Water Quality in America Since 1980: From Nitrates & Non-point to Ecosystems, Toxics and Terrorists

Abstract

Selected themes through the history of water quality management paint an exciting picture of accomplishment led by innovative and committed Civil Engineers. Research results on the tools for waste management and its analytical basis, for example, allowed institutional capacity to evolve to implement them. This process continues. Currently the field is facing a number of frustrating issues ? the history of a few are summarized with some hints of how they might be resolved. For example, drinking water protection has proceeded apace, helped by a series of national initiatives and now the concern for bio-terrorism. But small, scattered systems, public or private, water supply or onsite waste disposal need attention in ways they have not in the past. Organizational challenges include who should pay. Finally we indicate some sources of further opportunity. For example, now that there is widely accepted methodology to put a dollar value on anything, when should it be used?