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New Season of Clean Water Podcast Launches on Innovative Approaches to Water Quality Improvement
The third season of the “Clean Water Pod” podcast will focus on stories from across the country that showcase innovative approaches within the Clean Water Act 303(d) Program. For the season’s first episode, host Jeff Berckes spoke with his former colleague, Jason Palmer, a natural resource biologist, about a successful project they worked on together…
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A 25-year Career Teaching Wastewater Operators: Don Kennedy
By Beth MacBlane Over the course of Don Kennedy’s multi-decade career, he enthusiastically taught thousands of operators about industrial wastewater treatment and collection systems throughout the Northeast. Kennedy began working as a wastewater training specialist at NEIWPCC in 1999, leading single and multi-day courses on all aspects of operations and maintenance of treatment facilities. “Despite…
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Reducing Long Island Sound’s Hypoxic Waters
By James Ammerman For decades, the Long Island Sound (LIS), located between New York and Connecticut, has had a chronic problem with bottom water hypoxia, or oxygen depletion, due to nutrient pollution from urban wastewater treatment plants, stormwater, septic systems and fertilizer runoff. These hypoxic waters are unable to sustain life, leading to die-offs of…
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Call for Abstracts: Nonpoint Source Conference
NEIWPCC is now inviting abstracts for the 35th Annual Nonpoint Source (NPS) Conference, to be held April 9-10, 2025 in Freeport, Maine. NEIWPCC is coordinating the conference in partnership with its member states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Abstract submissions are due on December 15. Submissions are invited from NPS managers at the state, federal,…
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New Funding Expands Water Chestnut Management in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
The Southeast New England Program (SNEP) awarded NEIWPCC a $100,000 grant for habitat restoration efforts in two interstate watersheds. The funding supports continued work on the Community-Based Habitat Restoration: Water Chestnut Management in the Blackstone and Ten Mile Watersheds project, which began in spring 2023. Both the Blackstone and Ten Mile watersheds are located in…
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Call for Abstracts Now Open: North Country Convention
NEIWPCC and Maine’s Joint Environmental Training Coordinating Committee (JETCC) are now inviting abstracts for the North Country Convention, to be held April 2-3, 2025, in Presque Isle, Maine. The two-day educational event and trade show is designed for wastewater and drinking water operators in northern Maine. Abstract submissions are due on November 15. Submissions are…
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Information Clearinghouse for PFAS Sludge and Biosolids Resources Now Available
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of emerging contaminants, are making headlines as they accumulate at wastewater treatment facilities – the result of their widespread use in consumer and industrial products. PFAS are persistent and mobile once released into the environment and can harm human health. Novel technologies are being developed to treat PFAS…
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Quality Assurance Project Plans Ensure Accurate and Usable Data
By Emily Bialowas and Cheyenne Ellis Every year, NEIWPCC funds numerous projects across its partner programs, including the Long Island Sound Study (LISS), the Hudson River Estuary Program (HREP), and the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the source of a significant portion of this funding, which therefore requires…
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L.U.S.T.Line Highlights Evolving Underground Storage Tank Industry
The most recent issue of LUSTLine (#94) — a publication to promote the exchange of information in the underground storage tank (UST) community — focuses on new developments that make the industry more efficient and inclusive. The latest version is available on the website as individual articles or in PDF form. Matthew Lahvis, principal scientist…
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Long Island Sound Study Seeks Input on Draft Conservation Plan
The Long Island Sound Study (LISS), a NEIWPCC program partner, has opened a 60-day public comment period for formal review of the full draft 2025 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). LISS develops and implements a management plan that establishes priorities for conservation, research and funding for the estuary and its watershed. The CCMP serves…