The Nation's Water: Key Unanswered Questions About the Quality of Rivers and Streams
PEMD-86-6
Published: Sep 19, 1986. Publicly Released: Oct 20, 1986.
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Highlights
GAO reviewed and combined the findings of several studies on issues affecting national water quality policies and assessed the technical strength of their methodologies, focusing on: (1) the present condition of the nation's water quality; (2) how the water quality has changed over time; (3) what pollution sources degrade water quality; and (4) the effect of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Construction Grants Program on water quality.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should perform methodologically sound research that will allow a comparison of the cost-effectiveness of the Construction Grants Program with other abatement possibilities, such as industrial point-source control and non-point-source abatement programs. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA initiated steps which will respond to the GAO recommendations; however, they were initiated prior to report issuance.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should encourage the states to use multiple measures and standardized objective data in preparing information for future section 305(b) and States' Evaluation of Progress reports. The states might identify the sources of critical data, indicating, for example, whether their data were derived from objective physical, chemical, or biological measures, subjective judgments by experts, or a combination of these. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA initiated steps which will respond to the GAO recommendations; however, they were initiated prior to report issuance.
|
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Topics
Construction grantsNonpoint source pollutionPollution monitoringProgram evaluationProposed legislationRiversWastewater treatmentWater pollution controlWater qualityPollutants