LakeLine 39-3: Source Water Protection

Description

As multi-use pressures increase across our landscape, it becomes even more critical to protect vital sources of freshwater to maintain quality systems. We can each likely think of our own examples of competition over a resource, and the compounded effects of overuse or mismanagement of a system. In many cases, this results in degraded water quality and impairments in the designated uses of waterbodies. Protecting those resources from impacts becomes even more critical, particularly for those waterbodies used as a drinking water supply. In this issue of LakeLine, we focus on source water protection (SWP) from a number of angles, to stress the importance of protecting the resource from degradation, and the programs that exist to protect these important systems.

NALMS recognizes that SWP is an important issue, and has developed both a white paper and a position statement on the subject. Additionally, NALMS is connected through its membership with a network of interest groups, including the Source Water Collaborative. In recent interactions with that group, the development of a themed issue of LakeLine on source water protection was born.