National Drinking Water Clearinghouse
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6064
Morgantown, WV
26506-6064

Extension Sets Seven Goals for Water Program

by Kathy Jesperson
On Tap Associate Editor
kjespers@wvu.edu

In Fiscal Year 1997, the Cooperative Extension System’s Committee on Organization and Policy re-classified the Water Quality Education Program from a national initiative to one administered by the states themselves. As part of the reorganization, the committee came up with a new plan, which included seven broad goals. These goals are:

Goal 1
Increase the delivery of education programs about water quality, water-related health risks, and water and waste treatment systems in under-served communities.Most under-served communities have very limited resources for drinking water protection, wellhead protection, disinfection, upgrading community water treatment facilities, fixing sewer lines, or handling storm water discharges. Many homes in under-served communities contain plumbing that may release toxic elements into the drinking water. Educational materials and programs are sorely needed in such communities. The program uses cooperation among the members of the Land Grant System to develop these materials. These educational materials will enable disadvantaged audiences to participate in water quality decision-making processes for their own communities.

Goal 2
Develop and deliver education programs that teach the hydrologic functions and the dynamics of watersheds and aquifers, enabling landowners and policy makers to protect the quantity and quality of the nation’s water resources. A number of things affect the quality and quantity of water resources, such as characteristics of the land; federal, state, and local policies; and the actions of people who live, work, or visit the watershed or aquifer region.

Streams, rivers, lakes, and aquifers are recharged as water moves through the watershed. During the process, surface flows collect contaminants that result from various land use, such as agriculture and urbanization, and natural resource management, such as mineral extraction and forestry activities. As surface water moves through the soil during this process, it may carry the collected contaminants into the groundwater.

The CES Water Quality Program hopes to increase the public’s knowledge of watershed and aquifer processes and interactions, which will allow them to make rational decisions about watershed and aquifer management and protection. This increased knowledge of water quantity issues also will allow them to help local governments form rational policies and practices. (See the article “Local Environmental Advisory Boards” for more information about interacting with local governments; see “The Canaan Valley Institute: Helping Communities Help Themselves” for an example of another organization working with watershed education.)

Goal 3
Increase the public’s knowledge of pollution prevention control systems and of personal actions that they can employ to conserve and protect stream systems. The program’s educational focus is broader than water quality or pollution control; it also seeks to develop appreciation of surface water biology, chemistry, and physics, and provides a basis for understanding, conservation, and protection.

Public education about the workings and characteristics of surface water systems, the impact of human activities, and practices that mitigate, minimize, or eliminate such impacts are important components in extension education programs. Such programs promote water quality, tested best management practices (BMP), the use and maintenance of household waste systems; and encourage the adoption of personal practices that protect and enhance the environment. (See “Getting Citizens Involved” on for more about public participation.)

Goal 4
Increase public understanding and involvement in community decision making and in the creation of public policy on water resources issues. CES’s Water Quality Program thinks that the Land Grant System can provide the necessary educational resources to support communities struggling to form public policy strategies that allow for community growth while protecting water resources.

The Land Grant System can supply educational programs that include new tools and techniques, such as Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, economic analysis, and World Wide Web technologies, to strengthen awareness of the water quality impacts of current and proposed land-use activities by both community decision makers and individual property owners. These tools also can be used to target specific problems and locations that need attention.

The Land Grant System also can provide education and demonstrations regarding land-use strategies, site design considerations and the various pollution prevention and abatement techniques, such as storm water BMPs. As divergent viewpoints arise, the Land Grant System can encourage dialogue and resolutions that are tailored to the unique attributes of the community.

Goal 5
Develop and deliver educational programs that enable individuals to safeguard their own drinking water. Most Americans take the safety of their drinking water for granted, whether it comes from a well or a municipal treatment plant. However, water supplies are sometimes contaminated beyond the limits of safety. This is of
particular concern for private (non-regulated) supplies.

Households need to be concerned about the quality of their drinking water, the associated health effects and risks, and what can be done to safeguard the water supply. For example, there have been high levels of nitrates and bacteria and outbreaks of cryptosporidium in our water supplies over the past few years. Lead, particularly harmful to children and pregnant women, can enter drinking water from plumbing that contains lead. Educational programs will help consumers assess the quality of their drinking water, and understand the costs and benefits of practical corrections. Knowledge and use of improved testing methods for water can reveal threats to human health.

Goal 6
Promote youth and adult volunteers’ involvement in protecting and enhancing the quantity and quality of the nation’s ground and surface water. Youth programs and volunteer programs are hallmarks of the extension system. Volunteer monitoring, Home*A*Syst, Farm*A*Syst, and Give Water a Hand are examples of extension programs that involve youth and adult volunteers, and that recognize the positive impact of their behavior choices. (See the article “Teaching Children about the Hydrologic Cycle.") These programs also contribute to an increase in community partnerships and networks to develop solutions to particular concerns identified through the programs and in response to increased citizen awareness of local issues.
The result will be more citizen involvement, wider dispersal of information, and more rat-ional analysis of environmental decisions in the community and the nation.

Goal 7
Develop and maintain partnerships for more effective and sustained solutions to long-term water quality and quantity issues. Numerous agencies and groups are actively engaged in improving water quality. Collaboration and cooperation with entities, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, State Soil and Water Conservation Commissions and Districts, State Departments of Agriculture or Environmental Quality, State Water Resource Institutes, and state and local commodity groups, provide
citizens with a more rational approach to addressing water quality issues.