Members of your regional water quality team. Front row: Gail Glick Andrews (Oregon State), Sharon Collman (Liaison to EPA), Michael Cochrane (Northwest Indian College), Jan Seago (Washington State). Back row: Bob Mahler (Idaho), Mike Barber (Water Intstitutes), Karl Arne (EPA), Fred Sorensen (Alaska), Bob Simmons (Washington State). Your regional water quality team consists of nine professionals that represent the land grant universities, the Environmental Protection Agency and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. We have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension System (CSREES). The goal of this regional project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. This project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration, and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10. Our partnership has been active for over 15 years. Current members of our regional team include: Jan Seago, University Liaison located at EPA Region 10 in Seattle Michael Cochrane, Water Quality Coordinator, Northwest Indian College Gail Glick Andrews, Water Quality Coordinator, Oregon State University Fred Sorensen, Water Quality Coordinator, University of Alaska Robert Mahler, Water Quality Coordinator, University of Idaho Robert Simmons, Water Quality Coordinator, Washington State University Mike Barber, Director, State of Washington Water Research Center Karl Arne, Office of Ecosystems and Communities, EPA Region 10 Ron Shavlik, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/index.html University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Michael Cochrane: 360-392-4299 mcochrane@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	Below are highlights of several goals and/or projects we have developed in the past three years: REGIONALIZATION – Perhaps our most important accomplishment is that we think as a region instead of as separate states when it comes to water quality programming. Working as a region is an efficient use of resources – especially when budgets are tight. We can use expertise located in one state to meet needs across Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY – We developed and conducted a scientifically-based survey to document public awareness, aptitudes, attitudes and actions toward water quality and to assess programming needs in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The results of this survey have provided focus for our regional programming. WATER QUALITY MONITORING TRAINING – We have developed an annual water quality monitoring workshop. This workshop is designed for educators who: (1) plan to conduct water quality training for citizens and students in the Pacific Northwest, (2) plan to conduct training for groups that wish to monitor various water quality parameters, (3) want to learn about water quality and resource information material through land grant universities, and (4) want to increase their skills in leading water quality monitoring programs. This workshop was held in central Idaho in 2003 and will be held in Canby, Oregon in 2004. WATERSHED THEME-BASED SATELLITE CONFERENCES – We developed watershed theme-based satellite conferences that are held on an annual basis. Over 500 people at 53 down-linked sites took part in the 2003 conference. Conference topics include: “Living on the Edge: Grassroots Watershed Planning in the Pacific Northwest” (2002), “Funding Watershed Restoration Projects in the Pacific Northwest” (2003), and “Improving Community Involvement in Watershed Restoration” (2004 projected). DOMESTIC WATER RESOURCE USE HANDBOOK – We developed this resource that will enable Extension offices and local health districts across the Pacific Northwest to effectively answer public inquiries about drinking water quality and water systems using state-of-the-art information. This guide contains over 70 current publications. WATER QUALITY THEME-BASED REGIONAL DIRECTORIES – Regional expertise directories were developed for the following water quality themes: (1) nutrients and pesticides, (2) animal waste management, (3) drinking water and human health, (4) water conservation and agricultural water management, (5) environmental restoration, and (6) water policy. Each directory contains a summary statement of the issue in the region, a list of desired outcomes, and information for the four most pertinent research and/or extension contacts for the specific issue at the land grant universities in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. RIPARIAN BULLETINS – We developed a set of regional riparian bulletins. The seven protecting streams PNW bulletins developed to date are: (1) Suburban Homeowners – west of the Cascades and Coastal Alaska, (2) Suburban Homeowners – east of the Cascades, (3) Rangeland Managers, (4) Rural Landowners – west of the Cascades and Coastal Alaska, (5) Rural Landowners – east of the Cascades, (6) Recreationalists, and (7) Developers. Since development, over 18,000 copies of these publications have been distributed in the region. REGIONAL WEBSITE – Our regional Web page: http://www.pnwwaterweb.com, was developed, expanded and enhanced. Information on all of the projects cited above can be found on this site.
	CSREES is the Cooperative States Research, Education and Extension Service, a sub-agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and is the federal partner in this water quality program.

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