Download or read book Measurement to Im prove Water Quality Environmental Performance Measurement in Upper Mississippi River Basin Water and Agriculture Policy written by Chloe Bradley Wardropper and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental data can play powerful roles in environmental governance. Monitoring and modeling allow managers to track conditions, trends, and potential futures, while social context shapes how actors use environmental data in policy implementation and assessment. Yet questions remain about how and why environmental information is negotiated and used in water quality policy. The primary goal of this research is to understand the social dimensions of environmental data in the governance of nonpoint source pollution at the land use-water quality nexus, and the ways in which scientific uncertainty informs policy. The dissertation also highlights options to improve the use of environmental data in water quality projects, and to increase the capacity of water governance to adapt to climate change. Focusing first on Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) in the Upper Midwestern U.S., I conducted an online survey of SWCD employees (n=286) to examine the institutional, environmental and individual factors associated with staff use of water quality data. I also asked which of those factors increased the likelihood that an SWCD would implement adaptation measures in response to extreme storm events. Next, through a case study of a market-led water quality program in south central Wisconsin, I studied the effects of monitoring and modeling uncertainty on program development and stakeholder buy-in. I draw on these studies to inform the growing social science literature on how environmental measurement and prediction influence public program formation and implementation, and in turn, how policies influence data production. I found evidence for a positive association between information use and employees' prosocial motivation, or the belief that they helped people and natural resources through their job, as well as the perceived trustworthiness of data, and staff discretion to prioritize programs locally. SWCD employees who were concerned about climate change and used precipitation projections were more likely to work in an office that implemented precipitation adaptation measures. Finally, water quality measurement uncertainty led to an iterative process of deciding how monitoring and modeling would be used to track and prove program progress in the local program case study.
Download or read book Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-02-08 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico written by Committee on Clean Water Act Implementation Across the Mississippi River Basin and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Environmental Protection Research Catalog Indexes written by Smithsonian Science Information Exchange and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 1478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Agriculture Rural Development Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations for 2016 written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 934 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Selected Water Resources Abstracts written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 1296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Agrindex written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 1390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Municipal Wastewater Treatment written by Andrew Stoddard and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2003-03-20 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thorough analysis of public policy and the Clean Water Act'seffect on water quality in the U.S. Using water quality data and historical records from the past 60years, this book presents the measured impact of the 1972 CleanWater Act on domestic waterways-ecologically, politically, andeconomically. Municipal Wastewater Treatment supports thehypothesis that the Act's regulation of wastewater treatmentprocesses at publicly owned treatment works (POTW) and industrialfacilities has achieved significant success. The authors' case ispresented in: * Background information on the history of water pollution controland water quality management * Chapters addressing long-term trends in biochemical oxygen demandloadings from municipal wastewater plants and the "worst-case"dissolved oxygen levels in waterways downstream of point sourcesbefore and after the Clean Water Act * Nine case study assessments of long-term trends of pollutantloading water quality and environmental resources associated withPOTW discharges Using long-term trends in dissolved oxygen as the key indicator ofwater quality improvements, this book provides a detailedretrospective analysis of the effectiveness of the water pollutioncontrol policies and regulations of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Thesuccesses of the Act that have been achieved over the past 30 yearsare placed in the historical context of the "Great SanitaryAwakening" of the 19th century and changes in public policies forwater supply and water pollution control that have evolved duringthe 20th century to protect public health and the intrinsic valueof aquatic resources. Case study sites include the ConnecticutRiver, Hudson-Raritan Estuary, Delaware Estuary, Potomac Estuary,Upper Chattahoochee River, Ohio River, Upper Mississippi River, andWillamette River. Complete with end-of-chapter summaries and conclusions, MunicipalWastewater Treatment: Evaluating Improvements in National WaterQuality is an essential book for engineers, scientists, regulators,and consultants involved in water quality management and wastewatertreatment, as well as students of environmental engineering,environmental science, and public policy.
Download or read book Environmental Protection Research Catalog written by and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 1458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bibliography of Agriculture written by and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 1120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Clean Coastal Waters written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-08-17 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Earth Resources written by and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 852 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book National Guide to Funding for the Environment and Animal Welfare written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 888 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water Quality for Ecosystem and Human Health written by Geneviève M. Carr and published by UNEP/Earthprint. This book was released on 2008 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This document is intended to provide an overview of the major components of surface and ground water quality and how these relate to ecosystem and human health. Local, regional and global assessments of water quality monitoring data are used to illustrate key features of aquatic environments, and to demonstrate how human activities on the landscape can influence water quality in both positive and negative ways. Clear and concise background knowledge on water quality can serve to support other water assessments.
Download or read book Journal of Soil and Water Conservation written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 846 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vol. 25, no. 1 contains the society's Lincoln Chapter's Resource conservation glossary.
Download or read book Evaluation of the Economic Costs and Benefits of Methods for Reducing Nutrient Loads to the Gulf of Mexico written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book National Strategy for the Development of Regional Nutrient Criteria written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
