In September, ECOS convened the leaders of 46 state environmental agencies, top-ranking EPA officials, and others for a lively Fall Meeting on innovation that frequently touched on E-Enterprise activities. The lineup of prominent keynote speakers included Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe, EPA Co-Chair of the E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC), who welcomed the ECOS meeting theme of Better, Faster, Smarter. She...
Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Partnership (MassBays) is pleased to share a new web-based application to support monitoring project managers in plan sampling and quality assurance activities. AquaQAPP generates tailored Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs) for marine and freshwater systems, encompassing both water quality and benthic monitoring parameters for freshwater and estuarine/marine systems. With funding from the Exchange...
Over the past few years, wildfires have become more severe, and the fire season has gotten longer. In addition to the direct hazards presented by the fires, the resulting smoke makes air quality worse, posing risks to people’s health, especially those with heart or lung disease or other respiratory problems. Given the scale and magnitude...
In April, the E-Enterprise Leadership Council offered support to the EPA Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA) as it undertook the development of a Compliance Learning Agenda (CLA) to inform future data-driven decision-making on national enforcement and compliance activities. The CLA will provide a framework to test new and existing innovative technologies and policies; use data to optimize...
Committed to enhancing the EPA-tribal partnership, the EPA Region 8 Tribal Affairs Branch launched the virtual Tribal Resource Center (TRC) in September. The TRC is a centralized EPA informational resource, accessible to all Tribal Nations within Region 8. The online center provides regional and national tribal-related information that includes, but is not limited to, EPA tribal policies and...
In late August, the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) Modernization Executive Steering Committee (ESC) approved the SDWIS Modernization Project Plan for Design and Development. The SDWIS Modernization ESC is co-chaired by Benita Best-Wong, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the EPA Office of Water, and Vaughn Noga, EPA’s Chief Information Officer. A Technical Review Team of EPA and state drinking...
In November, EPA convened a virtual multi-stakeholder workshop geared toward improving data management practices for community and citizen science data. Ideas from the session also will inform a roadmap as well as an EPA strategic plan on community and citizen science data management. Attended by EPA, states, tribes, academia, and nongovernmental organizations, the workshop delved into case studies and technical aspects of managing community and citizen science...
In late October, the E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC) met virtually for its Fall meeting to explore new projects and priorities for 2022-2023. EELC EPA Co-Chair Janet McCabe of EPA, State Co-Chair Myra Reece of South Carolina, and Tribal Member Jerry Cain of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians presided over the gathering. The discussions kicked off with a review of...
The E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC) is pleased to announce new state leadership and a new tribal member. Myra Reece (Left) & Leonard Bruce (Right) Myra Reece, ECOS Vice President, Director of Environmental Affairs for the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control – EELC State Co-Chair Leonard Bruce, Senior Planner & Policy Analyst, Gila River Indian...
What are your current efforts on behalf of the E-Enterprise initiative? At the moment, my main E-Enterprise focus is to optimize the modernization of the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS). I’m delighted to serve as Co-Chair of the SDWIS Modernization Board along with my fellow EELC member Benita Best-Wong of the EPA Office of Water. As Board...
Screenshot from the EECIP homepage Environmental agencies around the country are turning to the E-Enterprise Community Inventory Platform (EECIP) to share their know-how and experience. EECIP has four main cornerstones — enter information, solve problems, save time and money, and build community. Recently, the EECIP team has made great strides in communicating the benefits of the...
Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs) and Quality Management Plans (QMPs) are the primary documents used to implement EPA’s Quality Program. Each year, thousands of QAPPs and QMPs are developed and updated for EPA review and approval. Under the Information Technology/Information Management (IT/IM) Directives’ clearance structure, these “requirements” documents will be updated and re-issued as IT/IM...