Watershed management is an integrated approach that evaluates system-wide implications of natural resource problems. It has received considerable attention among communities and resource managers as an appropriate approach to deal with complex problems. Problem-solving is an important aspect of watersheds that involves diagnosis, assessment, solution, and implementation issues that often mean processing an enormous amount of information. A typical problem requires compilation of information from a variety of sources and is time consuming. This book will use a problem-based approach to present information on each problem facing watersheds. The subject area derives from a variety of disciplines and experiences and is presented clear and systematically throughout for easy reading and understanding. The problems covered in the book are major ones facing watersheds through the globe. The first chapter introduces principles of watershed management and is followed by chapters that are problem specific. Each problem is dealt with systematically with introduction, analysis, strategies, and further references. Watershed Management provides a valuable reference to professionals, students, scientists, and common citizens who are interested in learning about the variety of problems and approaches in watershed management.

In recent years, water resource management in the United States has begun a shift away from top-down, government agency-directed decision processes toward a collaborative approach of negotiation and problem solving. Rather than focusing on specific pollution sources or specific areas within a watershed, this new process considers the watershed as a whole, seeking solutions to an interrelated set of social, economic, and environmental problems. Decision making involves face-to-face negotiations among a variety of stakeholders, including federal, state, and local agencies, landowners, environmentalists, industries, and researchers. Swimming Upstream analyzes the collaborative approach by providing a historical overview of watershed management in the United States and a normative and empirical conceptual framework for understanding and evaluating the process. The bulk of the book looks at a variety of collaborative watershed planning projects across the country. It first examines the applications of relatively short-term collaborative strategies in Oklahoma and Texas, exploring issues of trust and legitimacy. It then analyzes factors affecting the success of relatively long-term collaborative partnerships in the National Estuary Program and in 76 watersheds in Washington and California. Bringing analytical rigor to a field that has been dominated by practitioners' descriptive accounts, Swimming Upstream makes a vital contribution to public policy, public administration, and environmental management.

New York City's municipal water supply system provides about 1 billion gallons of drinking water a day to over 8.5 million people in New York City and about 1 million people living in nearby Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Orange counties. The combined water supply system includes 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes with a total storage capacity of approximately 580 billion gallons. The city's Watershed Protection Program is intended to maintain and enhance the high quality of these surface water sources. Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program assesses the efficacy and future of New York City's watershed management activities. The report identifies program areas that may require future change or action, including continued efforts to address turbidity and responding to changes in reservoir water quality as a result of climate change.

A key question for individuals involved in managing watersheds is, "What is an effective process that will integrate science, policy, and public participation in order to help manage water resources effectively?" The Watershed Project Management Guide presents a four-phase approach to watershed management that is based on a collaborative process th

In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply. Shortly thereafter, the NRC began an analysis of the agreement's scientific validity. The resulting book finds New York City's watershed agreement to be a good template for proactive watershed management that, if properly implemented, will maintain high water quality. However, it cautions that the agreement is not a guarantee of permanent filtration avoidance because of changing regulations, uncertainties regarding pollution sources, advances in treatment technologies, and natural variations in watershed conditions. The book recommends that New York City place its highest priority on pathogenic microorganisms in the watershed and direct its resources toward improving methods for detecting pathogens, understanding pathogen transport and fate, and demonstrating that best management practices will remove pathogens. Other recommendations, which are broadly applicable to surface water supplies across the country, target buffer zones, stormwater management, water quality monitoring, and effluent trading.

An integrated framework for water resources management It has been said that "water is the next oil." A strong global consensus has begun to develop that effective water management must start at the watershed level, and that water management actions must be taken in the context of watersheds, and the human communities in them. Integrated Watershed Management: Principles and Practice, Second Edition presents a flexible, integrated framework for watershed management that addresses the biophysical, social, and economic issues affecting water resources and their use. Comprehensive in scope and multidisciplinary in approach, it equips readers with the necessary tools and techniques to develop sound watershed management policy and practice—from problem definition and goal setting to selecting management strategies and procedures for monitoring implementation. Ten years of practice have demonstrated that the core concepts presented in the first edition of this book remain true and important. This Second Edition is fully updated to reflect current practice and recent experience in watershed management, including: New coverage of strategies for the selection and evaluation of public engagement processes Sampling, data management, and computer simulation technologies Recent legislative changes International watershed issues Many new case studies Water resources planning and management is not just a technical challenge; it is also a social challenge, and an opportunity. It is, ultimately, a framework for human societies to shape, protect, and improve the environment in which they live. Providing a rational framework for the development of water resources management strategies, Integrated Watershed Management, Second Edition is a one-stop resource for upper-level students and professionals in environmental science, natural resource management, and environmental engineering.