1. Coordinating U.S. Water Policy: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities
Adam Reimer
Postdoctoral Research Associate
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Michigan State University

2. Webinar Outline Brief history of U.S. water policy
Major federal water laws and agencies
Ongoing and emerging challenges
Recent policy trends and innovations

3. Overview of Water Policy
Two traditional threads
Water use/ consumption
Water quality
Policy fragmentation
State vs. federal
Increasing:
coordination
landscape-scale management
public involvement
ecosystem restoration
adaptive management

4. History of Water Policy

5. History Colonial-1850: local control and abundance
: expansion, transport
: water supply infrastructure
: Environmental era
: Devolution, experimentation, and collaboration

6. Major Water Laws and Agencies

7. Clean Water Act (CWA) Passed in 1972 Two major mechanisms:
Designate uses and WQ standards for waterways
Regulate point sources of pollution
National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)—national permitting system

8. Other Federal Laws Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
Public drinking water standards
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
Water Resources Development Act (WRDA)
New bill in conference now

9. Water Agencies U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
Traditionally focused on navigation, flood control
Manages 25% of U.S. hydroelectric power
Bureau of Reclamation
Provides water storage for irrigation, drinking water, recreation

10. Water Agencies Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Primary federal agency in charge of water quality
Administers CWA provisions, including:
NPDES
List of impaired waters
Technical, financial resources for pollution reduction
CWSRF & DWSRF

11. Ongoing and Emerging Challenges

12. Water Supply

13. Water Usage by Sector Municipal supply: residential & commercial uses
2005 USGS data, last year federal estimates are available

14. Water Supply: Surface Water Rights
Three traditional state doctrines
Riparian rights (eastern states)
Water rights part of property
Prior appropriation (western states)
“First in time, first in right”
Hybrid systems (Great Plains & Pacific coast)

15. Water Supply: Groundwater
Groundwater policies disconnected from surface water
Some states combining ground- and surface water policies
Typically first come, first served policies
Mostly privately developed
Groundwater depletion serious concern

16. Groundwater depletion between 1900 and 2008 (source: USGS)

17. Water Supply: Emerging Issues
Prior appropriation: no efficiency incentive
Use it or lose it
States adjusting policies
Increased pressure on existing water supplies
Population growth
Increased per capita use
Aging infrastructure
State, local (and private) systems, with federal support
Clean Water Action (cleanwater.org)

18. Water Supply: Efficiency and Conservation
Mostly state/local effort thus far (EPA technical support)
Water loss management
Water reuse and recycling programs
Market mechanisms
Cooperative water management
Conjunctive land use and water planning

19. Water Supply: Climate Change
Girvetz, Roy, and Maurer (Tetra Tech Consulting) Water sustainability in the contiguous United States. Evaluating Sustainability of Projected Water Demands Under Future Climate Change Conditions, Natural Resources Defense Council.

20. Water Quality

21. Water Quality
Environmental movement of 1960s changed perception of water
Initial concern with point source pollution
Heavy metals, sewage, petrochemicals, PCBs
CWA, NPDES
40 years after CWA, still significant impairment
Impaired Waters of the US:
100,000 miles of rivers and streams
2.5 million acres or lakes
800 mi2 of bays and estuaries
55% of streams in poor condition for aquatic life
(source: EPA)

22. Water Quality Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution
Variety of sources, difficult to identify
Nutrients (N&P), sediment, road chemicals
Now major source of water impairment
25% of streams with too much N
40% of streams with too much P
Source: NOAA

23. The Dead Zone: Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

24. Emerging Pollutants of Concern
Household chemicals with uncertain impacts
Pharmaceuticals
Household cleaners
Personal care products
Widespread

25. Emerging Pollutants of Concern
Kolpin et al Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, : a national reconnaissance. Environ. Sci. Tech.

26. Water Quality 1990s transition to holistic WQ management
1992 CWA amendments: Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
Whole water body management
Determines uses, calculates acceptable pollutant levels
Apportions levels to various actors

27. Water Quality TMDL process addresses PS and NPS
Mandatory limits for PS, only voluntary for NPS
Watershed-based, cut across political boundaries
Public involvement
Courtesy NRCS

28. Recent Trends and Innovations

29. Coordination and Collaboration
Agencies increasingly working together
Federal-state-local-private collaboration
Integrate water supply mgmt, WQ mgmt
California Federal-Bay-Delta Program (CALFED)

30. Watershed Management Management by basin, rather than jurisdiction
Goes hand-in-hand with coordination and collaboration
Targets NPS
TMDL process
Citizen involvement key
Civic watershed groups related to implementation of TMDL plans1
1Hoornbeek, J., Hansen, E., Ringquist, E., and Carlson, R Implementing water pollution policy in the United States: Total Maximum Daily Loads and collaborative watershed management. Society and Natural Resources 26:

31. Public Involvement Public awareness of water issues
Multiple use management
EPA 319 Program

32. Ecosystem Restoration
Hundreds of years of water system modification and degradation
Loss of ecosystem services:
Flood control & storage
Water filtering
Wildlife & fisheries habitat
Storm protection
Example: Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan

33. Adaptive Management Experimentation in policy design
Importance of monitoring, flexible administration
Response to climate change
Courtesy: Government of British Columbia

34. Thank you
Questions