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EPA Healthy Watersheds Program
Integrating Watershed Assessment and Protection across EPA
After decades of focusing almost exclusively on restoring impaired waters, the EPA Office of Water
created the Healthy Watersheds Program (HWP) to bring more emphasis to protecting high quality
waters under the Clean Water Act (CWA) objective, "...to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,
and biological integrity of the Nation's waters." Healthy watersheds provide critical services, such as
clean drinking water, productive fisheries, and outdoor recreation, that support our economies,
environment and quality of life. The health of clean waters is heavily influenced by the condition of their
surrounding watersheds, mainly because pollutants can wash off from the land to the water and cause
substantial harm. The HWP takes a non-regulatory, collaborative approach to maintaining clean waters
by supporting EPA and its partners in assessing and protecting watershed health through CWA
programs. This approach is essential for addressing future
threats such as emerging water quality problems, loss and
fragmentation of aquatic habitat, altered water flow and
availability, invasive species and climate change.
The many benefits of healthy watersheds protection are the
basis for HWP collaboration with citizens, states, territories,
tribes and other governmental and private partners. Our
main efforts involve assessing watershed health and
vulnerability, analyzing effective protection policies and
approaches, and promoting protection in specific, higher
quality watersheds.
Healthy Watersheds Program Goals
r Support states and tribes in their efforts to identify, protect and maintain healthy watersheds across the United States.
>	Further integrate protection of healthy watersheds into EPA Clean Water Act programs.
r Promote the aquatic protection component in partnering with other government, non-government and private entities
involved in landscape conservation,
r Increase awareness of the value of protecting healthy watersheds and improve understanding of the range of
management actions needed to avoid adverse impacts.
Primary Activity Areas
>	Integrating Healthy Watersheds into EPA's CWA Programs
To support protection of high quality waters via CWA programs, the HWP is initially focusing on the
CWA Section 303(d) program for impaired waters listings/TMDLs and the Section 319 program for
nonpoint source pollution control. Both programs have adopted policies encouraging states to
protect unimpaired, high quality waters in recent years. This provides a programmatic basis for
addressing healthy watersheds and the opportunity to promote state approaches to protection in
their 303(d) program priorities, state nonpoint source management plans, and watershed-based
plans. The approaches, documents, plans, data and lessons learned through these programs will
provide useful examples of protection approaches and possible models for other water programs
(e.g., wetlands, drinking water source protection).
>	Assisting Practitioners through Healthy Watersheds Assessment
Protecting healthy watersheds requires comprehensive knowledge of where they occur and to
what risks they may be vulnerable. HWP supports scientifically-based targeting of protection efforts
by providing EPA, state/tribal and local practitioners with a framework for assessing watershed
health and vulnerability. This framework, documented in HWP's website and publications, has been
A watershed is an area of land where
precipitation and runoff drains to one
common water body, such as a river,
stream or lake.
A healthy watershed has mostly
natural land cover, especially near its
waters; good water quality, quantity
and flow; and habitats with diverse
aquatic life. Together, these components
support long-term, sustainable benefits
to people and the environment.

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implemented in twelve statewide and river basin assessment projects over the past six years. HWP is
also generating preliminary healthy watersheds assessments (PHWAs) across the conterminous US,
providing a basic foundation of common information on health and vulnerability at statewide and
eco-regional scales. Other activities include maintaining HWP assessment reports online;
accumulating and sharing nationwide data on watershed condition; providing PHWAs and
technical support to states and others; and engaging with the scientific community on watershed
assessment tools and approaches for characterizing watershed health and vulnerability.
>	Implementing Healthy Watersheds Protection
In addition to EPA's watershed protection authorities and funding, our federal, state, tribal, local and
non-governmental partners have a wide array of approaches for protecting lands and waters. EPA
is funding the Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant, which stimulates priority protection efforts
across the country. By tracking these projects and communicating their accomplishments, HWP can
increase awareness of effective protection techniques within and outside CWA programs. HWP will
also review the implementation of protection efforts with an eye towards identifying suitable
methods for measuring protection success.
>	Fostering External Partnerships, Coordination and Communications
HWP provides a platform to share EPA's watershed-based perspective with key partners and
programs outside EPA Office of Water. Our website (www.epa.aov/hwr:) and other outreach efforts
communicate with state and tribal water programs, with the broad array of agencies and
organizations (e.g., DOI's Landscape Conservation Cooperatives; National Fish Habitat Partnerships)
involved in watershed assessment and protection, and with the public. Our technical and non-
technical dialogue spans topics such as important types of waters to protect; data and methods
sharing; where potential partners are active; and building awareness of watershed protection
benefits. Besides broadening awareness of protection activities, these interactions also identify
potential future partnerships to be developed as capacity permits.
>	Growing the Community of Practice
Building protection expertise within the watershed management community is essential to help
partners move in a common direction and accomplish healthy watersheds protection over time.
Practitioners working together encompass resources and abilities that far exceed EPA's capacity
alone. HWP recognizes that we contribute to, and are part of, a much broader "community of
practice" dedicated to protecting high quality waters. For example, in addition to funding projects,
the Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant seeks to attract, unify and build a consortium of
watershed protection practitioners with greater capacity for protection in the long term. Interactions
among agencies and non-governmental organizations within a consortium can improve sharing of
data, strategies, and ways to overcome barriers to success. Through sustained effort, HWP and its
partners may help grow effective programs, policies, assessment and protection approaches
throughout the watershed management community.
ERft US Environmental Protection Agency



Learn the Issues Science & Technology
Laws & Regulations
About EPA


Healthy Watersheds: Protecting Aquatic Systems through Landscape Approaches
Integrating watershed assessment and protection
across EPA programs
Featured Programs/Projects/News:
•	Tour our updated website
•	NEW: 2017 Healthy Watersheds
Consortium Grant Request for
Proposals (RFP) now available

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water, Washington, DC
EPA 841 -F-l6-008, December 2016
For more information,
please contact us at
www.epa.aov/hwp

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