Meeting Assimilative Capacity Needs While Protecting Water Quality
All streams and other water bodies have a natural capacity to absorb pollutants to prevent harmful effects on water quality, which can impact aquatic life or humans who consume or use the water. This ability is referred to as the assimilative capacity of the water body. Protecting the water quality of Georgia’s rivers and streams is accomplished by reducing pollutant loadings from surface runoff and by managing point source discharges.
EPD has adopted water quality standards as the basis for protecting water quality. Water quality standards specify a designated use, establish numeric and/or narrative criteria and provide anti-degradation requirements as a means of protecting water quality. In order to ascertain whether streams and other water bodies are meeting their respective water quality standards, EPD conducts a monitoring program. The amount of monitoring data collected on an annual basis is contingent upon funding provided by the State, Federal government, and other non-governmental organizations.
As Georgia’s population continues to grow, demand for water and for wastewater disposal will continue to increase. Development and urbanization may also continue to impact stream hydrology and water quality. Protection and restoration of the State’s waters will require the application of sufficient policies and practices to reduce the impacts of land development and the resultant effects of non-point sources of pollutants and to ensure that assimilative capacity is available for current and additional discharges in the future.
Several policy options will be suggested to address this management objective. The options to be discussed cover issues such as: designated uses and water quality criteria, the monitoring program, wasteload allocations, and pollutant allocation trading.
Information discussed at the Basin Advisory Committee meetings can be found on the discussion materials page.
The
University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government prepared
for EPD a research document titled “Protecting
Water Quality.” This
document examines the water management objective, Protecting Water
Quality, in terms of current knowledge and water policies adopted
in other states.
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