Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act
Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2008-02-08

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 0309177812

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The Mississippi River is, in many ways, the nation's best known and most important river system. Mississippi River water quality is of paramount importance for sustaining the many uses of the river including drinking water, recreational and commercial activities, and support for the river's ecosystems and the environmental goods and services they provide. The Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972, is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States, employing regulatory and nonregulatory measures designed to reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways. The Clean Water Act has reduced much pollution in the Mississippi River from "point sources" such as industries and water treatment plants, but problems stemming from urban runoff, agriculture, and other "non-point sources" have proven more difficult to address. This book concludes that too little coordination among the 10 states along the river has left the Mississippi River an "orphan" from a water quality monitoring and assessment perspective. Stronger leadership from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is needed to address these problems. Specifically, the EPA should establish a water quality data-sharing system for the length of the river, and work with the states to establish and achieve water quality standards. The Mississippi River corridor states also should be more proactive and cooperative in their water quality programs. For this effort, the EPA and the Mississippi River states should draw upon the lengthy experience of federal-interstate cooperation in managing water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.

Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico
Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico

Author: Committee on Clean Water Act Implementation Across the Mississippi River Basin

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2012-12-31

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 0309162726

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Most water resources managers, scientists, and other experts would agree that nonpoint source pollution is a more pressing and challenging national water quality problem today than point source pollution. Nonpoint sources of pollutants include parking lots, farm fields, forests, or any source not from a discrete conveyance such as a pipe or canal. Of particular concern across the Mississippi River basin (MRB) are high levels of nutrient loadings--nitrogen and phosphorus--from both nonpoint and point sources that ultimately are discharged into the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM). Nutrients emanate from both point and nonpoint sources across the river basin, but the large majority of nutrient yields across the MRB are nonpoint in nature and are associated with agricultural activities, especially applications of nitrogen-based fertilizers and runoff from concentrated animal feeding operations. Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico offers strategic advice and priorities for addressing MRB and NGOM water quality management and improvements. Although there is considerable uncertainty as to whether national water quality goals can be fully realized without some fundamental changes to the CWA, there is general agreement that significant progress can be made under existing statutory authority and budgetary processes. This book includes four sections identifying priority areas and offering recommendations to EPA and others regarding priority actions for Clean Water Act implementation across the Mississippi River basin. These sections are: USDA's Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative; Numeric Water Quality Criteria for the northern Gulf of Mexico; A Basinwide Strategy for Nutrient Management and Water Quality; and, Stronger Leadership and Collaboration.

Protectors of the Land and Water
Protectors of the Land and Water

Author: Thomas R. Huffman

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2000-11-09

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0807862142

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Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Wisconsin citizens have promoted innovative environmental programs. During the 1960s Wisconsin was again at the forefront of the movement advancing mainstream political environmentalism. Thomas Huffman traces the rise of environmentalism in the Badger State during these key years, when the people of Wisconsin instituted policies in such areas as outdoor recreation and resource planning, water pollution control, the preservation of wild rivers, and centralized environmental management. Huffman focuses especially on the influence of Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat and founder of Earth Day, and Governor Warren Knowles, a Republican. He shows that their efforts--and the efforts of their followers in citizen groups, the business and university communities, and the state government--clearly indicate that the origins of environmentalism cannot be placed along a left-right political spectrum. Rather, the movement evolved from an interweaving of liberal and conservative ideologies and from important traditions and precedents within the state's environmental culture. What happened in Wisconsin is particularly significant, Huffman points out, because of the effect of that state's example on other states and the federal government. Originally published in 1994. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.