Transcript DWPP FS-BLM Outreach Nov 20 2015

The Drinking Water
Providers Partnership
Restoring watershed health for communities and fish
Cathy Kellon
Working Waters Director, Geos Institute
James Capurso, PhD
PNW Regional Fisheries Biologist, USDA Forest Service
Why Source
Water Protection
Source water protection is
the first line of defense in a
multi-barrier approach
– that includes robust
treatment, monitoring, and
a secure delivery system –
WAC 246 ‐ 290: Drinking
water supply systems using
a surface water source
must develop and
implement a watershed
control plan in order to
protect the water supply
and the health of the
water system customers.
to ensuring safe drinking
water for people.
Risk prevention and mitigation
•
•
•
•
Cost-effective way to reduce water treatment and storage
costs.
Important complement to more expensive, engineered
options, aka “gray” infrastructure.
First line of defense to protecting public health.
Compliance with regulatory standards or to pre-empt
regulation
Savings
-$1
$1 spent on source water protection saves
$27 on water treatment (Winecki, 2012)
+$27
10% increase in forest cover reduces
treatment and chemical costs by 20%
(AWWA, 2004)
NYC filtration avoidance waiver allowed
$2 billion investment in watershed vs
projected $8 - $10 billion in treatment
$2 billion
$8 billion
Slide courtesy of Kitty Weisman
Challenge
• The Safe Drinking Water Act does not provide regulatory
authority for communities to protect the sources of their
drinking water.
• Very few towns own their source watershed.
• Only larger towns and cities have capacity to pursue proactive
source watershed protection or restoration.
Photo courtesy of Sam Beebe
Value of Forested
Watersheds
Photo courtesy of Sam Beebe
Importance of Forested Watersheds
• 2/3 U.S. freshwater from
forested watersheds
• 60% of the water used in
the American West
originates on National
Forest System land
For every
10% in forest cover,
treatment costs
20%
Source: 2004 AWWA survey of 27 water suppliers
Source Watersheds
Courtesy of US Forest Service:
http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/pdf/forests2faucets/F2F_maps.pdf
USFS Lands and Municipal Watersheds in
Western Oregon
% USFS Managed
Lands
90 to 100%
75 to 89%
50 to 74%
25 to 49%
5 to 24%
Cumulative
# Source Watersheds,
Western OR
18
9
13
9
11
60
BLM Lands and
Municipal Watersheds
in Oregon
1.2 million acres of O&C
and CBWR lands (57%) fall
within watersheds that
provide drinking water for
communities in Oregon.
Image from American Rivers
Start of the Drinking Water
Providers Partnership
1897 USFS Organic Administration Act
Purpose of National Forests:
“secure favorable conditions of
water flows and to furnish a
continuous supply of timber for
the use and necessities of citizens
of the United States.”
USDA Restoration Emphasis
“Our shared vision begins with
restoration. Restoration means
managing forest lands first and
foremost to protect our water
resources, while making our
forests more resilient to climate
change.”
~ USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack
USFS Restoration Emphasis
“We will increase our focus on
restoration of our forest and grassland
ecosystems and use restoration to
increase resilience to ensure these
systems are able to adapt to changes in
climate.”
~ Forest Service Chief, Tom Tidwell
Restoration and water providers?
JIM
I’ve been restoring salmonid habitat in the western United
States for 30 years.
This is an opportunity to broaden the base of support.
Two years ago, Geos Institute, a participant in Carpe Diem
West, introduced the Water Providers Partnership concept. Ann
Zimmermann, thought it was a great idea.
Leading the way to
climate change
solutions that matter.
How we got
here
reeways for Fish Program restores fish habitat in the rogue Basin of southwest
Oregon in preparation for changes in water availability due to climate change. In
rocess learned more about co-benefits to utilities and towns. In <10 yrs, reached
oal of restoring fish access to 1,200 miles of the Rogue River and its tributaries.
Our ClimateWise team has engaged communities across the west to help them
nderstand and address the impacts of climate change they are likely to face. Not
urprisingly, leaders in every one of these communities placed the dependable
upply of clean drinking water at or near the top of their concerns. Salmon and
ative fish recovery. Important co-benefits for utilities that are underexplored.
Photo courtesy of Sam Beebe
Kicking off the Drinking Water
Providers Partnership
Gauging interest among towns
USFS and Geos :
•Exploratory mapping
• Met with a dozen towns in
western Oregon and
widespread support.
Building the partnership
• Geos received Meyer Memorial Grant in 2015
• Oregon DEQ, WA DOH, EPA and BLM joined in 2016
• Released first joint RFP in November 2015 (a week ago!)
