Managing Our Watersheds A Systems Approach to Maintaining Water Quality

Why do we publish the Small Flows Quarterly? Why do we have a National Small Flows Clearinghouse? Why does anyone bother to treat wastewater--with septic systems, advanced onsite systems, or large municipal sewage treatment plants? A fundamental answer to all of these questions is "water quality": water quality for drinking water supplies; water quality that ensures public health and decent living standards; water quality for commercial, agricultural, and recreational uses; and water quality that supports the earth's living organisms. Yet those of us who work with wastewater sometimes become so busy with the means--designing a sand filter, administering state revolving fund (SRF) dollars, revising state codes, publishing a newsletter--that sometimes we may forget the essential goal of protecting and restoring water quality. In light of federal and state activities promoting watershed and groundwater protection, maybe it's time to dive into the basic subject of water so that we can better understand the role of decentralized wastewater in watershed management.