Current Projects
State Water Quality (posted 9/4/2002)

Client/Funder:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water

Purpose and Scope:

Federal and state agencies have invested substantial funds to support programs designed to address the requirements of the Clean Water Act. Despite these investments and progress toward improving water quality, many states do not have sufficient resources to fund all of the required CWA programs. In December 1998, the states and EPA began a study to document more accurately state expenditures for managing water quality programs, to determine what resources states need to manage their water quality programs, and to estimate the states' resource needs that are not being met. In April 2002, a State Water Quality Resource Task Force published an interim report, "State Water Quality Management Resource Analysis" which estimates the gap between needs and expenditures, based on the results the states' Needs Model and a state Expenditure Survey.

EPA has asked the Academy to conduct an evaluation of the methodologies used by the Task Force to estimate the difference between (1) the resources currently available for management of state water quality programs and (2) the resources needed to manage and implement these programs in a manner that enables states to achieve the environmental and public health goals of the CWA. The Academy Panel will evaluate the approach and methodology followed to develop the states' Resource Needs Model, the adequacy and accuracy of the methods used to execute the model, and the validity of the model's conclusions in light of how the model was developed and executed. The Academy Panel will also evaluate the approach and methodology used to develop and execute the State Expenditure Survey. The Panel will make recommendations for improving the overall implementation and execution of future assessments state resource needs and expenditures, the accuracy of the values in the interim report, and the validity of its conclusions. The Panel will also make recommendations about possible alternative methodologies that could improve the reliability of estimates of state needs and calculations of actual state expenditures.

Center:
Center for the Economy and the Environment

Project Director:
Suellen Keiner, Director, Center for the Economy and the Environment

Project Status:
Ongoing

Panel Members:

The public may send comments on the composition of the panel for a period of seven (7) days after the posted date to skeiner@napawash.org.

John Kirlin, Chair - Director, Center for Urban Policy and Environmental Affairs, and Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University. Former Emery E. Olson Chair in Public-Private Entrepreneurship. School of Public Administration, University of Southern California, Sacramento; Interim Dean and Associate Dean, School of Public Administration, and Co-Director, Sacramento Public Affairs Center, University of Southern California

Jesus Garza - Deputy General Manager, Water Services and Environmental, Lower Colorado River Authority. Texas. Former positions with the City of Austin, Texas: City Manager; Acting City Manager; Assistant City Manager; Acting Assistant City Manager; Director, General Services Department; Acting Director, Department of Recreations and Parks; Assistant Director of Administration and Operations, Public Works Department; Manager of Solid Waste Services; Administrative Assistant to the City Manager. Former Executive Director, Texas Water Commission; Deputy City Manager and Assistant City Manager, City of Corpus Christi, Texas.

* Robert C. Shinn, Jr. -President, S2 Concepts. Former Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; President, Environmental Council of States (ECOS); Chairman, Ozone Transport Commission; President, Environmental Research Institute of the States; New Jersey Assemblyman; Mayor, Hainesport, NJ; President, Material Handling Systems.

* Not an Academy Fellow

Meetings:

Meeting 1: September 20, 2002 (posted 9/4/2002) (closed)
Meeting 2: November 22, 2002 (posted 11/15/2002) (closed)

For information on panel meetings, please contact Charlene Walsh at cwalsh@napawash.org or by phone at (202) 347-3190.