Wednesday, July 21, 2021

HARD-TO-BELIEVE : Top Automated Tool Award for Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Elite Environment + Energy Leader Awards 2021 Program

There's something suspicious and questionable about self-serving press releases like this one

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | ADEQ Automated Surface Water Quality Assessment Tool Earns Top Product of the Year Award from Environment + Energy Leader

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ADEQ Automated Surface Water Quality Assessment Tool

Earns Top Product of the Year Award

from Environment + Energy Leader

PHOENIX (July 20, 2021) – The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), the state’s cabinet-level environmental agency that administers environmental laws and programs, today announced that its Automated Surface Water Quality Assessment Tool received a Top Product of the Year Award in the elite Environment + Energy Leader Awards 2021 program. The win is an indication that the program’s expert judges consider ADEQ’s automated assessment tool a top example of the exemplary work being done today in the field of environmental management.

ADEQ developed the Automated Surface Water Quality Assessment Tool to determine Clean Water Act assessment decisions at the parameter, use and waterbody levels. The tool automates every step from gathering national water quality portal data to creating a final assessment report for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. With the tool’s extreme automation, ADEQ can efficiently and effectively determine if lakes and streams meet federal water quality standards and make timely decisions that address the most pressing issues impairing Arizona’s surface waters. 

“The Automated Surface Water Quality Assessment Tool slashed the time to conduct a statewide surface water quality assessment of over 1,400 waters by more than 99 percent -- what took nine months of staff time now takes roughly 15 minutes and saves more than $500,000 annually.” said ADEQ Water Quality Division Director Trevor Baggiore. “This tool allows us to view the status of our waters on a much more frequent basis.”

One judge said of ADEQ’s new tool, “The open source approach means that in addition to the citizens of Arizona benefitting from improved health of lakes and streams, other communities can adopt the practice as well.”

Another judge added, “Decreased labor hours and increased insight into water quality and the effectiveness of remediation efforts is commendable.”

The Environment + Energy Leader Awards is a program recognizing excellence in products and services that provide companies with energy and environmental benefits, and in projects implemented by organizations that improved environmental or energy management and increased the bottom line. 

“With a very experienced and critical judging panel and a strict set of judging criteria, entrants faced an extremely high bar to qualify for an award in 2021” says Sarah Roberts, Environment + Energy Leader publisher.

View the open source, free and shareable ADEQ Automated Surface Water Quality Assessment dashboard: https://azdeq.shinyapps.io/assessment_dashboard/


Contact | ADEQ Public Information Officer

602-540-8072 | Email >


About the Environment + Energy Leader Awards

For nearly a decade, the Environment + Energy Leader Awards have celebrated excellence in the world of environmental, sustainability and energy management. Award winners are truly buzz-worthy, and companies that sport a Top Project or Top Product of the Year Award badge are known to be the best of the best. When other companies are seeking a sustainability or energy management solution, they know that E+E Product of the Year Award winners offer a significant group of products, vetted by experts, to peruse for help in making their decisions. Project of the Year Award winners are known to illustrate how sustainability and energy management projects can successfully help other companies improve the bottom line.


About ADEQ

Under the Environmental Quality Act of 1986, the Arizona State Legislature established the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in 1987 as the state agency for protecting and enhancing public health and the environment of Arizona. For more information, visit azdeq.gov.

ADEQ will take reasonable measures to provide access to department services to individuals with limited ability to speak, write or understand English and/or to those with disabilities. Requests for language translation, ASL interpretation, CART captioning services or disability accommodations must be made at least 48 hours in advance by contacting the Title VI Nondiscrimination Coordinator at 602-771-2215 or Communications@azdeq.gov. For a TTY or other device, Telecommunications Relay Services are available by calling 711.

ADEQ tomará las medidas razonables para proveer acceso a los servicios del departamento a personas con capacidad limitada para hablar, escribir o entender inglés y/o para personas con discapacidades. Las solicitudes de servicios de traducción de idiomas, interpretación ASL (lengua de signos americano), subtitulado de CART, o adaptaciones por discapacidad deben realizarse con al menos 48 horas de anticipación comunicándose con el Coordinador de Anti-Discriminación del
Título VI al 602-771-2215 o Communications@azdeq.gov. Para un TTY u otro dispositivo, los servicios de retransmisión de telecomunicaciones están disponible llamando al 711. 


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Pathfinders: Climate-Smart Solutions from Rural America and Native Nations

Opportunity to Provide Feedback | Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (AZPDES) | Five Year Rule Review

Pssssssst! What's this??
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Take Survey >

Responses due no later than Aug. 6, 2021

If you know others who may be interested in providing input on these rules, please forward this feedback opportunity. . INSERT > File:NPDES Permit Components EPA chart.png - Wikipedia

 

 
 
Water Quality Division

Five Year Rule Review

Feedback Welcome

ADEQ invites interested community members, businesses and government personnel to participate in a review of ADEQ’s Water Quality Rules, in the Arizona Administrative Code, Title 18, Chapter 9: Water Pollution Control:

Please review the above article and participate in the following survey for the opportunity to provide feedback on ADEQ's rules. 

Take Survey >

Responses due no later than Aug. 6, 2021

If you know others who may be interested in providing input on these rules, please forward this feedback opportunity. Thank you for your participation in the rule review process.

What are Five Year Reviews? | Click here to learn more >

 


For questions, please contact:
Jon Rezabek at rezabek.jon@azdeq.gov


About ADEQ

Under the Environmental Quality Act of 1986, the Arizona State Legislature established the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in 1987 as the state agency for protecting and enhancing public health and the environment of Arizona. For more information, visit azdeq.gov.


 AZDEQ Logo QUESTIONS?
Contact Us
 
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Is Rising Inflation a Tailwind for Gold?

