228
Watershed associations address this issue by promoting integrated management
across FEW sectors and municipal boundaries, through education, volunteer coordination, and data collection efforts that inform watershed decision-making.
Voluntary initiatives can be particularly successful when linked to regulatory targets
or mandates. In the case of impaired waters, Section 303 of the Clean Water Act
requires states to establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for given pollutants such as nutrients, mercury, for waters that do not meet state regulatory standards. States attempt to bring the impaired water body back into compliance with
CWA water quality standards through a two-prong approach: reducing loading by
permitted point-source polluters by decreasing allowances in National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits (a stick approach), and implementing a variety of voluntary, often grant-funded, non-point source pollution mitigation strategies (a carrot approach).
Agricultural policies and incentives to improve soil quality also impact the
nexus. Healthy soil sequesters carbon and holds water available for plants. One
USDA study found that cover crops, which can reduce topsoil loss and improve the
soil’s water retention capacity, were used on only 1% of US cropland in 2013. The
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that increasing by 1% the
organic matter on merely half the acreage used in the USA to grow soy and corn—
the two largest crops grown in the USA by acreage—could result in the retention of
approximately a trillion gallons of water. As a result, the NRDC recommends incentives such as discounts on crop insurance to promote cover crop use.
8.3 Nexus Regulations at the State and Local Levels
8.3.1 Water
In the absence of any applicable over-arching federal framework such as the
Endangered Species Act or interstate compacts, the burden for ensuring in-stream
flows remain within the specified acceptable minimum, and maximum levels fall
mostly to individual states. Therefore, the degree to which state regulatory agencies
value and legally recognize the maintenance of minimum in-stream flows or
environmental flows as much as withdrawals or impoundments for economic
purposes such as irrigation or hydropower matters greatly. Some western states such
as Oregon, Washington, Texas, and Colorado have made significant strides in this
arena, mainly through water trusts that allow in-stream water rights to be held by
state entities, countering the norm of private use rights and prioritization of nonecosystem uses.
As explained in Sect. 8.2.1, energy and agricultural production practices can pollute or deplete water resources. Innovative methods to prevent these negative
impacts are often seen at the state and local level.
For example, in Pennsylvania, the boom in shale gas development between 2007
and 2015 resulted in the construction of thousands of natural gas drilling pad sites,
access roads, and freshwater and produced-water holding ponds, both on private
B. Kinne and D. Magee
Watershed associations address this issue by promoting integrated management
across FEW sectors and municipal boundaries, through education, volunteer coordination, and data collection efforts that inform watershed decision-making.
Voluntary initiatives can be particularly successful when linked to regulatory targets
or mandates. In the case of impaired waters, Section 303 of the Clean Water Act
requires states to establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for given pollutants such as nutrients, mercury, for waters that do not meet state regulatory standards. States attempt to bring the impaired water body back into compliance with
CWA water quality standards through a two-prong approach: reducing loading by
permitted point-source polluters by decreasing allowances in National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits (a stick approach), and implementing a variety of voluntary, often grant-funded, non-point source pollution mitigation strategies (a carrot approach).
Agricultural policies and incentives to improve soil quality also impact the
nexus. Healthy soil sequesters carbon and holds water available for plants. One
USDA study found that cover crops, which can reduce topsoil loss and improve the
soil’s water retention capacity, were used on only 1% of US cropland in 2013. The
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that increasing by 1% the
organic matter on merely half the acreage used in the USA to grow soy and corn—
the two largest crops grown in the USA by acreage—could result in the retention of
approximately a trillion gallons of water. As a result, the NRDC recommends incentives such as discounts on crop insurance to promote cover crop use.
8.3 Nexus Regulations at the State and Local Levels
8.3.1 Water
In the absence of any applicable over-arching federal framework such as the
Endangered Species Act or interstate compacts, the burden for ensuring in-stream
flows remain within the specified acceptable minimum, and maximum levels fall
mostly to individual states. Therefore, the degree to which state regulatory agencies
value and legally recognize the maintenance of minimum in-stream flows or
environmental flows as much as withdrawals or impoundments for economic
purposes such as irrigation or hydropower matters greatly. Some western states such
as Oregon, Washington, Texas, and Colorado have made significant strides in this
arena, mainly through water trusts that allow in-stream water rights to be held by
state entities, countering the norm of private use rights and prioritization of nonecosystem uses.
As explained in Sect. 8.2.1, energy and agricultural production practices can pollute or deplete water resources. Innovative methods to prevent these negative
impacts are often seen at the state and local level.
For example, in Pennsylvania, the boom in shale gas development between 2007
and 2015 resulted in the construction of thousands of natural gas drilling pad sites,
access roads, and freshwater and produced-water holding ponds, both on private
B. Kinne and D. Magee