Surface water quality : have the laws been successful? /

In 1975 the Council on Environmental Quality published The Delaware River Basin: An Environmental Assessment of Three Centuries of Change. Patrick (Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia) expands on and updates this work and provides a painstakingly thorough review of the literature for three major US estuaries and watersheds. She helps evaluate the significance of end-of-pipe legislation versus ecosystem-based legislation that recognizes the important differences between point and nonpoint discharges to our waterways. To answer the question: "How have our surface waters changed? Patrick calculated the ratio of pollution tolerant to pollution intolerant (natural aquatic species) and plots this as a function of time and/or place. This is the first time that such a ratio has been used as part of the evaluation of the effectiveness of state and federal water quality legislation, a straightforward procedure that allows one to evaluate complex and often difficult to compare biological data sets. Findings are explained to the general reader in a clear and easily followed text that contains information authoritative and useful to waterways managers, legislators, environmental lawyers, aquatic ecologists, limnologists, students, teachers, and industrial practitioners interested in evaluating the success of environmental legislation. Undergraduate through professional. M. Dickman; Brock University