EPA Climate Change and Water News
EPA Climate Change and Water News
U.S. EPA News
WaterSense Intends to Revise the Irrigation Partner and Professional Certification Program
WaterSense
recently announced its intent to modify its specifications for
certification programs for irrigation professionals and the WaterSense
irrigation professional partnership. The notification of intent
outlines EPA's evaluation of the benefits and challenges associated with
the existing irrigation partnership program, its experience in running
the certification program, and its desire to expand the program's scope
to attain additional water savings. The outlined intended revisions are
two-fold: development of a consolidated and common set of general
requirements that will apply to all professional certifying
organizations and removal of the individual irrigation partnership
designation to allow the benefits of partnership to extend to all
professionals certified by WaterSense labeled programs. WaterSense is
soliciting input from stakeholders who would like to provide comment on
the Agency's proposal. For more information, visit: http://epa.gov/watersense/partners/product_program_specs.html#noi.
EPA Releases Report: "Implications of Climate Change for State Bioassessment Programs and Approaches to Account for Effects"
This
final report uses biological data collected in wadeable rivers and
streams, by four states, to examine the components of state and tribal
bioassessment and biomonitoring programs that may be vulnerable to
climate change. The study investigates the potential to identify
biological response signals to climate change within existing
bioassessment data sets; analyzes how biological responses can be
categorized and interpreted; and assesses how they may influence
decision-making processes. The analyses suggest that several biological
indicators may be used to detect climate change effects and such
indicators can be used by state bioassessment programs to document
changes at high-quality reference sites. To view the report, visit: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/global/recordisplay.cfm?deid=239585.
EPA Releases Freshwater Biological Traits Database Report
This
final report discusses the development of a database of freshwater
biological traits. The database combines several existing traits
databases into an online format. The database is also augmented with
additional traits that are relevant to detecting climate change-related
effects, especially traits related to temperature tolerances and flow.
For more information, visit: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/global/recordisplay.cfm?deid=241813.
Other U.S. Federal Agency News
NOAA Reports Warmest First Nine Months of Any Year on Record for the Contiguous United States
According
to NOAA's recent "State of the Climate" report, the January-September
2012 period was the warmest first nine months of any year on record for
the contiguous United States. The national average temperature of 59.8
degrees Fahrenheit was 3.8 degrees above the 20th century average, and
1.2 degrees above the previous record warm January-September of 2006.
During the nine-month period, 46 states had temperatures among their ten
warmest, with 25 states being record warm. Only the State of
Washington had statewide temperatures near average for the period. To
view the full "State of the Climate" report, visit: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2012/9.
Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has announced funding of more than $10 million awarded by the Department of the Interior's Regional Climate Science Centers (CSCs) to universities or other partners for research to guide managers of parks, refuges, and other resources in planning how to help species and ecosystems adapt to climate change. For example, CSC-funded projects identify how sea-level rise will affect coastal resources, how climate will affect vegetation, how these changes will affect valued species, and how changes in water availability will affect people and ecosystems as well as ecosystem services such as fisheries. Several studies address the potential effects on resources of concern to Native Americans, some by using traditional ecological knowledge to advance adaptation planning. For more information, visit: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3423&from=rss_home#.UHXGdlKz5pT<
