Watershed Management for Potable Water Supply
Watershed Management for Potable Water Supply

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2000-02-17

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 0309172683

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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.

Clean Coastal Waters
Clean Coastal Waters

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2000-08-17

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 0309069483

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Environmental problems in coastal ecosystems can sometimes be attributed to excess nutrients flowing from upstream watersheds into estuarine settings. This nutrient over-enrichment can result in toxic algal blooms, shellfish poisoning, coral reef destruction, and other harmful outcomes. All U.S. coasts show signs of nutrient over-enrichment, and scientists predict worsening problems in the years ahead. Clean Coastal Waters explains technical aspects of nutrient over-enrichment and proposes both immediate local action by coastal managers and a longer-term national strategy incorporating policy design, classification of affected sites, law and regulation, coordination, and communication. Highlighting the Gulf of Mexico's "Dead Zone," the Pfiesteria outbreak in a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, and other cases, the book explains how nutrients work in the environment, why nitrogen is important, how enrichment turns into over-enrichment, and why some environments are especially susceptible. Economic as well as ecological impacts are examined. In addressing abatement strategies, the committee discusses the importance of monitoring sites, developing useful models of over-enrichment, and setting water quality goals. The book also reviews voluntary programs, mandatory controls, tax incentives, and other policy options for reducing the flow of nutrients from agricultural operations and other sources.

Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution
Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution

Author: William F. Ritter

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2000-12-15

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9781420033083

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If you work in the water quality management field, you know the challenges of monitoring and controlling pollutants in our water supply. The increasing problem of agricultural nonpoint source pollution requires complex solutions. Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution: Watershed Management and Hydrology covers the latest techniques and methods of managing large watershed areas, with an emphasis on controlling non-point source pollution, especially from agricultural run-off. Written by leading experts, the book includes topics such as: nitrate and phosphorus pollution, pesticide contamination, erosion and sedimentation, water-table management, and watershed management. The authors discuss the effects of agricultural run-off - one of the most intransigent problems now faced by environmental engineers and hydrologists. They explore each issue with an eye towards the integrated management of water quality and water resources over a defined area or region. This single-source reference gives you a complete understanding of the whats, whys, and hows of nonpoint source pollution - and more importantly of how to monitor and manage it. Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution: Watershed Management and Hydrology provides a broad but detailed overview that helps you to comprehend the intricacies of the problem and puts you on the path to finding the answers.

Urban Stormwater Management in the United States
Urban Stormwater Management in the United States

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-03-17

Total Pages: 611

ISBN-13: 0309125391

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The rapid conversion of land to urban and suburban areas has profoundly altered how water flows during and following storm events, putting higher volumes of water and more pollutants into the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. These changes have degraded water quality and habitat in virtually every urban stream system. The Clean Water Act regulatory framework for addressing sewage and industrial wastes is not well suited to the more difficult problem of stormwater discharges. This book calls for an entirely new permitting structure that would put authority and accountability for stormwater discharges at the municipal level. A number of additional actions, such as conserving natural areas, reducing hard surface cover (e.g., roads and parking lots), and retrofitting urban areas with features that hold and treat stormwater, are recommended.

Soil and Water Quality
Soil and Water Quality

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1993-02-01

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 0309049334

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How can the United States meet demands for agricultural production while solving the broader range of environmental problems attributed to farming practices? National policymakers who try to answer this question confront difficult trade-offs. This book offers four specific strategies that can serve as the basis for a national policy to protect soil and water quality while maintaining U.S. agricultural productivity and competitiveness. Timely and comprehensive, the volume has important implications for the Clean Air Act and the 1995 farm bill. Advocating a systems approach, the committee recommends specific farm practices and new approaches to prevention of soil degradation and water pollution for environmental agencies. The volume details methods of evaluating soil management systems and offers a wealth of information on improved management of nitrogen, phosphorus, manure, pesticides, sediments, salt, and trace elements. Landscape analysis of nonpoint source pollution is also detailed. Drawing together research findings, survey results, and case examples, the volume will be of interest to federal, state, and local policymakers; state and local environmental and agricultural officials and other environmental and agricultural specialists; scientists involved in soil and water issues; researchers; and agricultural producers.