National Strategy for the Development of Regional Nutrient Criteria

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | June 1st, 1998

In February of this year, President Clinton and Vice President Gore released a comprehensive Clean Water Action Plan. The Action Plan provides a blueprint for Fed

In February of this year, President Clinton and Vice President Gore released a comprehensive Clean Water Action Plan. The Action Plan provides a blueprint for Federal agencies to work with States and others stakeholders in restoring and protecting the Nation’s water resources and addresses three major goals: enhanced protection from public health threats posed by water pollution; more effective control of polluted runoff; and promotion of water quality restoration and protection on a watershed basis. A key part of the Action Plan provides for expanded efforts to reduce nutrient overenrichment of waters. Nutrients, in appropriate amounts, are essential to the health of aquatic systems. Excessive nutrients, however, can result in excessive growth of macrophytes or phytoplankton and potentially harmful algal blooms leading to oxygen declines, imbalance of aquatic species, public health threats, and a general decline in the aquatic resource. Recent reports on water quality conditions provided by States indicate that nutrients are the leading cause of impairment in lakes and coastal waters and the second leading cause of impairment to rivers and streams. Nutrient overenrichment has also been strongly linked to the large hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico and to recent outbreaks of the toxic microorganism Pfiesteria along the Gulf and Mid-Atlantic coasts. The Action Plan calls on EPA to accelerate the development of scientific information concerning the levels of nutrients that cause water quality problems and to organize this information by different types of waterbodies (e.g. streams, lakes, coastal waters, wetlands) and by geographic regions of the country. EPA is also to work with States and Tribes to adopt criteria (i.e. numeric concentration levels) for nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, as part of enforceable State water quality standards under the Clean Water Act.

National trends in drinking water quality violations

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) | February 27th, 2018

Ensuring safe water supply for communities across the United States is a growing challenge in the face of aging infrastructure, impaired source water, and straine

Ensuring safe water supply for communities across the United States is a growing challenge in the face of aging infrastructure, impaired source water, and strained community finances. In the aftermath of the Flint lead crisis, there is an urgent need to assess the current state of US drinking water. However, no nationwide assessment has yet been conducted on trends in drinking water quality violations across several decades. Efforts to reduce viola- tions are of national concern given that, in 2015, nearly 21 million people relied on community water systems that violated health- based quality standards. In this paper, we evaluate spatial and temporal patterns in health-related violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act using a panel dataset of 17,900 community water systems over the period 1982–2015. We also identify vulnerability factors of communities and water systems through probit regres- sion. Increasing time trends and violation hot spots are detected in several states, particularly in the Southwest region. Repeat viola- tions are prevalent in locations of violation hot spots, indicating that water systems in these regions struggle with recurring issues. In terms of vulnerability factors, we find that violation incidence in rural areas is substantially higher than in urbanized areas. Meanwhile, private ownership and purchased water source are associated with compliance. These findings indicate the types of underperforming systems that might benefit from assistance in achieving consistent compliance. We discuss why certain violations might be clustered in some regions and strategies for improving national drinking water quality.

National-Scale Flood Hazard Data Unfit for Urban Risk Management

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | July 19th, 2024

Nationwide geospatial analysis of county racial and ethnic composition and public drinking water arsenic and uranium

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | December 3rd, 2022

There is no safe level of exposure to inorganic arsenic or uranium, yet recent studies identified sociodemographic and regional inequalities in concentrations of these fr

There is no safe level of exposure to inorganic arsenic or uranium, yet recent studies identified sociodemographic and regional inequalities in concentrations of these frequently detected contaminants in public water systems across the US. We analyze the county-level association between racial/ethnic composition and public water arsenic and uranium concentrations from 2000–2011 using geospatial models. We find that higher proportions of Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaskan Native residents are associated with significantly higher arsenic and uranium concentrations. These associations differ in magnitude and direction across regions; higher proportions of non-Hispanic Black residents are associated with higher arsenic and uranium in regions where concentrations of these contaminants are high. The findings from this nationwide geospatial analysis identifying racial/ethnic inequalities in arsenic and uranium concentrations in public drinking water across the US can advance environmental justice initiatives by informing regulatory action and financial and technical support to protect communities of color.

