Water Management and River Basin Planning in the US

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Water Management and River Basin Planning in the
US

• Elizabeth Albright
• Doctoral Candidate
• Duke University
• Fulbright Scholar

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Mississippi River Basin
http//www.epa.gov/msbasin/subbasins/index.htm
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Chesapeake Bay

• The Chesapeake Bay is the largest of 130
  estuaries in the United States.
• Includes parts of six states (Delaware, Maryland,
  New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West
  Virginia) and all of the District of Columbia.
• 64,000 square-mile drainage basin or watershed
  (163,480 square kilometers)
• Chesapeake Bay Program partnership
• Issues nutrients, oysters, toxics

http//www.chesapeakebay.net/
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Columbia River Basin

• Fourth Largest Basin 250,000 square miles
• Main issues
• Dams, Salmon
• There are over 250 reservoirs and around 150
  hydroelectric projects in the basin.

http//www.nwd.usace.army.mil/ps/colrvbsn.htm
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North Carolina River Basins
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Water Management in the United States

• Federal/ National Level Management
• State Management
• Local Management

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Federal System of Management

• Federal Law
• Clean Water Act
• Safe Drinking Water Act
• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA)
• Environmental Impact Statements
• Federal Agencies
• United States Environmental Protection Agency
• US Department of Agriculture
• Non-point source controls
• Wetlands
• Army Corps of Engineers
• River regulation
• Department of Interior
• Endangered species
• National Parks
• United States Geological Survey
• Flow Monitoring

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US Clean Water Act

• Goals of Clean Water Act
• Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of
  1972, 1977, 1987
• The objective of the Act is to restore and
  maintain the chemical, physical, and biological
  integrity of the Nations waters.
• Discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters
  be eliminated by 1985
• The Act does not deal directly with ground water
  nor with water quantity issues

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Point Source Pollution
http//www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/cwa38.htm
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Non-Point Source Pollution

• Voluntary programs
• Total Maximum Daily Load
• During the last decade more attention has been
  given to physical and biological integrity.

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Big Picture of Water Quality Management
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State Water Management

• Monitor water quality
• Chemical parameters
• Dissolved oxygen, nutrients, heavy metals, fecal
  coliform, pH, chlorophyll a, turbidity
• Aquatic Toxicology
• Biological Assessment
• Develop water quality standards for all water
  bodies
• Different uses of waters
• Recreation, drinking water supply, biological
  integrity, High Quality Waters, fish consumption
• Approved by EPA
• Designate Waters as Impaired
• Similar to EUWFD good status
• Chemical Impairment (e.g., dissolved oxygen,
  fecal coliform)
• River Basin Management Plans

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State River Basin Management Plans

• River basin plans developed on rotating basis
• In North Carolina, plan developed every five
  years (17 basins)
• The goals of basinwide planning are to
• Identify water quality problems and restore full
  use to Impaired waters.
• Identify and protect high value resource waters.
• Protect unimpaired waters yet allow for
  reasonable economic growth.
• DWQ accomplishes these goals through the
  following objectives
• Collaborate with other agencies to develop
  appropriate management strategies.
• Assure equitable distribution of waste
  assimilative capacity.
• Better evaluate cumulative effects of pollution.
• Improve public awareness and involvement.
• http//h2o.enr.state.nc.us/basinwide/

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List of Impaired Waters 303(d)
http//www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/cwa27.htm
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Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program

• Clean Water Act Mandates that TMDL must be
  developed for all impaired water bodies
• A TMDL or Total Maximum Daily Load is a
  calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant
  that a waterbody can receive and still meet water
  quality standards, and an allocation of that
  amount to the pollutant's sources.
• http//www.tmdls.net/
• Weaknesses
• How to deal with water bodies that are
  biologically impaired but meet chemical standards
  (e.g., erosion, sedimentation, loss of stream
  habitat, channelization)
• Frequently no implementation
• Lawsuit driven

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Local Water Management (City and County)

• Wastewater Treatment Plant Facilities
• Drinking Water Facilities
• Additional Monitoring
• Storm Water Management
• Land Use Planning

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Status of Water Bodies throughout United States
http//www.epa.gov/305b/2000report/factsheet.pdf
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Challenges to Water Quality Management

• Fiscal concerns
• State versus Federal funding responsibility?
• Non-Point Source Pollution
• Current voluntary programs versus mandatory
  programs
• Storm water controls
• Monitoring Networks
• Frequently monthly monitoring
• Spatial extent of monitoring
• Uncertainty
• Interstate Cooperation
• Different water quality standards, monitoring,
  values, pollutants, financial resources
• Wetland and stream buffer protection
• Private property versus common good debate
• Dam and levee maintenance
• Dam removals

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Comparison of CWA and EUWFD

• Similar goals
• WFD Good Water Status
• Ecological status
• Chemical
• US CWA
• More vague on description
• Does not list specific parameters to monitor
• Similar focus on water quality
• EUWFD subsidiarity principle versus US Federalist
  approach
• Monitoring
• CWA leaves it to the state and EPA, offers little
  guidance
• EUWFDAnnex 5, sampling parameters
• River Basin Planning
• EUWFD mandates river basin plans
• CWA does not require river basin plans per say,
  TMDLs