2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/22/2018 | 2:45 PM - 3:00 PM | THE LAW AND POLICY IMPACTS OF ADVANCES IN ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY: CAN THE LAW CATCH UP TO THE SCIENCE? | 330 A
THE LAW AND POLICY IMPACTS OF ADVANCES IN ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY: CAN THE LAW CATCH UP TO THE SCIENCE?
Since Clean Water Act enactment (CWA) in 1972, aquatic scientists have developed a range of new tools to assess aquatic ecosystem health. Despite the CWA’s broad objective to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters,” statutory implementation focused initially on chemical water quality improvement, and on point and nonpoint sources of chemical stressors. Newer methods assess other indicators of aquatic ecosystem health, including species composition and distribution, land condition, terrestrial habitat quality, and hydrologic alteration. CWA implementation integrates this new methodology into programs to identify impaired waters and to target statutory implementation. Integration of new scientific assessment into other aspects of CWA implementation, such as permitting and enforcement, has been slower and more complicated. That lag is explained in part by challenges in reliably linking aquatic ecosystem impairment to specific sources. More recent scientific research is beginning to provide tools to establish those linkages. Three approaches to law and policy change will be explored to help identify ways to use improvements in scientific assessment to generate parallel improvements in statutory implementation: modifications to agency policy and practice, regulatory changes, and potential statutory amendments.
- Biological Criteria
- Water Quality
- Bioassessment
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Presenters/Authors
Robert Adler
(), University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, Robert.Adler@law.utah.edu;
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