NACEPT
Report
March
5,
2003
In
September
2002,
the
National
Advisory
Council
for
Environmental
Policy
and
Technology
published
its
report,
"
The
Environmental
Future:
Emerging
Challenges
and
Opportunities
for
EPA."

Purpose:
This
NACEPT
report
was
prepared
in
response
to
a
request
from
EPA's
Administrator
to
play
a
more
strategic
and
visionary
advisory
role.
The
report
reviews
EPA's
current
futures
analysis
capability
and
recommends
that
more
be
done
to
support
environmental
foresight
programs.
In
addition,
the
report
offers
a
framework
to
analyze
the
environmental
implications
of
trends
in
world
population
and
demographics,
natural
resources,
science
and
technology,
information
management
and
access,
economics
and
commerce,
and
politics
and
social
evolution.
The
report
concludes
with
general
and
specific
recommendations
for
how
EPA
can
best
address
these
changing
conditions.
The
discussion
of
water
as
a
natural
resource
identifies
four
opportunities
for
EPA:
1)
develop
a
holistic
approach
to
water
and
the
environment;
2)
integrate
water
efficiency
with
environmental
regulations;
3)
support
an
effective
market
environment
to
minimize
generating
hazardous
wastes;
and
4)
redouble
efforts
to
effectively
include
non­
point
sources
in
water
management
programs.

Holistic
Approach:
This
recommendation
includes
the
creation
of
a
task
force
which
can
take
a
more
holistic
look
at
water
policy
and
the
environment.
It
focuses
on
the
water­
shed
level
to
identify
areas
for
specific
improvement.
NACEPT
recognizes
the
progress
made
to
date
in
achieving
a
holistic
approach.
It
also
notes
the
difficulties
to
doing
this
that
are
presented
by
the
existing
statutory
authorities
and
recognizes
the
Office
of
Water's
progress
in
integrating
its
authorities
under
the
Clean
Water
Act
and
the
Safe
Drinking
Water
Act.

Integrating
Water
Efficiency:
This
recommendation
focuses
on
integrating
water
use
efficiency
and
appropriate
reuse
into
environmental
regulations
NACEPT
notes
that
regulatory
programs
that
are
based
on
technical
standards
measured
by
concentration
of
pollutants
per
unit
of
water
are
not
readily
amenable
to
increased
water
efficiency
goals.

Effective
Market
Environment:
This
recommendation
focuses
on
identifying
opportunities
for
pollution
prevention
and
reprocessing/
reuse
to
eliminate
the
generation
of
hazardous
waste.
NACEPT
suggests
that
EPA
identify
technical,
regulatory,
and
economic
barriers
to
pollution
prevention
and
reuse,
and
that
EPA
encourage
a
market
environment
in
which
these
beneficial
practices
become
the
preferred
business
option.

Include
Non­
Point
Sources:
This
recommendation
identifies
non­
point
sources
as
a
significant
focus
for
water
management
programs.
It
includes
suggestions
that
EPA
enhance
its
capacity
to
monitor,
model,
and
mitigate
non­
point
source
contributions
to
water
contamination.
It
also
urges
EPA
to
increase
efforts
to
educate
citizens
and
policy­
makers
about
the
value
of
non­
point
source
mitigation.
Contact:
Gwen
Whitt
(
202)
233­
0079;
Sonia
Alteri
(
202)
233­
0061
Short­
term
Followup:
Since
none
of
these
recommendations
fall
under
the
factors
we
are
using
at
the
screening
level
to
identify
potential
concerns,
there
is
no
follow­
up
needed.
This
report
is
not
an
appropriate
tool
for
the
304(
m)
planning
process.
