Assessing Stream Ecosystem Condition in the United States

Abstract

When the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1972, later amended by the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1977, it tasked the newly created U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with the states, with periodically assessing the quality of U.S. waters and reporting on progress toward meeting the goals of the CWA. In subsequent decades, reviews by various governmental and nongovernmental organizations consistently have found available water quality data and reporting to be inadequate to evaluate the nation's progress [Shapiro et al., 2008]. In response to these concerns, in 1989 EPA's Office of Research and Development initiated the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) to develop and demonstrate scientific tools to monitor the status of, and trends in, U.S. aquatic resources and environmental stressors affecting them. Recent EPA‐led efforts involve monitoring wadeable perennial streams (streams or rivers shallow enough to be wadeable during seasonal low flows), which make up an estimated 90% of the total length of all perennial flowing waters in the United States [EPA, 2006]. Selected results from the first national survey of these streams, the national Wadeable Streams Assessment (WSA) [EPA, 2006; Paulsen et al., 2008], illustrate how such surveys can provide critical information to guide management of this important resource. Nonmonitoring applications of data from the WSA and earlier regional surveys show the wide‐ranging applicability of these rich data sets.

Using an environmental studies capstone to solidify and assess the integration of interdisciplinary learning at Pacific Lutheran University

“…In addition to different use of evidence and language, these papers also have different integrative techniques. Faustini et al (2009) use political science to pose a question and geology, biology, and chemistry to answer it, whereas Pollen (2008) integrates arguments from health, resource use and availability, foreign trade, and US agricultural policy to present problems of, and advocate for solutions to, industrial agriculture. Thus, these three articles provide rich class discussion about structuring questions, arguments, and evidence as well as examples of different integrative techniques.…”

Regional bankfull geometry relationships for southern California mountain streams and hydrologic applications

“…In 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began a pilot program of surveying the ecological condition of streams throughout the U.S. (Faustini et al,2009a;EPA, 2006). The surveys cover physical, biological, and chemical attributes of wadeable, perennial streams and rivers within the continental U.S., with specific and detailed measurements taken at each survey site, and with the goal of providing a monitoring framework and dataset for the assessment of the ecological condition of streams.…”

“…According to their estimates, nearly 90% of the total stream length within the conterminous U.S. is classified as wadeable; only 10% of the stream length belongs to major rivers. The dataset is extensive, with sampling at 1392 stream locations nationwide, and is freely available (Faustini et al, 2009a).…”

“…These relationships are compared to similar relationships for the region based on bankfull channel width and depthdata available in the literature. This includes estimates from an independent survey in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California (Azary, 1999) and data extracted from the Environmental Protection Agency's Wadeable Streams Assessment (EPA WSA; EPA, 2006;Faustini et al, 2009a), which covered streams throughout the southern California region. Estimates of bankfull width and depth from these sources were used to develop separate regional relationships, and were compared with the relationships developed from survey data.…”

Physical-Economic Approach for Urban Stormwater Management: Applications in the City of Los Angeles, California

“…The body of technical publications in the field of stormwater quantity, stormwater quality management, impaired water quality, stormwater control measures (SCMs), TMDLs, and low impact developments (LIDs) is voluminous (Novotny and Olem, 1994;Wong et al, 1997;Grimm et al, 2008;Faustini et al, 2009;Davis 2005;Green 2007;Jefferies et al, 1999;City of Los Angeles 2009a and2009b;Faucette 2010;USEPA 1997). The pace of activity and published knowledge rose dramatically in the United States following the enactment of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972 (followed by revisions of the Clean Water Act 1977Act , 1981Act , 1987) (Novotny and Olem, 1994;Wong et al, 1997;Beven 2004;Grimm et al, 2008;Faustini et al, 2009;Beyerlein, 2012).…”