Entering the 21st Century: Water Quality Issues River Basin Management

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1857-1866 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Bulkley
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Active Role ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Quality Issues

Water quality issues have developed primarily in the 20th century in the United States of America. Historically, the emphasis has been placed upon the protection of human health with the states and local units of government having responsibility for ensuring implementation of programs and activities to provide for maintenance of public health needs. In 1948, legislation established an active role for the federal government in the provision of water quality and protection of public health. In 1972, the federal government initiated a vigorous program aimed to limit both industrial and municipal point source discharges, provide for control of toxics, set discharge limits, and provide adequate federal funding to assist governmental units to meet the stringent requirements established by the legislation. New perspectives and new realities require farsighted and innovative means to address water quality issues in the 21st century.

Habitat Elements in River Basin Management and Planning

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin E. Herricks ◽  
Maria I. Braga
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Habitat ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Habitat Analysis ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Habitat Simulation ◽  
Flow Quantity

Comprehensive river basin management mast move beyond narrowly focused programs dealing with water quantity or water quality. A more comprehensive approach to river basin management recognizes that both flow quantity and water quality can be summarized as habitat measures. A number of well developed physical habitat analysis and prediction procedures are presently available. Several computerized systems available from the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service (Habitat Suitability Index - HSI and PHysical HABitat SIMulation - PHABSIM) provide macrohabitat definition. We have developed a water quality based habitat component which operates effectively for general analysis. With an emphasis on site specific management in the United States, the macrohabitat definition procedures may not meet all river basin management and planning requirements. This paper reviews the results of research which characterizes microhabitat in streams and rivers and provides a valuable extension to basin management procedures.

The Difficulties and Promise of an Interagency Public Information Campaign for Water Quality Issues

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 65-68
Author(s):  
Michelle Miller
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Public Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Information Campaign ◽  
Department Of Agriculture ◽  
Voluntary Programs ◽  
University Of Wisconsin ◽  
Quality Issues ◽  
State And Local

The following case study addresses the difficulties and promise of developing a statewide interagency public information campaign to raise general awareness of water quality issues and governmental programs to address them. Due to only moderate success of voluntary programs to curb nonpoint source pollution, agencies are looking toward information and education programs to motivate the public toward conservation behavior. One of the biggest obstacles in developing an effective information/education program is institutional barriers to interagency cooperation, mirroring difficulties local conservationists encounter in their work to restore and maintain water quality at the watershed level. Cooperation between federal agencies, and resource commitment to public information is necessary at the federal level, as well as state and local levels. Agencies involved to date include the United States Department of Agriculture-Soil Conservation Service; Wisconsin State Departments of Natural Resources, and Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and Administration; University of Wisconsin-Extension; Wisconsin Land Conservation Association.

scholarly journals Accountable Care Organizations and Clinical Commissioning Groups face an uncertain challenge for improving public health

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Noble
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Population Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Accountable Care Organizations ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Accountable Care ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk

<p>Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) in the United States of America (USA) and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) in the United Kingdom (UK) are new proposed organizations in health services both tasked with a role which includes improving public health.  Although there are very significant differences between the UK and USA health systems there appears to be a similar confusion as to how ACO and CCG will regard and address public or population health.  The role of ACO in improving population health and evaluating the health needs of their registered and insured patients remains ill-defined and poorly explored.  Likewise, in the current UK National Health Service (NHS) reorganisation, control and commissioning of appropriate local health services are passing from Primary Care Trusts (PCT) to new cross-organizational structures (CCG).  CCG groups aim to be, like ACO, physician led.  They will also assume a role for public or population health, but this role, like that of the newly-forming ACO, is currently unclear.  Lessons learned from the USA and UK experience of new organizations tasked with a role in improving public health may inform mechanisms for physician led organizations in the UK and the USA to assess health needs, monitor population health information and improve population health outcomes.</p>

scholarly journals Detecting community response to water quality violations using bottled water sales

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (42) ◽  
pp. 20917-20922
Author(s):  
Maura Allaire ◽  
Taylor Mackay ◽  
Shuyan Zheng ◽  
Upmanu Lall
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bottled Water ◽  
Water Contaminants ◽  
Averting Behavior ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
Public Notification

Drinking-water contaminants pose a risk to public health. When confronted with elevated levels of contaminants, individuals can take actions to reduce exposure. Yet, few studies address averting behavior due to impaired water, particularly in high-income countries. This is a problem of national interest, given that 9 million to 45 million people have been affected by water quality violations in each of the past 34 years. No national analysis has focused on the extent to which communities reduce exposure to contaminated drinking water. Here, we present an assessment that sheds light on how communities across the United States respond to violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, using consumer purchases of bottled water. This study provides insight into how averting behavior differs across violation types and community demographics. We estimate the change in sales due to water quality violations, using a panel dataset of weekly sales and violation records in 2,151 counties from 2006 to 2015. Critical findings show that violations which pose an immediate health risk are associated with a 14% increase in bottled water sales. Generally, greater averting action is taken against contaminants that might pose a greater perceived health risk and that require more immediate public notification. Rural, low-income communities do not take significant averting action for elevated levels of nitrate, yet experience a higher prevalence of nitrate violations. Findings can inform improvements in public notification and targeting of technical assistance from state regulators and public health agencies in order to reduce community exposure to contaminants.

scholarly journals Public health leadership in the times of COVID-19: a comparative case study of three countries

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Glenn ◽  
Claire Chaumont ◽  
Pablo Villalobos Dintrans
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Leadership ◽  
The Core ◽  
Public Leaders ◽  
The Way

PurposeThe purpose is to understand the role of public leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and advocate for a more active role of public health professionals in helping manage the crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the framework developed by Boin et al. (2005) on crisis leadership. The authors focus on three of the core tasks – sense-making, decision-making and meaning-making – that are relevant to explain the role of public leaders during the ongoing crisis. The authors draw from the experience of three countries – Chile, France and the United States – to illustrate how these tasks were exercised with concrete examples.FindingsSeveral examples of the way in which public leaders reacted to the crisis are found in the selected countries. Countries show different responses to the way they assessed and reacted to the COVID-19 as a crisis, the decisions taken to prevent infections and mitigate consequences, and the way they communicate information to the population.Practical implicationsA better understanding public leadership as a key for better crisis management, particularly for designing policy responses to public health crises. Public health leaders need to assume a more active role in the crisis management process, which also implies the emergence of a new class of public health leaders and a more prominent role for public health in the public eye.Originality/valueThe use of examples from three different countries, as well as the focus on the core leadership tasks during an ongoing crisis help not only assessing the crisis management but also extracting lessons for the coming months, as well as future public health emergencies. The three authors have a first-hand experience on the evolution of the crisis in their countries and the environment, since they are currently living and working in public health in Chile, France and the United States.

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