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Headwater effects on downstream waters: Legal perspectives, science needs, and assessment approaches
Citation:
LEIBOWITZ, S. G., P. J. WIGINGTON JR, R. COMELEO, AND J. L. EBERSOLE. Headwater effects on downstream waters: Legal perspectives, science needs, and assessment approaches. Presented at Joint Meeting of ASLO/NABS, Santa Fe, NM, June 06 - 11, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
Headwater streams make up at least 53% of total stream length in the US.
Description:
Headwater streams make up at least 53% of total stream length in the US. Although these systems are of interest for their own sake, there has recently been significant focus on how headwater streams contribute to downstream waters. This has resulted in part from recent legal opinions regarding the Clean Water Act, but also because of interest in hydrologic connectivity between stream network elements. In this talk, we consider headwater effects on downstream waters from legal, scientific, and assessment perspectives. First, we review the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Rapanos, including legal opinions concerning permanence of flow and significant nexus. We then consider science needs resulting from this case, and challenges tiwth addressing these needs. Finally, we discuss several approaches that we have developed that can be used to assess the downstream effects of headwaters. These include use of Hydrologic Landscape Regions, assessments of stream duration, and modeling of hydrologic connectivity.