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Innovation

2018 Regional-State Innovation Projects

EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) provided an opportunity for the EPA Regions to submit proposals for projects using innovative approaches to address state science priorities.  For 2018, we are excited to support 8 projects, across 9 Regional Offices, connecting with 17 state and tribal partners from coast to coast.  The work will address a range of environmental challenges from communities burdened with multiple sources of odor-causing air toxics to mountain stream sections affected by acid mine drainage.  The innovative approaches focus on advanced monitoring technologies and citizen science, and included: loaning air sensors through public library branches, testing technologies to identify sources of E Coli.; and training volunteers to monitor coastal acidification

These projects directly address challenges faced by state agencies and demonstrate how advancing science is essential to the work of states and EPA regions. Find out more information about the projects below.  We will also be providing final updates on our 2017 Regional-State Innovation Projects and their outcomes as that work concludes.  Please look for updates here.   

US Map showing locations of 2018 Regional State Innovation Projects

Regions

Partners

Project

Region 1

  • Working with Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts through the Northeast Coastal Acidification Network (NECAN)

A Network of Citizen Scientists Measuring Coastal Acidification in Estuaries

Regions 2, 3, 5 (with Region 1)

  • United States Geological Survey
  • New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
  • West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
  • Susquehanna River Basin Commission (NY, PA, and MD)
  • Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (MN)
  • Red Lake Band of Chippewa (MN)
  • Pokagon Band of Potawatomi (MI)
  • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
  • Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
  • Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game
  • Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation

Streamflow Monitoring Using Computer Vision Machine Learning

Region 3

  • Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection               

Upper Ohio River Basin Live Water Quality Data

Region 4

  • Kentucky’s Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District   

Multi-component VOC Sensor System for Fugitive Emissions and Odor Identification

Region 7

  • Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality

Use of PhyloChip for Microbial Source Tracking to Support Watershed Restoration in Nebraska

Region 8

  • Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment

Temperature and Conductivity Profiling in Mine Impacted Surface Water 

Region 9

  • Los Angeles Public Library
  • California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District

Los Angeles Public Library Air Sensor Loan Program

Region 10

  • Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

A Strategy for Early Warning Cyanotoxin Producing and Rapidly Detecting Toxic Species to Protect Source Water in Oregon and Washington States