Where the Ultra-Rich Are Investing Their Money

FEATURED POST SPOTLIGHT > MESA ARTSPACE Christine Cassano : Sound, Synesthesia, Studio Explorations & Santa Fe

It is a pleasure to know Christine Cassano although not seeing or talking with her in-person for obvious reasons.
Tim

As the world begins to reopen, I'm excited to share some developments with you. As a person with Synesthesia, sound has always been an exceptionally powerful visual experience. Yet as an artist, I don't have an interest in re-creating my experience of Synesthesia. Rather, it's important to me that Synesthesia remain the source, or conduit used to thoughtfully develop and create my work. Fully embracing this has led me "home" as I continue to explore the convergence of our ecological, technological and cosmological systems. I've been deeply inspired by what is happening in the studio along with the artistic connections and collaborations that have formed as a result. Below are several quick videos and a great article of enjoying this journey. 
 
Using sound vibration as medium and bronze foramina as the tool. Dipped in paint, these bronze sculptures are vibrated across the surface to create paintings. You can view more paintings in this series here.
Remember the kinetic sound installation, Passage Procession? I became obsessed with capturing again in slow motion, but also shrouded in mediative darkness. I call this version Obsidian. Click here for photos and details. 
Degrees of Granularity is a sound installation and collaboration with sound artist, Shomit Barua. 500+ hand-formed pieces of paper-thin porcelain are delicately stacked atop a black mirror. Details & images of this sound piece 
ARTICLE  ––  If you'd like to read / see more of my exhibits during 2020-21, ASID's publication (pgs. 18-23) has a great feature article written by Leann Fernald! She speaks thoughtful to her design community on ideas relating to Impact & Connection through the exploration of my journey, studio practice and pieces I've created and / or exhibited through this pandemic.
Tesseract is a sculpture comprised of two stacked decks of playing cards made of glass. Each of the 104 cards are hand engraved with a simple pattern of points and lines. Stacked 40″ high upon a glass mirror, reflective light accumulates to reveal depth, form, connection and dimension. When thinking of Carl Sagan and his ideas related to the 4th dimension, I don’t sense dark matter as dark, rather a translucent medium for light with interconnections we can’t yet wrap our minds around. ...But you can walk around this one — it’s part of the EXPLORE, Go Boldly exhibit at Tempe Center for the Arts. 
More NEWS > link for the full list of updates, events.
Copper art installation
NEWS cont...
- Excited to share I now have new works available at G2 Gallery in Santa Fe, NM.
  G2 is a newly opened gallery & part of the Gebert Contemporary family of galleries.
- Group exhibit at 515 Gallery through end of August
- More exciting developments are on the horizon & I'm excited those this fall! 
Signing off with this video collaboration with sound artist Bryn Corbett (aka Particle Dots) as we worked towards further abstracting the intersection of time and sound. What I enjoy most about this - is the disorientation that lands somewhere in between witnessing strange, erie, beautiful and engaging - in a sense, mesmerizing and otherworldly.  

As always, I'd love to hear from you with feedback or updates of your own! Feel free to drop me a line and / or connect with me via  social media links below. 

All My Best,
Christine Cassano

NEWS RELEASE: HUD MAKES OVER $19 MILLION AVAILABLE TO FIGHT HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

HUD NEWS

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Marcia L. Fudge, Secretary

Office of Public Affairs, Washington, DC 20410                           

 

HUD No. 21-113                                                                                FOR RELEASE

HUD Public Affairs                                                                            Wednesday

202-708-0685                                                                                     July 21, 2021

HUD.gov/Press

 

HUD MAKES OVER $19 MILLION AVAILABLE TO FIGHT HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

Grants will support COVID-19 related fair housing enforcement activities

 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is making $19.4 million available to help HUD Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) agencies conduct activities that will address discriminatory housing practices related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The funds, which are provided through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021, will allow private fair housing enforcement organizations to respond to fair housing inquires and complaints, conduct fair housing testing, and implement education and outreach activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The funds will also be used to address fair housing issues affecting individuals and families experiencing housing instability, including those who may face displacement due to discriminatory evictions and foreclosures. 

 

These ARP funds may be used by fair housing organizations to equitably expand housing enforcement services for underserved populations who need their services the most. Underserved populations include individuals making fair housing complaints who come from low-income backgrounds and persons with disabilities, as well as people of color, including African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian American and Pacific Islanders.  Applicants for the funding may also propose new fair housing projects relating to discriminatory practices arising in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“Housing stability will be a critically important part of America’s continuing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jeanine Worden, HUD’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “The funding we’re announcing today will give our fair housing partner organizations the financial resources they need to address various forms of discrimination that may occur as a result of rental and sales practices, as well as changing credit and real estate operations, related to the pandemic.”

 

This funding opportunity creates three funding levels for FHIP organizations, based on the average of their three previous annual operating budgets. The three funding award levels include:

 

Level I – up to $75,000 (for organizations with an average annual operating budget of less than $500,000.)

 

Level II – up to $125,000 (for organizations with an average annual operating budget of between $500,000 and $700,000.)

 

Level III – up to $350,000 (for organizations with an average annual operating budget of greater than $700,000.) 

 

Applications must be received by August 18, 2021.

 

Organizations that are interested in applying for funding should go to www.Grants.gov to obtain a copy of the specific Notice of Funding Opportunity, forms, instructions, and other application materials.  Additional information can be found on HUD’s website:  www.hud.gov.

 

People who believe they have experienced discrimination may file a complaint by contacting HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (Relay). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed by going to the following website:  www.hud.gov/fairhousing.  

    

 

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
at 
www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov

You can also connect with HUD on 
social media and follow Secretary Fudge on Twitter and Facebook or sign up for news alerts on HUD's Email List.