scholarly journals Picking Up Where the TMDL Leaves Off: Using the Partnership Wild and Scenic River Framework for Collaborative River Restoration

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1878
Author(s):  
Alan R. Hunt ◽  
Meiyin Wu ◽  
Tsung-Ta David Hsu ◽  
Nancy Roberts-Lawler ◽  
Jessica Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Bacterial Contamination ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Private Land ◽  
The Public ◽  
Wild And Scenic Rivers

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects less than ¼ of a percent of the United States’ river miles, focusing on free-flowing rivers of good water quality with outstandingly remarkable values for recreation, scenery, and other unique river attributes. It predates the enactment of the Clean Water Act, yet includes a clear anti-degradation principle, that pollution should be reduced and eliminated on designated rivers, in cooperation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state pollution control agencies. However, the federal Clean Water Act lacks a clear management framework for implementing restoration activities to reduce non-point source pollution, of which bacterial contamination impacts nearly 40% of the Wild and Scenic Rivers. A case study of the Musconetcong River, in rural mountainous New Jersey, indicates that the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act can be utilized to mobilize and align non-governmental, governmental, philanthropic, and private land-owner resources for restoring river water quality. For example, coordinated restoration efforts on one tributary reduced bacterial contamination by 95%, surpassing the TMDL goal of a 93% reduction. Stakeholder interviews and focus groups indicated widespread knowledge and motivation to improve water quality, but resource constraints limited the scale and scope of restoration efforts. The authors postulate that the Partnership framework, enabled in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, facilitated neo-endogenous rural development through improving water quality for recreational usage, whereby bottom-up restoration activities were catalyzed via federal designation and resource provision. However, further efforts to address water quality via voluntary participatory frameworks were ultimately limited by the public sector’s inadequate funding and inaction with regard to water and wildlife resources in the public trust.

Environmental Protection in the United States Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Industry: An Overview of Regulation of Wastewater Under the U.S. Clean Water Act

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca W. Hanmer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
Paper Industry ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pulp And Paper ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Pulp Paper

The pulp, paper, and paperboard industry in the United States is the larqest industrial user of water with half of the facilities discharging wastewater directly to our Nation's waters. The major pollutants of concern have historically been the conventional pollutants: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), and pH. Biological treatment systems are currently employed to reduce these pollutants. Sludges generated by these treatment systems have been categorized as nonhazardous and are generally landfilled. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated all the reguired regulations for this industry. The national regulations are applied to individual pulp and paper mills through permits issued by EPA Regional or State staff. Permit limits can be written that are more restrictive than the national regulations to protect local water guality. In its current projects concerning the pulp and paper industry, EPA is focusing on the reduction of toxic pollutants. The Agency is conducting a joint EPA/industry program to study dioxin discharges at bleached kraft mills. The Agency will also undertake a comprehensive review of the pulp and paper regulations in 1988.

Developments in Legislation Related to Treatment of Petroleum Refinery Effluents: A U.S. Overview

1989 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve Laffly
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
Federal Water Pollution Control ◽  
Guidelines And Standards ◽  
Pollutant Discharge ◽  
Wastewater Pollutants

Abstract Regulatory requirements in the United States controlling wastewater pollutants and toxicity resulting from point sources, such as refineries, emanated from passage of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1972 and its subsequent amendments, collectively referred to as the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act empowers in the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and states to issue effluents limitation guidelines and water quality standards to point sources that discharge pollutants directly to surface waters. These guidelines and standards are contained in permits issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. The current regulatory emphasis on toxics probably will lead to more stringent pretreatment standards and reduced refinery wastewater flow.

scholarly journals An evaluation of the readability of drinking water quality reports: a national assessment

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 645-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siddhartha Roy ◽  
Katherine Phetxumphou ◽  
Andrea M. Dietrich ◽  
Paul A. Estabrooks ◽  
Wen You ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Tap Water ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regulatory Compliance ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quality Reports

