Approaches to Mitigating the Effects of Staff Turnover on the CWA 303(d) Program: Examples from Practice categorizes and summarizes some of the many ways that State, Tribal, and Territorial water quality programs have reduced disruptions to workflow and delays in progress that commonly occur during staff changes. The objective of the document is to facilitate communication among water quality programs, especially CWA 303(d) programs; help generate new ideas; and ultimately improve programmatic continuity and resilience.
Most of the information included here originated from registration responses of State and Territorial CWA 303(d) program staff and Tribal water quality program staff for, and presentations during, the 2022 National Training Workshop on Water Quality Data, Assessment, and Plans, an event convened by ELI through a cooperative agreement with the EPA. Follow-up conversations by ELI staff supplement those materials.
The compendium reflects lessons learned from many recent retirements and the pandemic. With a renewed focus on program capacity building articulated in the 2022 - 2032 Vision for the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) Program and significant movement in program staff still occurring, it is important to be preparing for future turnover.
As part of this effort, ELI also developed a repository of Clean Water Act training and educational resources, which can be helpful in providing new staff background information as well helping all staff with particular subjects.
This compendium is the result of Cooperative Agreement X7-84039001-0 between ELI and the U.S. EPA. ELI alone is responsible for errors or inaccuracies. The information provided here is not intended to be exhaustive.