In the United States, the National Estuary Program (NEP) provides grants to states where

governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

have identified nationally significant

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

that are threatened by

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

land development Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose ...

, or overuse. Governors have identified a total of 28 estuaries, and the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

(EPA) awards grants to these states to develop comprehensive management plans to restore and protect the estuaries.

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

created the NEP in the 1987 amendments to the

Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

Program organization

The National Estuary Program is made up of 28 smaller organizations set up regionally by estuary. Each of the estuary organizations is managed by local community leaders and staff. Participating organizations may include universities, local non-profit organizations, and state and local government agencies. It is the job of the NEP to help communities better protect, restore and maintain their estuaries. Unlike traditional environmental governance approaches, the NEP targets a broader range of issues and participates more effectively in local communities. Before establishment of the national program, some small local grassroots organizations pursued environmental improvement efforts in various regions of the country, with limited effect. The programs now focus not just on improving

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

in an estuary, but on maintaining the integrity of the system as a whole. If all parts of the estuary are not addressed it will be unable to balance the changes and may ecologically collapse, doing more harm than good. That includes chemical, physical, and biological properties, as well as its economic, recreational, and aesthetic public values. This allows communities that live in watersheds to have local as well as national protection. EPA provides annual funding and technical assistance to the local estuary programs.

Common challenges addressed by local programs

Each of the participating coastal areas has suffered varying degrees of impacts with regard to water quality and habitat decline. Many of the local estuary programs have initiated projects in one or more of the following problem categories. * Alteration of

environmental flow Environmental flows describe the quantity, timing, and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well being that depend on these ecosystems. In the Indian context river flows requir ...

s, which may include

hydromodification River engineering is a discipline of civil engineering which studies human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit. People have intervened in the natural course and b ...

Climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

* Declines in fish and wildlife populations *

Habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

* Pollutants: **

Nutrients A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...

(nitrogen and phosphorus compounds) **

Pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

s **

Urban runoff Urban runoff is surface runoff of rainwater, landscape irrigation, and car washing created by urbanization. Impervious surfaces (roads, parking lots and sidewalks) are constructed during land development. During rain , storms and other precipit ...

** Toxics.

Local programs

* Albemarle - Pamlico National Estuary Program, Virginia/North Carolina * Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, Louisiana * Barnegat Bay Partnership, New Jersey *

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...

National Estuary Program, Massachusetts *

Casco Bay Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its south ...

Estuary Partnership, Maine * Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program, South Carolina * Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, Texas *

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Center for the Inland Bays, Delaware *

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

Estuary Program, Texas *

Indian River Lagoon The Indian River Lagoon is a grouping of three lagoons: the Mosquito Lagoon, the Banana River, and the Indian River, on the Atlantic Coast of Florida; one of the most biodiverse estuaries in the Northern Hemisphere and is home to more than 4,300 ...

National Estuary Program, Florida *

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

Study, New York * Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, Oregon/Washington *

Maryland Coastal Bays Program The Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP) is one of the 28 United States National Estuary Programs created in the 1987 Amendments to the Clean Water Act. The program, organized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is a non-regulato ...

, Maryland * Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Program, Massachusetts * Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Alabama * Morro Bay National Estuary Program, California *

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...

Estuary Program, Rhode Island * New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program, New York *

Partnership for the Delaware Estuary The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE) is a regional nonprofit organization established in 1996 to take a leadership role in protecting and enhancing the Delaware Estuary, where fresh water from the Delaware River mixes with salt water from ...

, Delaware * Peconic Estuary Program, New York *

Piscataqua Piscataqua, believed to be an Abenaki word meaning ''rapid waters'', may refer to: * Piscataqua River, a fast-moving estuarine river dividing coastal New Hampshire and Maine in the United States * Piscataqua River (Presumpscot River), a tributary o ...

Region Estuaries Partnership, Maine/New Hampshire *

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

Partnership, Washington *

San Francisco Estuary Partnership The San Francisco Estuary Partnership (Partnership) is one of the 28 National Estuary Programs created in the 1987 Amendments to the Clean Water Act. The Partnership is a non-regulatory federal-state-local collaboration working to restore water ...

, California * San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership, Puerto Rico *

Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is a bight (geography), bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn betwe ...

Restoration Foundation (now Bay Foundation), California * Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Florida * Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Florida * Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, Oregon

Transparency concerns

In 2016 a

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...

judge found that the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission violated the

California Public Records Act The California Public Records Act (Statutes of 1968, Chapter 1473; currently codified as Chapter 3.5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the California Government Code) was a law passed by the California State Legislature and signed by then-governor ...

by failing to disclose records about a wetlands restoration project.

References

*{{CRS, article = Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition, url = http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf, author= Jasper Womach

External links