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C-FERST

Kansas: Environmental Sustainability for Salina Community (A Former EPA CARE Project)

The summary below provides a description of a Salina (Kansas) Community project that received a Level I Cooperative Agreement from EPA’s former Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) project in 2008, and a Level II CARE Cooperative Agreement in 2011. These case studies serve as historic references, and conditions since the project was funded may have changed.

The resources developed for this project provide communities with information about ways that other communities have addressed environmental issues. Communities can use these project results to reduce environmental impacts, understand risks and become stewards of their own environment.


Summary

Environmental Sustainability for Salina Community (2008)
Manhattan, Kansas
EPA Region 7

The Environmental Sustainability for the Salina Community project is recipient of a Level I CARE Cooperative Agreement. The Pollution Prevention Institute (PPI) at Kansas State University will be administering this project, with assistance from the Kansas PRIDE program. PPI provides ways to eliminate and/or reduce pollution before it is generated by: 

  • Changing materials, practices or technology;
  • Increasing efficient use of raw materials, energy, water and other resources, and; 
  • Developing and providing guidance on existing and future regulations so businesses and communities can achieve regulatory compliance, reduce wastes and emissions and reduce regulatory requirements.

The CARE project will build on existing desires of community members to conserve, protect, restore and preserve the health of the Salina community and its ecosystem. This project will give community stakeholders the opportunity to participate in an organized partnership to identify environmental health risks related to multi-media pollutants in the community. Some of the more significant community concerns include water contamination associated with degradation products, contaminated groundwater plumes, and toxic and chemical releases such as lead compounds and ammonia contaminating the air. Several environmentally-related public meetings have been held in the past few years to address water quality, lack of water supply, river restoration, climate change, and energy dependence on coal-fired power plants.

Prospective CARE Partners: The Land Institute, Salina League of Women Voters, Salina County Health Department, City of Salina, Smoky Hills Audubon Society, The Schwan Food Company, Salina Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension-Central Kansas Extension District #3, K-State Research and Extension Department of Agronomy, and the K-State Department of Arts, Science, and Business.


Environmental Sustainability for the Salina Community  (2011)
Salina, Kansas
Region 7

The Environmental Sustainability for the Salina Community project is the recipient of a Level II CARE Cooperative Agreement, building on a 2008 successful level I project. The City of Salina, Kansas is the organization leading this project. The City of Salina is a municipal unit of local government. Its mission is to be a leader among Kansas cities by leveraging partnerships and economic opportunity to ensure a safe, progressive and healthy community that respects its natural resources, offers excellent municipal services, and provides a high quality of life for its citizens. The community of focus for this project is the City of Salina, with a population of 47,707 according to the 2010 US Census. Groundwater contaminant plumes have been identified in the southwest part of Salina, as well as in the downtown area. After the CARE Level I process, groundwater contamination, limited water supply, lead poisoning, storm water, household hazardous waste, and radon all ranked the highest in environmental health concerns from the Salina community. The CARE Level II project will allow Salina to provide solutions to some of its environmental health concerns, as identified and prioritized by the CARE Level I process. Most of the funding will be for lead and radon reduction, and addressing other healthy homes-types of pollution issues in areas of Salina that are underserved and economically disadvantaged. Other funding will go towards working with youth throughout the area, and projects that will ultimately minimize urban runoff pollutants that enter storm drains and flow to the river channel that run through the city.

Established CARE Partners: Salina County Health Department, Kansas Department of health and Environment Radiation Control Program, Kansas Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention Program, Kansas State University, Kansas State University Pollution Prevention Institute, Weis Fire and Safety Equipment Company, North Salina Community Development Group, The Volunteer Connection, and Mid-America Blinds.