Despite nearly three decades of efforts intended to protect the nation's waters, and some success against certain forms of chemical and organic contamination, many of our nation's waterways continue to be seriously degraded. The call of the 1972 Clean Water Act -- "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters" -- remains unanswered. Restoring Life in Running Waters discusses freshwater ecosystems in the United States and the need for using biology to understand their present condition. The book makes a case for using indexes that integrate measurements of many biological attributes to assess and communicate environmental health. In a unique and innovative format, the authors present 37 premises and 7 myths that explore the theory and practice of biological monitoring and the use of multimetric indexes. The book explains: why biological monitoring and assessment are needed the historical evolution of biological monitoring how and why living systems give the best signals for diagnosing environmental degradation what multimetric indexes do and why they are effective how multimetric indexes can be used and common pitfalls to avoid in using them why many criticisms of biological indexes are not valid how the principles of biological monitoring and multimetric indexes can be expanded beyond aquatic systems to other environments how information from indexes can be integrated into the regulatory and policy framework Restoring Life in Running Waters provides practical and effective tools for managers and scientists seeking to understand the impact of human activities on natural systems and to determine proper action to remedy problems. It is an essential handbook for conservation biologists; agency personnel at all levels, including technical staff, policymakers, and program managers; and for anyone working to protect and restore the health of the nation's waters.

The assessment of the ecological integrity of running waters is a prerequisite to an understanding of the effects of human alterations. The evaluation of degradation processes provides key information on how to avoid further negative impacts. The success of future conservation, mitigation and restoration activities will rely on sound assessment methodologies and their ecological relevance and applicability. Assessment methodologies are therefore an integral part of sustainable river management. This book synthesizes and discusses state-of-the-art experiences in assessment methodologies. Including the latest knowledge on structures, processes and functions of running waters as a fundamental basis for developing adequate assessment methods, the book focuses on method development, application, and in particular on integrated assessment methods. This book is directed at scientists and managers with the aim of more effective preservation, restoration and maintenance of the ecological integrity of running water ecosystems.

This collection of papers represents the outcomes of the International Symposiumheld in Delft, The Netherlands, on June 13-15, 2007, at the occasion of the 50thanniversary of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The papers discusshow to contribute to the sustainability of effective international development andwater management with a diges

This groundbreaking work connects the knowledge of system function developed in ecosystem ecology with landscape ecology's knowledge of spatial structure. The book elucidates the challenges faced by ecosystem scientists working in spatially heterogeneous systems, relevant conceptual approaches used in other disciplines and in different ecosystem types, and the importance of spatial heterogeneity in conservation resource management.

This open-access book addresses latest Sino-German results of the joint research efforts within Major Water Program of the Chinese Government supported by German research funding. The Major Water Program aims at the restoration of polluted water environments and sustainable management of water resources in China. The joint BMBF-CLIENT project SINOWATER deals with three most significant and strongest polluted Chinese waters, the river Liao and the Dian-lake as well as Tai-lake in the area of the metropolises Shenyang, Kunming and Suzhou, respectively. The project was conducted by the Research Institute for Water and Waste Management at RWTH Aachen (FiW) e.V., Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection, Technical University of Munich, RWTH Aachen University, German and Chinese companies (Martin Membrane Systems AG, Steinhardt GmbH Wassertechnik, GuHong, JT-elektronik, bluemetric, Huawang Water, EVU Group, Atemis GmbH, i+f process GmbH) in close cooperation with Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Tongji University, and the Dianchi Lake Management Authorities. Overall, the joint Sino-German research project SINOWATER provided solutions for the improvement of the water quality in the mentioned water bodies as well as development and optimization of Good Water Governance. These objectives could be achieved through the implementation of innovative German water technologies and the optimization of water management elements in the fields of industrial and municipal wastewater treatment as well as river and shallow lake management.

The rapid conversion of land to urban and suburban areas has profoundly altered how water flows during and following storm events, putting higher volumes of water and more pollutants into the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. These changes have degraded water quality and habitat in virtually every urban stream system. The Clean Water Act regulatory framework for addressing sewage and industrial wastes is not well suited to the more difficult problem of stormwater discharges. This book calls for an entirely new permitting structure that would put authority and accountability for stormwater discharges at the municipal level. A number of additional actions, such as conserving natural areas, reducing hard surface cover (e.g., roads and parking lots), and retrofitting urban areas with features that hold and treat stormwater, are recommended.