Native American use of fire (and its effects on water)

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) | January 30th, 2014

Native Americans have a long history of traditional fire use on Mother Earth. Fire use promoted their desired ecological state of the environment. These traditions and ti

Native Americans have a long history of traditional fire use on Mother Earth. Fire use promoted their desired ecological state of the environment. These traditions and time of season to burn for a desired effect have been passed down generation to generation. Henry T. Lewis, who has authored more books and articles on this subject than anyone else, concluded that there were at least 70 different reasons for the Indians firing vegetation. These reasons included hunting, crop management, insect collection, pest management, improving growth and yields, fireproofing areas, clearing areas for travel, felling trees, and clearing riparian areas just to name a few.

Native and alien fishes in a California estuarine marsh: twenty-one years of changing assemblages

American Fisheries Society (AFS) | September 30th, 2002

We used monthly otter trawling and beach seining to sample the fishes of Suisun Marsh in the San Francisco Estuary from 1979 to 1999. We collected nearly 173,000 fish, mo

We used monthly otter trawling and beach seining to sample the fishes of Suisun Marsh in the San Francisco Estuary from 1979 to 1999. We collected nearly 173,000 fish, mostly young of the year, representing 28 native species and 25 alien species. Catch data were related to temperature, salinity, water transparency, and several measures of freshwater inflow into the marsh. Species abundance and distribution within the marsh were the product of several interacting factors: (1) the timing and place of reproduction of the abundant resident species, (2) past reproductive success, (3) habitat differences among sloughs, and (4) physiological tolerance. We did not find consistent groups of potentially interacting species, although some native species showed weak concordance in abundance. The lack of persistent fish assemblages is related to the naturally fluctuating environmental conditions of the estuary, the overall decline in fish abundance through time, and the frequent invasions of alien fishes and invertebrates. Our results suggest that the fish assemblages in Suisun Marsh will continue to be unpredictable until estuarine processes approach their historic range of variability and alien invasions are halted.

Natural and Anthropogenic Hexavalent Chromium, Cr(VI), in Groundwater near a Mapped Plume, Hinkley, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | May 25th, 2023

Related documents in this series: Chapter A: Introduction to Study Area Hydrogeology, Chromium Sources, Site History, and Purpose of Study Chapter B: Survey of Chro

Related documents in this series: Chapter A: Introduction to Study Area Hydrogeology, Chromium Sources, Site History, and Purpose of Study Chapter B: Survey of Chromium and Selected Element Concentrations in Rock, Alluvium, and Core Material Chapter C: Chromium in Minerals and Selected Aquifer Materials Chapter D: Analyses of Regulatory Water-Quality Data Chapter E: Groundwater Chemistry and Hexavalent Chromium Chapter F: Environmental Tracers of Groundwater Source, Age, and Geochemical Evolution Chapter G: Evaluation of Natural and Anthropogenic (Human-Made) Hexavalent Chromium Chapter H: Predevelopment Water Levels, Groundwater Recharge, and Selected Hydrologic Properties of Aquifer Materials, Hinkley and Water Valleys, California Chapter I: Sequestration and Reoxidation of Chromium in Experimental Microcosms Chapter J: Summary and Conclusions

Natural climate solutions

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) | October 31st, 2017

Better stewardship of land is needed to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of holding warming to below 2 °C; however, confusion persists about the specific

Better stewardship of land is needed to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of holding warming to below 2 °C; however, confusion persists about the specific set of land stewardship options available and their mitigation potential. To address this, we identify and quantify “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We find that the maximum potential of NCS—when constrained by food security, fiber security, and biodiversity conservation—is 23.8 petagrams of CO2 equivalent (PgCO2e) y−1 (95% CI 20.3–37.4). This is ≥30% higher than prior estimates, which did not include the full range of options and safeguards considered here. About half of this maximum (11.3 PgCO2e y−1) represents cost-effective climate mitigation, assuming the social cost of CO2 pollution is ≥100 USD MgCO2e−1 by 2030. Natural climate solutions can provide 37% of cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed through 2030 for a >66% chance of holding warming to below 2 °C. One-third of this cost-effective NCS mitigation can be delivered at or below 10 USD MgCO2−1. Most NCS actions—if effectively implemented—also offer water filtration, flood buffering, soil health, biodiversity habitat, and enhanced climate resilience. Work remains to better constrain uncertainty of NCS mitigation estimates. Nevertheless, existing knowledge reported here provides a robust basis for immediate global action to improve ecosystem stewardship as a major solution to climate change.

Natural Curiosities of California

Scientific American | April 12th, 1862

Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves Interim Report

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) | June 30th, 2018