1 Watershed Planning: A Key to Integrated Planning FHWA Environmental Conference Ann Campbell Wetlands Division.

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Watershed Planning:A Key to Integrated Planning

FHWA Environmental Conference

Ann CampbellWetlands Division

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Watershed Planning

“Watershed Planning 101”

EPA Watershed Programs Core Water Programs Estuaries and Specially Targeted Watersheds

State progress in watershed planning What they are doing How they are doing it

Locating watershed information

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Watershed Planning 101

A watershed is the area of land that drains to a common body of water like a lake, river, wetland, or estuary

Water quality and quantity reflect the uses of the

water and physio-geographic characteristics

in its watershed; therefore managing watersheds

is both a people process (political) and multi-

disciplinary scientific and technical challenge Watershed Planning - planning

to improve and maintain water

resources in an area of land making

up a watershed drainage area

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Watershed Planning 101 Involves leadership at all levels of government:

Cities – protect their drinking water State fish, game, and forest managers - maintain habitat for

key species and help maintain water quality Citizen watershed groups – protect and improve water quality

for recreation and other uses Conservation Districts and local government – ensure

adequate flows for agricultural and water quality for drinking and recreation

State, regional, and federal WQ agencies –protect water resources, reduce pollution levels, and implement TMDLs

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Watershed Planning 101: Remaining Water Quality Challenges Despite tremendous progress in tackling point sources

since the 1972 Clean Water Act, many waterbodies are still not safe for swimming, fishing and drinking

Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is the leading cause of impairment; 40% of Nation’s assessed rivers and streams do not meet basic uses such as fishing or swimming due in large part to NPS pollution

Human activities on the land—construction, agriculture, highways, lawns and gardens, etc.—impair water quality.

Problems demand a more comprehensive approach that looks at all stressors within hydrologically-defined boundaries

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Watershed Planning 101Water Quality Impairment Examples:

California: 30,000 miles of impaired rivers and streams. Leading cause of

impairment: pesticides

Idaho: 31,000 miles of impaired rivers and streams. Leading cause of

impairment: sediment/siltation

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Watershed Planning 101 EPA’s Watershed Approach:

Hydrologically-focused Involves all stakeholders Strategically addresses priority water

resource goals EPA’s Role is primarily:

Providing a focus on water quality (chemical, physical, and biological integrity) using regulatory and voluntary tools of the Clean Water Act

Facilitating dialogue and discussion between states and local organizations (the on-the-ground watershed managers) and other federal agencies

Providing technical assistance and funding

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Watershed Planning 101 EPA promotes watershed planning – to find

comprehensive and lasting solutions to water quality problems Maintain public involvement and local leadership To address nonpoint source (land based) pollution

and coordinate point sources management Protect drinking water Restore impaired waters To integrate various environmental data, monitoring,

technical expertise, and funding Find economical solutions (optimize control strategies,

including potential trading opportunities)

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Other EPA Initiatives Using a Watershed Approach Other OW Initiatives

Watershed TMDLs NPDES Watershed-permits Phase II Stormwater Management Combined Sewer Overflow planning Mitigating wetlands losses in a watershed context Promote a rotating basin approach Encourage water quality trading on a watershed

scale Targeted Watersheds Grant Program

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Why Should You Consider Watersheds? Better environmental results Saving time and money Greater public support Streamlining Simplifying wetlands

permitting Greater flexibility

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State Progress in Watershed Planning Each state is unique, however, all states:

Collect water monitoring data and share it with EPA Report the status of TMDL development to EPA Regions

and the information goes into a national TMDL data base Report on the status of Nonpoint Source watershed

projects, including loadings of sediment, nutrients, and restored habitat

EPA Regions and states are tracking progress of watershed restoration and impaired water clean-up to meet GPRA Strategic Plan goals and objectives

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State Progress in Watershed Planning Progress is good and diverse

Some states have rotating basin programs for organizing monitoring and/or plan development, OH, NC

Some states have strong bio-monitoring programs MT, OH, MD

Some states are including Low Impact Development principles in watershed management OR, WA, MD, WI

Some states have strong technical modeling capacity PA, LA, WI

Some states have state-organized planning councils ID, WA, MA

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Community Watershed Efforts: Tools for Watershed Practitioners

Best Management Practices (BMPs) Technical guides and databases for

best water quality protection practices Computer models to assist water quality

management Water quality databases and assessment tools GIS-based tools

Modeling alternative land use practices

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Working draft is being reviewed

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Locating Watershed Information Although several EPA water programs have

planning components and funding opportunities, developing and adopting a watershed plan remains challenging

Information on various water programs (e.g. data, tools, etc.) is difficult for S/T/L users to find in one place

Currently, persons interested in obtaining more information on existing watershed plans or features of the watershed itself must piece the information together

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Watershed Plan Builder

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Watershed Plan Builder Designed with you in mind The application incorporates existing services and

will incorporate future services as they are developed. Using Enviromapper Geo-Services RADIMAGE and

RADFEATURE. Providing query string to National TMDL Tracking

System Providing query string to STORET. Providing query string to Water Quality Standards. Future: Incorporate additional Enviromapper and

Envirofacts services to provide additional data and information.

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Healthy WatershedsSupport

Healthy Communities