Over 4,000 youth from Ferry, Okanogan and Stevens counties in northeastern Washington participated in over 200 programs offering 28 different hands-on learning activities as part of the W.E.T. (Water Education and Training) Project between 1999 and 2003. Dan Fagerlie (fagerlie@wsu.edu) and Carolyn Blake (blakec@wsu.edu), Washington State University faculty located in Ferry County (phone: 509-775-5325), conducted this program funded by a USDA-NIFA 406 Water Quality Programs grant. In addition to Washington State University, project partners included: the Kettle River Advisory Board, Curlew Lake Association, 4-H Volunteers, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR), Ferry County, Echo Bay Minerals, local schools and the Republic Ranger District of the United States Forest Service.

Project W.E.T. improved awareness about private drinking water concerns and solutions in the northeastern region of Washington. The project newsletter, "The W.E.T. Look," provided the 4,000 households in the area with pertinent information related to water quality efforts and actions as well as practical ways to reduce non-point source pollution through everyday activities. Over 400 adult volunteers aided in the design and delivery of water quality educational programming in local communities. This project resulted in over 10 percent of private drinking water sources being tested for lead, nitrates and coliform bacteria.

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/ 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 Charlotte Clausing: 360-392-4319 cclausing@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
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 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 National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this 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. Our Strengths The 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.
	Watershed models of local terrain were developed for four project area schools. The students then became the educators as they used these models to teach others ways to reduce non-point source pollution from erosion, nutrients, bacteria, detergents and other chemicals. In addition, area schools are incorporating water quality education as a part of their standard curriculum. This project is considered to be a great success because youth in the W.E.T. project area are being well prepared to address water quality and quantitiy issues in the future! This photo shows Karen Honeycutt of the U.S. Forest Service electro-shocking the stream to determine what fish lived there with Project W.E.T. students.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No 2008-51130-4734.

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HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on August 27, 2006