Review of 20 Years of UOWN Data Trouble-Spots and Trends Todd Rasmussen UGA Hydrology & Water Resources

Origins 1972 Congress passed the Clean Water Act (over Pres Nixon’s veto) Required reductions in pollution discharges using engineering technologies Required Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for impaired streams 1994 Doug Haines (an Athens Attorney and director of the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest) sued the US Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of the Sierra Club 1996 Federal Court Judge Marvin Shoob ruled in favor of Sierra Club 36 States were required to develop TMDLs because of this decision 1997 Doug Haines left GCLPI and started Georgia Legal Watch and the Community Watershed Project (CWP) 1998 CWP held its first River Rendezvous at the Boys & Girls Club 2001 CWP was reorganized as the Upper Oconee River Network

Summary Long-term (21 years) water-quality data have been collected by volunteers in support of assessing instream health across a four-county area. Spills in Trail Creek, Hunnicutt Creek, and other streams are documented (baseline and follow-up analyses) Persistently high pollution found in Carr and Tanyard Branches, as well as other streams in urban and industrial areas that drain into the North Oconee River Need for continued monitoring and advocacy for developing and implementing TMDLs to restore these impaired streams

Stay Tuned!! An extended presentation will be provided at the 2019 Georgia Water Resources Conference UGA Center for Continuing Education April 16-17, 2019 georgiawaterconference.org PS: Time to submit your abstract!