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EPA Highlights for the Week of April 25, 2016

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Campus RainWorks Challenge Announced

conceptual design showing green infrastructure in a campus corridorStormwater pollution is one of the biggest challenges to water quality.EPA recently announced the 2015 winners of the fourth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge. In the challenge, teams of undergraduate and graduate students work with a faculty advisor to develop innovative green infrastructure designs for water systems to reduce stormwater pollution and to build resilience to climate change.

Student design teams competed in two design categories - the Master Plan category that examines how green infrastructure can be integrated into a broad area of the school's campus, while the Demonstration Project category focuses on a specific site on the school's campus. The Master Plan winner is the University of Texas at Arlington, who proposed a plan to transform the campus through green infrastructure in relation to the natural water flow of the Trading House Creek. The Demonstration Project winner is the University of Maryland, College Park, whose project centered on reimagining a major, five-acre parking lot and retrofitting it for improved stormwater management.

Read about the 2015 Campus RainWorks winners.

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EPA Celebrates SmartWay Affiliates that Support Cleaner Freight

Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Freight delivery accounts for nearly 40 percent of those emissions. EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership empowers businesses to move goods in the cleanest, most energy-efficient way possible to protect public health and reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change.

EPA recently honored seven affiliates for raising awareness about the benefits of sustainable goods movement as part of the 2016 SmartWay Affiliate Challenge. SmartWay paterners contribute to cleaner air and healthier citizens by significantly reducing emissions of the pollution that contributes to smog.

Drive smart and learn what you can do to help reduce transportation-related emissions.

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Moving Forward for America's Drinking Water

Glass being filled with tap waterClean drinking water is crucial to vibrant, productive communities and economies.Over 300 million Americans depend on 152,000 public drinking water systems and collectively drink more than one billion glasses of tap water each day. Too little water in the West, flooding from extreme weather in the Midwest and Southeast, and the recent water quality issues in Flint, Michigan have rightly focused national attention on America's drinking water.

EPA is now taking the next step forward to improve our nation’s water system to make sure that all Americans have reliable access to safe drinking water. EPA will lead a series of engagements to inform a national action plan on drinking water, to be released by the end of the year. EPA will launch a targeted engagement with key state co-regulators, regulated utilities, and nongovernmental stakeholders on priority issues related to implementing the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Read a blog post by Joel Beauvais, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, on what EPA is doing to protect drinking water.

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Submit an Abstract for Presentations at the TRI Conference

TRI conference presentationTRI data helps support informed decision making in communities.The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) is a resource for learning about toxic chemical releases and pollution prevention activities reported by industrial and federal facilities under the Emergency Planning and Community Right- to- Know Act (EPCRA).

EPA is hosting the 2016 TRI National Training Conference on the TRI and Environmental Conditions in Communities on October 19-21 2016 in Washington, DC. This conference brings together federal, state, and local agencies with community groups, companies, and researchers for presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities.

The theme of this year's conference is TRI at 30: Working Together to Reduce Toxic Releases. EPA and co-sponsor Dillard University's South Center for Environmental Justice invite you to submit abstracts for oral presentations, posters, and exhibits. Abstracts should describe how presentations, posters, and exhibits will promote outreach, learning, and networking.

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