Clean Watersheds Needs Survey
Sustaining Clean Water by Informing Decisions
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The Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (CWNS) is a comprehensive assessment
of the capital needs to meet the water quality goals set in the Clean Water
Act. Every four years, States and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) collect information about:
• Publicly owned wastewater collection and treatment facilities
• Stormwater and combined sewer overflow (CSO) control facilities
• Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control projects
• Decentralized and individual sewage treatment systems
• Estuary management projects
The information collected about these facilities and projects include:
• Estimated needs, including costs and technical information, to
address a water quality or water-related public health problem
• Location and contact information for facilities and projects
• Facility population served, flow, effluent and unit process information
• NPS best management practices (BMPs)
Using the CWNS to Inform Decisions
This information is used by EPA to document the national needs in a Report to
Congress. The Report provides Congress, as well as state legislatures, with
information to assist their budgeting efforts. The data is also used to help
measure environmental progress, contribute to academic research, provide
information to the public, and help local and state governments implement water
quality programs.
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Accessing CWNS Data
A
U CWNS data is available through the CWNS Web site at www.epa.gov/cwns.
The public can get tables and charts (Figure 1) for their EPA region, state, or
watershed by selecting a geographic area and question of interest, such as:
• What CWNS wastewater facilities and NPS projects have needs?
• How many CWNS wastewater facilities are on impaired waters and what
are their reported needs?
• What are the current and projected populations served and discharge
flows for CWNS wastewater facilities?
Expert queries allow users to select the key data elements that they are interested in
and build a report or a file for downloading.
Figure 1: How many CWNS facilities and projects in the Gunpowder Patapsco (MD)
Watershed are on 303(d) impaired waters?
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Needs Category
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Looking Ahead to 2008
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reparing for the CWNS 2008, EPA and States continue to work to make the data
entry system, data quality, and data accessibility even better. Together they
developed three primary goals:
Make it easier for states and local communities to submit information for
CWNS 2008 by:
Moving the data entry system to the Internet to enable the direct
entry of needs by local communities and various state agencies. To
learn more visit www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/cwns/cwns2008.htm.
Integrating data entry with other EPA programs.
Update CWNS methods and procedures to improve survey accuracy and
utility by:
0 Maximizing state and local
participation.
Ensuring more accurate
documentation of NPS pollution,
decentralized and individual
sewage treatment, and stormwater
management program needs.
0 Increasing support for the priority
areas of the Office of Water's
Sustainable Water Infrastructure
(SI) Initiative.
Improve CWNS data access by:
Making all data available via the
Internet.
Integrating CWNS data into
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modeling, project prioritization, and other environmental decision
support tools.
Designing and distributing local and state fact sheets with summaries
of CWNS data.
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Supporting Sustainable Infrastructure
EPA, led by the Office of Water, has launched the Sustainable Water
Infrastructure (SI) initiative. EPA is collaborating with drinking water and
wastewater utility managers, trade associations, local watershed protection
organizations, and state and local officials to help ensure that our nation's precious
water infrastructure is sustainable in the future. The four priority areas, or pillars,
are:
• Better Management
• Full Cost Pricing
• Watershed Approach
• Water Efficiency
In 2008, the CWNS will enhance EPA's SI initiative by:
• Encouraging advanced asset management by emphasizing 20-year needs,
including gathering basic pipe inventory and replacement schedule data.
• Helping to assess the degree of adoption and implementation of various
voluntary utility management programs by facilities.
• Collecting more current and complete treatment technology data.
• Providing useful data to inform watershed approaches to water quality
protection.
For more information on EPA's SI Initiative, visit www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure.
Office of Water, Office of Wastewater Management
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. (Mailcode 4204M), Washington, DC 20460
EPA-832-F-06-038
November 2006
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