• Nov-Dec Meeting with towns, utilities, and district staff to
discuss project ideas and answer questions
courtesy of Sam Beebe
Drinking Water Providers
Partnership Goals
• Restore and protect the health of
watersheds which communities
depend upon for drinking water
while also benefiting aquatic and
riparian ecosystems, including the
native fish that inhabit them.
• Support local partnerships between
downstream drinking water
providers and upstream landowners
and restoration practitioners.
Call letter for 2016 grant
proposals
Drinking Water Providers Partnership
Available Funding
In 2016, total available
funding will be
$662,000.
~$262,000 from
federal grant sources
~$200,000 each from
Oregon and
Washington
Each grant award will be
between $10,000 $50,000
Photo courtesy of Sam Beebe
Eligible Applicants
Tribal, local, state, or federal governments, educational
institutions, non-profit organizations, watershed
councils, landowners, soil and water conservation
districts, and others.
*While the only applicants eligible to receive state funding are
public water systems, these $ can go towards many activities.*
Partnerships and Match Requirement
One of the goals of the DWPP is to initiate dialogue and strengthen
working relationships between water providers and restoration
practitioners at a watershed scale.
A 25% match
(in-kind and/or
cash) is required
for all project
proposals.
Photo courtesy of Sam Beebe
Geographic eligibility
• Only projects located in a public drinking water watershed in
the state of Oregon or Washington will be considered for 2016
funding.
To receive the maximum number of points in this category,
projects should meet one or more of the following criteria:
• The work falls within, or immediately downstream of, a USFS
WCF identified, Priority Watershed
• The work falls within, or immediately downstream of, a BLM
identified, Priority Watershed
• In Oregon, extra consideration is given if the project is within
a sensitive area as defined in the Updated Source Water
Assessment delineations.
Eligible projects
Photo courtesy of Sam Beebe
• Activities may include feasibility analyses, planning, design,
outreach, education, and monitoring.
• Work should clearly address a known water quality or supply
concern for the public drinking water system. And should
benefit native fish and their habitat.
• Work identified in a recognized source water protection plan,
restoration action plan, rare species recovery plan, or other
publicly vetted prioritization document.
Examples of eligible projects
•Culvert removal and traditional culvert
replacement with streambed simulation type
culverts or bridges
• Installation of fencing to protect sensitive
areas
•Addition of road drainage culverts to
permanent forest roads in order to route road
runoff onto the vegetated forest floor instead
of into streams.
• Development of educational
flyers/brochures for purposes of public
education
•Removal of dams or other large obstructions
(not for permitting); breaching or removal of
levees and tide gates
• Implementation of educational outreach
projects emphasizing watershed resource
conservation
•Road decommissioning or road
modification/fine sediment prevention
(storm-proofing)
•Reestablishing river flow patterns, meanders,
and channels that have been previously
altered
•Restoring stream complexity and roughness,
increasing streamflow travel times to improve
water quality.
•Projects for reducing pesticide application
rates and loadings in source area
• Planning and preparation for the purchase
of lands within the drinking water source
area
• Planning and preparation for the purchase
of water for instream flow purposes
• Installation of signs at boundaries of zones
or protection areas
Photo courtesy of Umpqua NF
Looking ahead
Grow
Increase our conservation impact by making the
grant pot bigger (via partner contributions and
recruiting additional partners)
Images from around the interweb
Ingredients for Success and Replicability
Funders
• Leadership within individual orgs
Project Sponsors
• Community-based, public-private collaborations; science-based watershed action
plans
• In PNW, we have a few decades of watershed restoration under our belts because of
ESA-listed salmon. There's a whole industry of restoration practitioners. It includes
technical experts (engineering firms hired to design habitat projects) and project
sponsors (like watershed councils) that are poised to go after pots of money to get
restoration and protection work done, and done well.
Facilitator/Broker
• Understanding problem landscape; meet with the towns and the local FS and BLM staff
and others to make introductions, raise awareness, bring in technical advising, etc; get
word out about the funding partnership to build support and recruit new, potential
partners, etc.
Thanks for your support
James Capurso, PhD
USDA Forest Service
Region 6 Fisheries Biologist
[email protected]
(503) 808-2847
Cathy Kellon
Geos Institute
Working Waters Director
[email protected]
(541) 482-4459
Trends: landscape-level threats
(fire, toxic algal blooms)
H.R.212 Drinking Water Protection Act
Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to
direct the EPA to develop and submit to
Congress a strategic plan for assessing
and managing risks associated with algal
toxins in drinking
The plan must include steps and time
lines to:
•recommend feasible treatment options,
including procedures, equipment, and
source water protection practices; and
•enter into cooperative agreements with,
and provide technical assistance to,
affected states and public water systems
to manage risks associated with algal
toxins.