New Strategies for America's Watersheds (1999) / Chapter Skim
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1 Why Watersheds?
1 Why Watersheds?
Pages 13-36
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From page 13... ...
The National Research Council formed the Committee on Watershed Management in 1996 at the request of a coalition of federal agencies with responsibilities related to watersheds.) The committee was asked to study the opportunities and constraints associated with watershed-scale management and provide water resource managers and planners with ideas to improve the implementation iFunding for this study was provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S.
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From page 14... ...
Watershed management activities can range from hands-on guidance to farmers about how to control runoff to multistate initiatives like those under way to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
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From page 15... ...
It focuses on hydrologically defined drainage basins watersheds rather than on areas defined by political boundaries. A watershed encompasses not only the water resource, such as a stream, river, lake, estuary, wetland, aquifer, or coastal zone, but all the land that drains into that resource.
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From page 16... ...
Chapter 8 contains more discussion of USEPA' s watershed approach. The National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)
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From page 17... ...
The nation also needs a more productive approach to both the quality and quantity of its ground water supplies. Ground water quality impacts surface water quality because most of the base flow of rivers and streams is from ground water, springs, and seeps.
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From page 18... ...
included watershed management to protect downstream urban water supplies. Abundant water fuels the U.S.
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From page 19... ...
While irrigation is concentrated in western states, it is remarkably widespread, from Hawaii's sugar fields to the rice fields of Arkansas to southern Florida's truck gardens. In the 1980s, irrigation accounted for 1 of every 8 acres under cultivation and nearly $4 of every $10 of the value of crop production (U.S.
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From page 20... ...
Water quality problems and our progress in combating them vary considerably around the nation. Overall, significant strides have been made over the past 30 years in ameliorating water quality problems caused by point sources, largely as a result of the Clean Water Act.
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From page 21... ...
to our citizens, first to encourage people to settle the West and through time to sustain the farms and industry of western communities. Hydroelectric power generation is a classic example.
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22 NEW STRATEGIES FOR AMERICA'S WATERSHEDS Politicians and such, Said the old Columbia wouldn't 'mount to much. But with all their figures and all their books Them boys didn't know their Royal Chinooks.
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From page 23... ...
The generation of hydroelectric power requires a dependable water supply that can be released from control and storage structures on demand. Because of
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From page 24... ...
For instance, the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam has seen river level fluctuations up to 13 feet per day in the Grand Canyon, leading to accelerated erosion of beaches and loss of critical habitat along the river corridor. Beach replacement is slow because the sediment that once muddied the river is trapped above the dam; native species like the humpback chub are endangered because of the many changes to the environment (NRC, 1996a)
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From page 25... ...
For example, the current phase of relicensing nonfederal hydropower facilities now gives attention to restoring minimum water flows below dams where appropriate, thus restoring fish habitat. Communities rehabilitating waterways through urban areas often attempt to restore fish habitat, for instance by placing logs or other debris in strategic locations to serve as cover for fish.
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From page 26... ...
. Despite a nationwide effort to improve water quality sparked by passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, of the 251 species of fish classed as being at risk of extinction in 1979, none were removed from the list by 1989 except those that actually became extinct (Williams et al., 1989~.
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From page 27... ...
However, there are some exceptions; for example, Great Basin National Park, and the designation by the Forest Ecosystem Management and Assessment Team (FEMAT, 1993) of 162 "key watersheds" covering 8.7 million acres in the Pacific Northwest in which conservation of spotted owls and aquatic resources was given priority over other development activities on federal lands.
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From page 28... ...
Different federal agencies that play a role in water resource decision-making have different agency goals. For instance, on a federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency is concerned about water quality under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and "fishable and swimmable" issues under the Clean Water Act.
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From page 29... ...
Often these agencies disagree with one another on the correct approach to managing water resources. They compete with one another for federal dollars to carry out their missions.
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From page 30... ...
Frequently, for management purposes ground water is separated from surface water, point sources are treated separately from nonpoint sources of pollution, and watershed impacts from agriculture, forestry, and mining are addressed by separate agencies. Local governments may have departments that deal with different aspects of water resources, with one department for drinking water and another for wastewater, and still another for wetlands and riparian areas.
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From page 31... ...
The committee believes that a combination of factors have coalesced to spark renewed interest today. These include (Heaney, 1993~: · frustration with the fragmented "command and control" approach that has been in favor for more than a decade; · a significant shift of power, with nonfederal entities emerging as important partners due at least in part to the federal government's withdrawal of financial support for planning activities; · growing concern over cost-effectiveness, especially with regard to environmental management and in light of tight budgets; · related planning approaches that have demonstrated success, such as in the electric energy field where integrated resources planning is an accepted approach; and · growing realization that decentralized water markets can be an effective alternative to central control over water allocation.
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From page 32... ...
The power and ease of use of computers is another dramatic advance. For instance, there are now software programs for stormwater modeling, surface water modeling, groundwater modeling, and watershed modeling that provide guidance on water quality and quantity, erosion, and sediment transport.
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From page 33... ...
Ecosystem management is a management philosophy which focuses on desired conditions, rather than system outputs, and which recognizes the need to protect or restore critical ecological components, functions, and structures in order to sustain resources in perpetuity (Cortner et al., 1996~. Ecosystem management and watershed management share some important elements: a focus on socially defined goals and management objectives; use of integrated, holistic science; focus on a broad range of spatial and temporal scales, often larger and longer than has been the norm in resource management; reliance on collaborative decision-making; and a call for more flexible, adaptable institutions in which decisions are continuously reviewed and revised, and thus where planning and decision-making can go forward even in the face of uncertainty (Cortner et al, 1996~.
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From page 34... ...
CONCLUSION The notion of watersheds as the basic unit for management of water resources is not new and a watershed approach is being used in many places in the United States to protect and enhance natural resources. However, watersheds are rarely the primary unit used for management because neither national nor local decisionmaking infrastructures are designed to address the complex biophysical, sociological, and economic interactions that occur within watersheds.
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From page 35... ...
The committee believes that watershed science and management needs a broad endorsement by government at all levels as the primary mechanism for dealing with strategic issues of conservation and enhancement of natural resources, particularly water resources. In the following chapters we attempt to provide guidance for reaching this goal.
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From page 36... ...
Water Resources Update, No.
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Key Terms
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