Excerpted from the Executive Summary of The Freshwater Imperative: A Research Agenda
Edited by Robert Naiman, John J. Magnuson, Diane M. McKnight, Jack A. Stanford and other members of the FWI Steering Committee
The Freshwater Imperative: A Research Agenda, will be available in early 1995 from Island Press
As demands for freshwater resources increase, resource managers and policymakers are faced with ensuring that the benefits from water use and the protection of water resources are optimized. The United States spends approximately $50 billion annually on the protection of aquatic systems; wise use of these funds requires a comprehensive and integrated understanding of those ecosystems (U.S. EPA 1991, National Research Council 1992). This requirement underlies the integrating theme of the Freshwater Imperative (FWI) research agenda:
Providing a predictive understanding of inland aquatic systems in a changing world.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sponsored a working group of leading aquatic scientists, which included present and former LTER-affiliated scientists, to identify research opportunities and frontiers in freshwater sciences for this decade and beyond. A book summarizing the two-year FWI effort of the F’WI Committee will be published in 1995 by Island Press.
The FWI research agenda focuses on three water issues of fundamental importance to the United States— water availability, aquatic ecosystem integrity, and human health and safety—and incorporates scientific issues that relate directly to the needs of society, the predictive management of freshwater resources, and the ability to meet future needs as unforeseen freshwater issues emerge.
The Imperative supports the current movement in many agencies toward an ecosystem management approach and encourages the incorporation of an integrated watershed management perspective into existing programs. Implementation of the FWT research program is expected to cost approximately $200 million per year—less than 1 percent of what the United States spends annually on procurement regulation and remedial protection of its waters. Key elements of the proposed program to provide more effective water management are a science-management-policy partnership, increased resources for extramural research, and freshwater scientific advisory panels for agency directors.
The anticipated immediate benefits from the enhanced institutional support for freshwater science recommended by the FWI agenda include: strengthening the research, education, and technology needed to respond effectively to critical freshwater issues; ensuring that these issues are evaluated at scales commensurate with the problems identified; and developing multidisciplinary approaches to better address problems of increasing complexity. The anticipated benefits to the nation include:
Increased health and safety, more efficient use of the nation’s resources, greater responsiveness of management to societal needs, a greater ability to respond to future threats, and increased environmental security.