Waterborne Disease Outbreaks and the Multi-barrier Approach to Protecting Drinking Water - Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation - page 26

The communities of humans, plants, and animals rely heavily on the watersheds,
but to some extent damage them at the same time. It is an interaction effect between
human activities and natural forces, which directly or indirectly changes the con-
ditions of the water and land. More especially, with urban impervious surfaces such
as roads and highways, storm-water

flowing across the surfaces picks up contam-
inants that are carried directly in the storm-water drains and eventually enter the
watershed (USEPA 2013 , p. 13). In addition, the discharged and untreated water
carries pollutants such as fertilizers, motor oil, PCBs and heavy metals, which also
end up in the watershed; it impacts the water quality as well as public health. Thus,
a good understanding of natural systems helps to achieve a harmonious relationship
between human activities in the watershed and natural processes.

2. A Watershed Management Framework with the Involvement of Partners and
Stakeholders

Building a watershed management framework is necessary in order to prevent
environmental problems in advance. The framework describes the goals or prob-
lems and outlines the protective actions. Essentially, the framework focuses on a
continued process for partners and stakeholders to work together and supports the
watershed plans (USEPA 2013 , p. 17). These partners and stakeholders make
decisions on all the aspects of the framework that includes (a) resource standards
(i.e. water quality standards), (b) watershed management approaches, and (c)
watershed management projects. Eventually, the coordinated efforts in watershed
management facilitate the development of the environment and the economy. For
example, in 1992, three major chemical companies (Amoco, Dupont, and Bayer)
collaborated with US fish authorities and other professional associations and even

local citizens, in reconstructing successfully the ecosystem in the Cooper River
region, and also enhanced local economic growth (USEPA 2013 , p. 5). Moreover,
using sound science in watershed management helps to achieve sustainable goals.
For example, in trying to relieve the pressure of water demand due to increasing
urban population, adequate water is required for the future in a sustainable manner.
Furthermore, making use of scienti

c management approaches such as sustain-
ability analysis and other tools to improve water productivity will be required to
satisfy the water demands in the future.

3. Continuous Improvement Based on the Integrated Watershed Management

The overlapping of multiple jurisdictional boundaries in a watershed and the
various environmental and economic interests of stakeholders result in a complexity
of watershed management, and thus an integrated management approach applied to
the watershed is required to improve the effectiveness of management (USEPA
2007 , p. 1). To meet multiple objectives, integrated management refers to all
stakeholders utilizing their respective disciplinary approaches to address the priority
problems within a given watershed. Speci cally, a government agency may be

responsible for implementing a watershed management plan, as well as assessing
and managing water quality and supply, while a local watershed association may be
interested in solving a sedimentation problem in a small watershed, or making sure