U.S. EPA to Designate New Center of Excellence for Watershed Management

On July 8, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will designate Clemson University and its partner, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), as a Center of Excellence for Watershed Management. This is the third Center of Excellence to be designated in the Southeast region and the first in the state of South Carolina.

A Memorandum of Understanding will be signed during a ceremony at Clemson's campus. EPA Regional Water Management Director Jim Giattina, DHEC Water Bureau Chief David Wilson, Clemson Vice President John Kelly and Clemson Restoration Institute Ecology Program Director Gene Eidson will be in attendance.

Started in 2007, the EPA Region 4 Centers of Excellence for Watershed Management Program works with colleges and universities from across the Southeast to provide hands-on, practical products and services for communities to identify watershed problems and solve them. Each EPA-designated center actively seeks out watershed-based stakeholder groups and local governments that need cost-effective tools for watershed scientific studies, engineering designs and computer mapping, as well as assistance with legal issues, project management, public education and planning.

For more information about priority watersheds in the Southeast, visit www.epa.gov/region4/water/watersheds/priority.html.

Source: U.S. EPA