Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309075793
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242
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Book Description
Over the last 30 years, water quality management in the United States has been driven by the control of point sources of pollution and the use of effluent-based water quality standards. Under this paradigm, the quality of the nation's lakes, rivers, reservoirs, groundwater, and coastal waters has generally improved as wastewater treatment plants and industrial dischargers (point sources) have responded to regulations promulgated under authority of the 1972 Clean Water Act. These regulations have required dischargers to comply with effluent-based standards for criteria pollutants, as specified in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued by the states and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Although successful, the NPDES program has not achieved the nation's water quality goals of "fishable and swimmable" waters largely because discharges from other unregulated nonpoint sources of pollution have not been as successfully controlled. Today, pollutants such as nutrients and sediment, which are often associated with nonpoint sources and were not considered criteria pollutants in the Clean Water Act, are jeopardizing water quality, as are habitat destruction, changes in flow regimes, and introduction of exotic species. This array of challenges has shifted the focus of water quality management from effluent-based to ambient- based water quality standards. Given the most recent lists of impaired waters submitted to EPA, there are about 21,000 polluted river segments, lakes, and estuaries making up over 300,000 river and shore miles and 5 million lake acres. The number of TMDLs required for these impaired waters is greater than 40,000. Under the 1992 EPA guidance or the terms of lawsuit settlements, most states are required to meet an 8- to 13-year deadline for completion of TMDLs. Budget requirements for the program are staggering as well, with most states claiming that they do not have the personnel and financial resources necessary to assess the condition of their waters, to list waters on 303d, and to develop TMDLs. A March 2000 report of the General Accounting Office (GAO) highlighted the pervasive lack of data at the state level available to set water quality standards, to determine what waters are impaired, and to develop TMDLs. This report represents the consensus opinion of the eight-member NRC committee assembled to complete this task. The committee met three times during a three-month period and heard the testimony of over 40 interested organizations and stakeholder groups. The NRC committee feels that the data and science have progressed sufficiently over the past 35 years to support the nation's return to ambient-based water quality management. Given reasonable expectations for data availability and the inevitable limits on our conceptual understanding of complex systems, statements about the science behind water quality management must be made with acknowledgment of uncertainties. This report explains that there are creative ways to accommodate this uncertainty while moving forward in addressing the nation's water quality challenges.
Author: Committee to Assess the Scientific Basis of the Total Maximum Daily Load Approach to Water Pollution Reduction
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309090056
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 99
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Book Description
Over the last 30 years, water quality management in the United States has been driven by the control of point sources of pollution and the use of effluent-based water quality standards. Under this paradigm, the quality of the nation's lakes, rivers, reservoirs, groundwater, and coastal waters has generally improved as wastewater treatment plants and industrial dischargers (point sources) have responded to regulations promulgated under authority of the 1972 Clean Water Act. These regulations have required dischargers to comply with effluent-based standards for criteria pollutants, as specified in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued by the states and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Although successful, the NPDES program has not achieved the nation's water quality goals of "fishable and swimmable" waters largely because discharges from other unregulated nonpoint sources of pollution have not been as successfully controlled. Today, pollutants such as nutrients and sediment, which are often associated with nonpoint sources and were not considered criteria pollutants in the Clean Water Act, are jeopardizing water quality, as are habitat destruction, changes in flow regimes, and introduction of exotic species. This array of challenges has shifted the focus of water quality management from effluent-based to ambient- based water quality standards. Given the most recent lists of impaired waters submitted to EPA, there are about 21,000 polluted river segments, lakes, and estuaries making up over 300,000 river and shore miles and 5 million lake acres. The number of TMDLs required for these impaired waters is greater than 40,000. Under the 1992 EPA guidance or the terms of lawsuit settlements, most states are required to meet an 8- to 13-year deadline for completion of TMDLs. Budget requirements for the program are staggering as well, with most states claiming that they do not have the personnel and financial resources necessary to assess the condition of their waters, to list waters on 303d, and to develop TMDLs. A March 2000 report of the General Accounting Office (GAO) highlighted the pervasive lack of data at the state level available to set water quality standards, to determine what waters are impaired, and to develop TMDLs. This report represents the consensus opinion of the eight-member NRC committee assembled to complete this task. The committee met three times during a three-month period and heard the testimony of over 40 interested organizations and stakeholder groups. The NRC committee feels that the data and science have progressed sufficiently over the past 35 years to support the nation's return to ambient-based water quality management. Given reasonable expectations for data availability and the inevitable limits on our conceptual understanding of complex systems, statements about the science behind water quality management must be made with acknowledgment of uncertainties. This report explains that there are creative ways to accommodate this uncertainty while moving forward in addressing the nation's water quality challenges.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136
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Book Description
Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Water
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Toxicology
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
Author: Bernard P. Boudreau
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199770915
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 430
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Book Description
The benthic boundary layer is the zone of water and sediment immediately adjacent to the bottom of a sea, lake, or river. This zone is of considerable interest to biologists, geochemists, sedimentologists, and engineers because of very strong gradients of energy, dissolved and solid chemical components, suspended matter, and the number of organisms that live there. It is, for example, the sink for anthropogenic substances and the home of microscopic plant life that provides the nutrients that determine fish populations--and ultimately the size of the fisheries. This book of original chapters edited by Professors Boudreau and Jorgensen, both leading researchers in the field, will meet the need for an up-to-date, definitive text/reference on measurements, techniques, and models for transport and biochemical processes in the benthic boundary layer. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of a selected field, with illustrated examples from the authors' own work. The book will appeal to professionals and researchers in marine biology, marine chemistry, marine engineering, and sedimentology.
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309172683
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 569
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Book Description
In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply. Shortly thereafter, the NRC began an analysis of the agreement's scientific validity. The resulting book finds New York City's watershed agreement to be a good template for proactive watershed management that, if properly implemented, will maintain high water quality. However, it cautions that the agreement is not a guarantee of permanent filtration avoidance because of changing regulations, uncertainties regarding pollution sources, advances in treatment technologies, and natural variations in watershed conditions. The book recommends that New York City place its highest priority on pathogenic microorganisms in the watershed and direct its resources toward improving methods for detecting pathogens, understanding pathogen transport and fate, and demonstrating that best management practices will remove pathogens. Other recommendations, which are broadly applicable to surface water supplies across the country, target buffer zones, stormwater management, water quality monitoring, and effluent trading.
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428905073
Category : Water quality
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
Author: Randall J. F. Bruins
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0203486609
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 474
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Book Description
With contributions from a wide array of economists, ecologists, and government agency professionals, Economics and Ecological Risk Assessment: Applications to Watershed Management provides a multidisciplinary approach to environmental decision-making at a watershed level. It introduces the fields of ecological risk assessment (ERA) and economic ana
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 1644
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Book Description
Author: Robert J. Mason
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742547018
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 376
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Book Description
Collaborative Land-Use Management: The Quieter Revolution in Place-Based Planning discusses the less-regulatory approaches to land-use management that have emerged over the past 35 years, analyzing the collective value of such place-based planning approaches as land trusts, open-space ballot measures, watershed conservancies, ecoregional plans, and smart-growth initiatives. Collaborative Land-Use Management appraises these trends from physical, social, economic, civic, and environmental justice perspectives.
