Objective: Improve and maintain water quality
(Water quality summary information is from Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership's Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan )
The quality of water includes physical, chemical, and biological characteristics that sustain plant and animal life and support a variety of human uses including drinking water, fishing and boating, agriculture and industry, and other types of recreation and transportation. Water quality characteristics can be altered by storms and seasonal changes; industrial, manufacturing or residential discharges and runoff; urbanization; agriculture; and
other land uses, sometimes for many miles from the contamination site (e.g., the dead zone in Gulf of Mexico impacted by drainage from the Mississippi River Basin). Plants and animals in any aquatic community are sustained by the balance of temperature, nutrients, and organic material in the habitat. Maintaining good water quality and preventing, halting, or reversing alterations support these life-sustaining balances and reduce treatment costs for human use. The challenge is to maintain or adjust the balance of water quality characteristics in aquatic systems to meet the needs of fish, other aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and the public.