You are here:
AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR WATERSHED ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Citation:
CORMIER, S. M., M. A. MORRISON, C. T. NIETCH, B. L. BLANEY, J. R. WILLIAMS, S. G. SCHMELLING, MIKE BORST, S. C. LEHMANN, AND M. CHANG. AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR WATERSHED ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT. Presented at Society of Environmental Technology and Chemistry, Baltimore, MD, November 05 - 09, 2006.
Description:
Watershed approaches to water quality management have become popular, because they can address multiple point and non-point sources and the influences of land use. Developing technically-sound watershed management strategies can be challenging due to the need to 1) account for multiple interdependent cause-effects relationships, 2) consider uncertain recovery times, 3) meet societal needs within the watershed, including source water, recreation, and aquatic life, 4) to accommodate social, economic, and legal constraints, and 5) enable adaptive management that can span decades. TheUSEPA is focusing on the science of integrated watershed management to address these and related issues in a useful manner. The research combines consideration of scientific, engineering, economic and sociological approaches to analyze alternative strategies for protecting and enhancing natural systems and ecosystem services. Planning for integrated watershed management is a complex, multi-step process. USEPA expects to make the job of watershed management easier and more rigorous by developing tools and techniques that allow environmental planners to select cost-effective techniques and practices that can restore and protect the water resources throughout a watershed, rather than addressing pollutants from individual sources on a piecemeal basis. To make those tools and techniques more available and useful, the USEPA is developing a web-based decision support system for watershed planning and management