Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey have received Honorable Mention designations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their projects submitted for the 2007 "People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability (P3)."
"The Columbia, Cornell and Stevens Institute students in this competition took their ideas about sustainable design and ran with them," said EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. "Their projects illustrate that sustainable development is not just a possibility, it's a reality that can be applied here and in countries around the globe."
EPA's program "People, Prosperity and the Planet," focuses on benefiting people, promoting prosperity, and protecting the planet through innovative designs that address sustainability challenges in the developed and developing world. The competition has two phases. In the first phase, interdisciplinary teams of students competed for grants to support the research and development of their projects. Each of the three honorees had received a $10,000 grant from EPA to support those efforts and the development of prototypes. In the second phase, the teams attended the National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington, DC at which their projects were subject to peer review. The Columbia, Cornell and Stevens Institute projects received their honorable mention designations at this year's awards ceremony held recently at the National Academy of University of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
Columbia University's "Engineers without Borders" is developing a sustainable water management plan for Sakyikrom, Ghana. A new major highway that will soon go through the community and the resulting increased development are threatening an already limited drinking water supply. The Columbia project will stress the importance of implementing sustainable water management practices in this developing community in eastern Ghana.
Cornell University's project, "AguaClara: Clean Water for Small Communities," will explore alternative and easily implemented water treatment processes in Honduras. AguaClara is a continuing student project in partnership with Engineers for a Sustainable World, National Rural Water Association, and Agua Para el Pueblo in Honduras. One focus of the project is to reduce the turbidity, or cloudiness, of the local water supply so that community members will see that their water is cleaner and be more willing to shoulder the additional costs necessary to sustain a clean water supply.
The Stevens Institute of Technology students are developing a process to turn ocean wave energy into electricity. While this may smack of science fiction at first glance, the project essentially takes one form of energy, the up and down movement of ocean waves, and converts it to another form of energy, electricity. The electricity is generated by incorporating a cable reel, a magnet shaft and surrounding coil, on a buoy that moves as a result of waves on the ocean surface. This process produces no greenhouse gases and may become part of a worldwide sustainable energy resource.
There were 42 teams in this year's competition involving over 350 university students and advisors. Six winning and ten honorable mention projects were selected based on creativity and the usability of their sustainability designs. The winning teams represented: Appalachian State University, Lehigh University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Virginia, and Western Washington University. The other honorable mentions were from: California State Polytechnic University - Pomona, Duke University, Gonzaga University, University of Florida (received two designations), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and University of New Hampshire.
More information about the P3 competition, the 2007 winners, honorable mention awardees and their projects can be found at http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3 and http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/project_websites/2007/2007awardwinners.html
• Agency issues comment request on cooling water requirements
WASHINGTON, DC, May 29, 2007 -- The EPA has issued an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding "Cooling Water Intake Structure Phase II Existing Facilities (Renewal)." The public is also invited to comment on or before June 28, 2007. To submit comments online, go to http://www.regulations.gov and reference docket ID number EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0142. For further information, contact Amelia Letnes, State and Regional Branch, Water Permits Division, OWM, Mail Code: 4203M, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-5627; e-mail address: [email protected]. Additional information can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2007/May/Day-29/w10223.htm.
• Clean Water Act committee renewed for two years
WASHINGTON, DC, May 29, 2007 -- EPA has issued a notice renewing the Federal Advisory Committee to examine detection and quantitation approaches in Clean Water Act programs for an additional two year period. The goal of the renewal is to allow the committee to complete its work in providing "advice and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on policy issues related to detection and quantitation, and on the scientific and technical aspects associated with monitoring and reporting chemical pollutants under the Clean Water Act." Additional information can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2007/May/Day-29/w10234.htm.
• EPA and utilities to promote water performance measures for utilities
WASHINGTON, DC, May 9, 2007 -- EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles has signed a statement of support with six national associations to promote recommended utility performance measures and encourage the use of these tools and 10 management attributes by utilities around the country. The "10 Attributes of Effectively Managed Water Sector Utilities" provide a reference point for utilities seeking to improve performance...
• EPA proposes extensions of animal feeding operation water deadlines
WASHINGTON, DC, May 4, 2007 -- EPA is proposing for public comment the extension of certain compliance deadlines for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). One extension applies to water permit application deadlines for facilities that EPA defined as CAFOs for the first time in 2003. The other extension applies to certain CAFOs that have to develop and implement nutrient management plans (NMPs). A NMP is a plan that specifies the amount of manure that can be applied to crops so the potential for nutrient runoff to water bodies is minimized.
EPA has been regulating CAFOs for more than 25 years. In 2006, EPA proposed revisions to the CAFO rule which, when finalized, would continue to require the proper management of manure. The 2006 proposal, in response to a 2005 court ruling, would revise the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting requirements and Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for CAFOs...
• $2.9 million in small business contracts for new environmental technologies
WASHINGTON, DC, May 2, 2007 -- EPA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program today announced the award of nearly $3 million to 13 companies to support their work in seven key environmental areas: nanotechnology, monitoring of air emissions, pollution prevention, hazardous waste management, water treatment, homeland security, and innovation in manufacturing. The companies received "proof of concept" awards from EPA last year and will use these additional funds to move their technology towards commercialization...
Among other recent EPA announcements:
-- "Wal-Mart's violation of the Clean Water Act results in land purchase and fine"
-- "Twenty-two environmental projects to share $3 million"
-- "EPA intends to terminate permits for EDS waste wells"
-- "EPA issues determination on 11 contaminants"
-- "EPA and USDA to study impact of winter manure spreading and runoff"
-- "EPA sets new nitrogen limits for Blue Plains treatment facility"
***
• In earlier "EPA Action" reports, see: "SBIR grants offer small businesses big payoffs in new technologies America"
• For water-related news releases at the EPA website, click here.
• For the latest news releases from the EPA website, click here.
###
