EPA Pacific Southwest - Region 9

Trash Policy to Address the Pacific Garbage Patch

EPA recently approved the State Water Resources Control Board's new water quality standards for trash in California's waters. The standards are designed to keep trash out of streams, lakes, bays, estuaries, and coastal and ocean waters to protect people and the environment. The new Trash Control Policy will not only protect California's waterways, it will also help to mitigate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the massive vortex of debris in the Pacific Ocean.

• Los Angeles Daily News: How California's New Trash Control Policy
  Can Help Shrink the Pacific Garbage Patch Exit
• Long Beach Press Telegram: Booms Turn Back Trash in Long Beach Waters Exit
• About Marine Debris

Planning for Sustainability with Solar Power

EPA, the General Services Administration, the Department of Energy and the Forest Service have awarded a contract for the federal government's first-ever joint solar power procurement in California and Nevada. The power purchase agreement is part of a pilot program designed to take advantage of economies of scale in solar installation. In addition to saving the government $5 million in energy costs, the procurement will help achieve the government's 2025 Renewable Energy Goal.

• Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Solar Power Procurement Exit
• About Solar Power Purchase Agreements
• Executive Order: Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade Exit

Clean Watersheds Needs Survey

EPA's recent Clean Watersheds Needs Survey shows that $271 billion is needed to maintain and improve the nation's wastewater infrastructure, including the pipes that carry wastewater to treatment plants, the technology that treats the water, and methods for managing stormwater runoff.

• Energy Live News: U.S. Needs $271 Billion for Infrastructure Exit
• About the Clean Watersheds Needs Survey