How Are Water Quality Standards Determined?

JamesKirchner_EVS1001_12_Week_11.docx
How are water quality standards determined?
In the US, Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), EPA creates legal amounts with levels
on certain   contaminants in drinking water. The legal limits are both the total that guards human
health and level the water systems can attain by means of on hand technology.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's directory of impaired waters, about 1,918
miles of rivers and streams that are at present impaired for nutrients. The amount of miles
expanded from roughly 1000 miles in 2008 to around 1900 miles in 2010. Impaired acres of
lakes   grew from 350,000 acres in 2008 to 378,000 in 2010.
Even though Florida has made serious efforts to identify and manage the nutrients in the state,
major nitrogen and phosphorus pollution carry on. Hydrological changes, intensive agricultural
production, population expansion and associated urban and suburban development, all add to the
runoff and effect in nutrient impacts.

Distinguish between water quality criteria pollutants and maximum contaminant levels.
There is not a single process with the filtering or purifying water that will remove 100% of the
elements in the drinking water. The water can be protected and adequate, within reason. The are
guiding principle established by the U.S. EPA, that determine water standards that ensure that
the water is safe and not in any danger.
Acceptable" contamination levels of water are calculated in two standards: The greatest amount
maximum contaminant level (MCL) and the maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG). This is
the list of individual contaminant standards.
The aim is to control levels of contaminant around or below what is said to be not dangerous for
human consumption.
Due to these these issues, the MCL standard was formed as the concession among public safety
and possibility, dictating amounts needed to be established before any water is dispersed to the...