The United States Environmental Protection Agency mandates that community water systems (or water utilities) provide annual consumer confidence reports (CCRs) – water quality reports – to their consumers. These reports encapsulate information regarding sources of water, detected contaminants, regulatory compliance, and educational material. These reports have excellent potential for providing the public with accurate information on the safety of tap water, but there is a lack of research on the degree to which the information can be understood by a large proportion of the population. This study evaluated the readability of a nationally representative sample of 30 CCRs, released between 2011 and 2013. Readability (or ‘comprehension difficulty’) was evaluated using Flesch–Kincaid readability tests. The analysis revealed that CCRs were written at the 11th–14th grade level, which is well above the recommended 6th–7th grade level for public health communications. The CCR readability ease was found to be equivalent to that of the Harvard Law Review journal. These findings expose a wide chasm that exists between current water quality reports and their effectiveness toward being understandable to US residents. Suggestions for reorienting language and scientific information in CCRs to be easily comprehensible to the public are offered.

Restoration of Physical Integrity of Rivers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina E. Polvi ◽  
Daniel W. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Dynamic Equilibrium ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Integrity ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Physical Integrity

Physical integrity for rivers refers to a set of active fluvial processes and landforms wherein the channel, floodplain, sediment, and overall spatial configuration maintain a dynamic equilibrium, according to Graf 2001 (cited under Components of Physical Integrity). Physical integrity is achieved when river processes and forms maintain active connections with each other in the present hydrologic regime. The term “physical integrity” was first used in an important piece of legislation in the United States of America, the Clean Water Act of 1977, in which it is stipulated that the nation must restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s water. Within the Environmental Protection Agency, the governmental agency charged with carrying out and enforcing the Clean Water Act, and the scientific literature, much of the focus has been on the chemical and biological integrity, with less direct focus on how to restore physical integrity. However, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, there has been a greater scientific focus on restoration of physical forms and processes in rivers. Restoration of physical integrity encompasses several aspects: reducing fragmentation, ensuring functional physical processes and equilibrium, allowing dynamic processes, and matching restoration to geographic large-scale controls. In practice, restoration of physical integrity can be divided into two main categories—those focused on restoring form by increasing physical heterogeneity or creating a specific planform (e.g., meandering) or bedform (e.g., pool-riffles), and those focused on restoring processes, including sediment transport, flow retention, and flooding in order to maintain forms. Form-based restoration is usually rooted in the assumption that a reference condition can elucidate the forms that best match the processes under similar hydrologic and sediment regimes. Reference conditions can either be historical (i.e., where there is sufficient data on previous channel conditions before the degradation occurred) or geographical—where there is an undisturbed stream reach within the same region with similar climatic, hydrological, geological, and land-use conditions and the reference and degraded reaches have similar drainage areas and valley characteristics (in terms of valley slope and with and hillslope conditions). In addition, process-based restoration goals based on ecosystem functioning or channel classification schemes can be used in designing channel restoration. In areas where the flow regime is heavily altered, by for example dams, flow diversions or land-use conditions, environmental or functional flows have been used to determine which flows (e.g., five-year flood) are necessary to maintain certain physical processes or forms.

Increasing Regulations Result in Decreasing Operational Efficiency

1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 149-152
Author(s):  
Charles W. Ganze ◽  
Richard L. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Aquatic Life ◽  
Wastewater Disposal

In 1972, the Congress of the United States of America passed major legislation called the Clean Water Act, which required all wastewater discharges to meet minimal standards. The Clean Water Act promoted efficiency and cost effectiveness. The Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority was created in 1969 by the Legislature of the State of Texas to, among other things, own and operate wastewater disposal systems which would be protective of public health, “terrestrial and aquatic life, the operation of existing industries and the economic development of the state“. Since enactment of the Clean Water Act, other pieces of legislation, rulings by courts of law, and rules established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have thwarted many efforts to operate efficient and cost-effective wastewater treatment facilities. This paper will discuss several of the laws and rules that have discouraged efficiency and cost effectiveness.

scholarly journals Historical Assessments of Inorganic Pollutants in the Sinkhole Region of Winkler County, Texas, USA

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7513
Author(s):  
Joshua Lozano ◽  
Joonghyeok Heo ◽  
Mijin Seo
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Water Contamination ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Inorganic Pollutants ◽  
Safety Standards ◽  
The Public ◽  
West Texas ◽  
Contamination Levels

