-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! 'Polluted' Waters Poorly Chosen by Clinton White House, Scientists Say Friday, June 15, 2001 Email this Article WASHINGTON — The Clinton administration told states to clean up thousands of lakes and rivers without enough evidence to assure the right bodies of water were being targeted, a panel of scientists said Friday. The National Academy of Sciences panel agreed water pollution remains a serious problem across the country. But its report is expected to provide support for the Bush administration and some in Congress who want to overhaul the regulation that requires states to develop broad plans to reduce runoff that is polluting lakes and streams. In October, Congress suspended implementation of the regulation, which had been questioned by many states and strongly opposed by farming and business interests. The federally required state cleanup plans, issued earlier last year, would cover about 21,000 bodies of water -- from lakes and ponds to segments of streams and major rivers -- that were determined to be too polluted for fishing and swimming because of stormwater and agricultural runoff. States would have eight to 13 years to develop the plans and start cleanup and water quality restoration programs. But a report issued Friday by an eight-member panel of scientists of the Academy's National Research Council said that the program needs to be re-examined with an eye toward improving the way impaired water bodies are selected. The scientists concluded that many of the waterways were targeted without adequate information about water quality or enough scientific review, while still other waters in need of protection may not have made the list. "Considerable uncertainty exists about whether some of these waters violate (pollution) standards," said the panel in a statement accompanying the report. The report urges the Environmental Protection Agency to revamp the program, possibly requiring new legislation from Congress, and develop "a more science-based approach" to determine where state efforts should be placed. It also criticized the program's use of a broad criterion -- one based on whether a water body is suitable for swimming or fishing -- to determine when a section of a river or lake is in need of cleanup. Instead, different areas should be approved for different uses, the scientists said. Together, these changes would reduce the huge backlog of targeted bodies of water facing states under the program, the panel said. "State agencies need to use better data and tools to establish appropriate water quality standards, determine whether standards have been violated and develop restoration plans," said Kenneth Reckhow, a professor at Duke University and the panel's chairman. Reckhow, chairman of the National Institutes for Water Resources, said that "the state of the science is sufficient" to help states develop a more workable way to identify waters in need of the greatest attention. Although criticizing the federal program, which stems from requirements under the 1970 Clean Water Act, the panel's report agreed that pollution from agriculture and stormwater runoff is jeopardizing water quality in thousands of lakes, rivers and streams across the country. The panel noted that for 30 years federal environmental efforts have focused on discharges into waterways from single points such as factories, businesses and sewage treatment facilities, all of which are required to comply with discharge permits. But pollution from "nonpoint" sources -- including nutrients, bacteria, sediment, pesticides and chemicals from lawns and farms -- "have been largely overlooked," the scientists said. To address this pollution, the EPA regulations required states to establish a "total maximum daily load" of pollution that will be allowed in any impaired waterway. "This is the single most important program we can adopt to address the remaining water pollution problems in this country," then-EPA Administrator Carol Browner declared when the rules were issued. States, however, immediately complained about the scope of the program and its expense. Farming and manufacturing interests, fearing new restrictions on agricultural and stormwater runoff, pressed Congress to intervene. In October, Congress put the program on hold and requested the National Academy review. The panel urged that the EPA and states develop more refined water quality standards, including use of biological measurements, to determine what waters needed attention. It urged development of a two-tier approach in which water bodies are placed on a preliminary list before being elevated to a priority target list for action. Noting complaints about the cost of the program, the panel urged Congress to help states pay for the cleanup through matching funds. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? 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