Western States Source Water Protection Forum Brings States Together

The Western States Source Water Protection Forum was held this week in Sun Valley, Idaho.  The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hosted and planned the meeting that brought source water practitioners together from states, EPA Regions, and rural water offices in Regions 8, 9, and 10, as well as EPA headquarters and national organizations, including ASDWA.

The three day meeting featured presentations about the AWWA Source Water Vision and Roadmap; hydraulic fracturing impacts; the Source Water Collaborative’s new toolkit for working with USDA programs; source water and clean water coordination efforts; ecosystem services; the Enabling Source Water project; state GIS tools and resources; water quality and nutrient pollution, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and National Association of Conservation District agricultural conservation programs; plus many other various state initiatives and activities.

Participants at the forum also shared information about their states’ activities and discussed how to build relationships and enhance their programs using an open space forum to facilitate small group discussions on self-selected topics.

For more information about the Forum, visit the Idaho web site at:  http://www.deq.idaho.gov/western-states-swp-forum.aspx or contact Amy Williams of the Idaho DEQ at amy.williams@deq.idaho.gov or 208-373-0115.