The Case for Regime-based Water Quality Standards. G.C. Poole, J.B. Dunham, D.M. Keenan, D.A. McCullough, C. Mebane, S. Sauter, J. Lockwood, D. Essig, M. Hicks, D. Sturdevant, E. Materna, S. Spalding, J. Risley, and M. Deppman. Bioscience. 54(2): 155-161. 2004.
Conventional water quality standards have been successful in reducing the concentration of toxic substances in U.S. waters. However, conventional standards are based on simple thresholds, and therefore are poorly structured to address human-caused imbalances in dynamic, natural water quality parameters such as nutrients, sediment, and temperature. A more applicable type of water quality standard - a "regime standard" - would describe desirable distributions of conditions over space and time within a stream network. By mandating the protection and restoration of aquatic ecosystem dynamics that are required to support beneficial uses in streams, well designed regime standards would facilitate more effective strategies for management of natural water quality parameters.
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