River restoration

摘要

Reading Margaret A. Palmer and J. David Allan on the challenges of evaluating the efficacy of river restoration projects ("Restoring Rivers," Issues, Winter 2006), it may be useful to recall the early challenges of regulating point-source dischargers: the traditional big pipes in the water. In the Clean Water Act (CWA), Congress insisted that the first priority, relative to point-source regulation, be the development and imposition of technology-based effluent guidelines. These were imposed in enforceable permits, at the end of the pipe, regardless of the quality of the receiving waters.