The new Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, said in an interview that despite many successes since the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, today the nation’s water does not meet public health goals, and enforcement of water pollution is unacceptably low (1). In support of this statement, a national study conducted in 2002 reported that 45% of streams, 47% of lakes, and 32% of estuaries in the United States were not clean enough to support uses such as fishing and swimming (2). After three decades of environmental policy driven by the Clean Water Act, there clearly are gaps in identifying sources of pollution and in enforcement of fines and other punishment for known polluting entities.
The term watershed refers to the land surface that drains water and other materials to a common outlet The concept of Integrated Watershed Management refers to a systems-based, coordinated, multidisciplinary, adaptive and iterative process that takes into account available natural resources (e.g., water, habitats and biodiversity, etc) and identifies the needs and priorities of the stakeholders within a watershed (including ecosystems) with the goal of meeting human needs while protecting the integrity of natural systems (3). Today much remains to be done to attain an integrated approach to managing watershed resources. The lack of communication and coordination among research, community and government entities is problematic. We have much to learn about natural processes at the watershed level and how human activities might affect these.
Sources:
(1) New York Times. 12 September 2009. Clean Water laws are neglected, at a cost in suffering.
(2) The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Assessment Database.
(3) Heathcote I. W. 1998. Integrated Watershed Management: Principles and Practice. 1st ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Books, Articles, Papers
Heathcote I. W. 1998. Integrated watershed management: Principles and practice. 1st ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
This is book covers basic concepts in integrated watershed management and includes several case studies.
Letey J. 1999. Science and policy in integrated watershed management: A case study. Journal of the American Water Resource ASsociation 35: 603-608.
This publication discusses some challenges related to the practice of integrated watershed management with particular emphasis on the role of science in the decision making process.
Web Resources - Links and Data
U.S. EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2007. Watershed Academy
This is a U.S. EPA online training course available to the public that provides an explanation of basic technical concepts related to watersheds.
University of California, Davis. Watershed Assessment Manual
Provides up-to-date reports, assessments and presentations on the state of many of California’s watersheds as well as important concepts related to watersheds.
County of San Diego. Project Clean Water
Provides basic background information on the regions watersheds (e.g., maps, population density, land use, pollution issues).
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