Publication Date

1980

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Flemal, Ronald C.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Geography

LCSH

Water quality management--Illinois

Abstract

The Clean Water Act (1972) and its subsequent Amendments (1977) mandate that degradation of water quality in the United States be reversed. This reversal is to be controlled at the state level through agencies which assign standards within which the parameter concentrations are to remain; the problem is whether the levels set by the standards are reasonable. Evidence suggests that these levels are not always attainable due to irreversible alterations in the landscape (e.g., large scale farming in a former prairie), or the natural chemistry of a water system (extreme concentrations of constituents considered pollutants), or both. The standards must account for these variations if they are to be effective in improving water quality. The solution proposed here is to divide an area into regions characterized by distinct suites of water quality parameters on the basis of inherent differences in the stream environment. A series of statistical techniques applied to reliable data form the Province model. The model was tested using data from the State of Illinois. The results identified twelve regions that could be regulated by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency with a set of region-specific standards.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.||Includes maps.

Extent

viii, 113 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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