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State Ground‐Water Protection Programs — Inadequate a
Author(s) -
Dawson James W.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1979.tb03285.x
Subject(s) - legislation , legislature , agency (philosophy) , resource (disambiguation) , business , water resources , environmental planning , state (computer science) , water supply , public administration , environmental protection , environmental resource management , political science , law , engineering , environmental science , environmental engineering , computer network , ecology , philosophy , epistemology , algorithm , computer science , biology
The primary reason State ground‐water protection programs are inadequate is that the resource is misunderstood, surrounded by misconceptions and, due to its occurrence, is “out of sight and out of mind.” To most people, ground water is a very elusive and somewhat magical resource, whose significance in the over‐all picture of water resources has not been realized by those who have the power and authority to rectify the present state of affairs. The need for adequate protective legislation and sufficient financial and manpower resources commitment is even more difficult to justify because there has not, to date, been a citizenry outcry for such measures. To ascertain the status of current State ground‐water protection programs, a survey of State legislation concerning ground water was undertaken; additionally, a questionnaire was sent to the agency in each State responsible for administration of ground‐water protection programs. The results of this survey indicate that most States have broad authority over ground‐water resources through general water resources legislation, but the majority do not have specific ground‐water protective legislation. In many cases, the broad legislative authority is inadequate or, if legislation is adequate, implementation of legislative mandates is not sufficient to provide adequate protection. Lack of ground‐water quality and quantity data is severe to the point that many agencies do not have a realistic characterization or identification of the ground‐water resources they are to protect.