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UNM Center of Water and the Environment and CE Associate Heather Himmelberger Invited to the White House for EPA New Initiative

February 1, 2016

UNM Center of Water and the Environment and CE Associate Heather Himmelberger Invited to the White House for EPA New Initiative 

EPA announced a new initiative - the WaterCARE communities - at a White House event on January 14, 2016. Heather Himmelberger, the Director of the Southwest Environmental Finance Center (EFC), a program of the Center for Water and Environment, was in attendance to meet with officials from each of the 10 communities selected as well as officials from EPA, including the Acting Deputy Director for the Agency.  Heather and her colleague Jeff Hughes, the Director of the University of North Carolina EFC, will be co-managing this project.  WaterCARE stands for Community Assistance for Resilience and Excellence and is intended to provide the 10 communities with pre-project assistance to build their sustainability and resilience as well as assist them in developing their infrastructure projects.  The WaterCARE program allows us to work with these communities in a holistic manner, addressing water, wastewater, and, if applicable, stormwater issues at the same time. The project will last 2 years and the results will be shared widely with others to increase the reach of the project. The communities were selected to represent a variety of issues. The closest community to New Mexico is Gatesville, TX.  

heather and epa

WaterCARE Communities, EPA officials, and Heather Himmelberger (front row, left, in pink) and the UNC EFC Director at the White House event.

Link to the announcement on EPA's website.