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the public water contamination levels of Winkler County, in West Texas. With water scarcity becoming more prevalent in arid climates like West Texas, it is important to ensure the water quality in these areas. The Dockum and Pecos Valley aquifers were analyzed for inorganic pollutants that could inhibit the water. The parameters such as copper, lead, arsenic, nitrate, chloride, and chromium level reports were provided from 1972 to 2018 to analyze and compare to other studies such as the ones conducted in the Midland/Odessa area. The results were compared to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safety standards, and conclusions were made for the safety consumption of water within the county. We found that inorganic pollutants resulted mainly from the mobilization of the contaminant from anthropogenic activities such as chemical fertilizers, oil and gas developments. This research provides important information for inorganic pollutants in the sinkhole region of Winkler County and contributes to understanding the response to the aquifers. The significance of water quality in West Texas is now more important than ever to ensure that everyone has clean drinking water.

scholarly journals Assessing clarity of message communication for mandated USEPA drinking water quality reports

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Phetxumphou ◽  
Siddhartha Roy ◽  
Brenda M. Davy ◽  
Paul A. Estabrooks ◽  
Wen You ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Water System ◽  
System Size ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Index Index ◽  
State Of The Science

The United States Environmental Protection Agency mandates that community water systems (CWSs), or drinking water utilities, provide annual consumer confidence reports (CCRs) reporting on water quality, compliance with regulations, source water, and consumer education. While certain report formats are prescribed, there are no criteria ensuring that consumers understand messages in these reports. To assess clarity of message, trained raters evaluated a national sample of 30 CCRs using the Centers for Disease Control Clear Communication Index (Index) indices: (1) Main Message/Call to Action; (2) Language; (3) Information Design; (4) State of the Science; (5) Behavioral Recommendations; (6) Numbers; and (7) Risk. Communication materials are considered qualifying if they achieve a 90% Index score. Overall mean score across CCRs was 50 ± 14% and none scored 90% or higher. CCRs did not differ significantly by water system size. State of the Science (3 ± 15%) and Behavioral Recommendations (77 ± 36%) indices were the lowest and highest, respectively. Only 63% of CCRs explicitly stated if the water was safe to drink according to federal and state standards and regulations. None of the CCRs had passing Index scores, signaling that CWSs are not effectively communicating with their consumers; thus, the Index can serve as an evaluation tool for CCR effectiveness and a guide to improve water quality communications.

The State—Local Regulatory Nexus in US Growth Management: Claims of Property and Participation in the Localist Resistance

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Clark
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Regional Growth ◽  
Growth Management ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Local Participation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point

Influenced possibly more by volume than substance, some scholars have concluded that significant progress is being realized in state-level land-use regulation in the United States. In truth, more time must pass before a definitive evaluation of the more comprehensive efforts can be made. In this critical paper I examine the statewide growth-management legislation of the four states having tripartite (local—regional—state) administrative hierarchies: Florida, Vermont, Maine, and Georgia. There and elsewhere, numerous structural compromises have won adoption. Bold declarations of regulatory intent are found here often to be wrapped around ambiguous and easily subverted administrative mechanisms and standards. With prima facie evidence of significant structural shortcomings in hand, I then restore focus on the founding debates in search of a synthesis that might be more supportive of regional growth management. Using the theory of local autonomy as a starting point, I disentangle the normative foundations of the Liberal ethic of local participation and ‘control’, and of private rights in property. The centralization of growth management is seen by its proponents as a means to regionalize the ‘public interest’ in land use, positing a new and more expansive norm defining the public's interest in private property. Opponents, on the other hand, resist the public encumbrance of private land, and find in centralization a regionalized ‘public’ desirous of greater control and less amenable to private influence. In these opposing views, however, lies the possibility of less conflicted, more efficacious regional growth-management enactments. Centralization, I conclude, can actually deepen the capacity for ‘local’ participation yet at the same time extend its domain to matters of regional concern. The result can improve the capability of the local state to manage spillovers, achieve more sustainable patterns of growth, and facilitate more satisfactory templates of private investment and equity accumulation.

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