Learn: Recorded Version of Clean Water Act Through the Biological Lens Webinar Available!

Did you miss the hottest webinar yet in our Habitat Webinar series – the Clean Water Act Through the Biological Lens with Professor Robert Adler? Never fear, the recorded version is here!

This summer River Network produced an issue of our newsletter River Voices with a focus on how to look at the Clean Water Act through a biological lens. That is, how can the Act be better used to protect ecosystem integrity, the physical structure of a system, habitat, flow and all the interrelated aspects that make a system whole?

As follow up, we hosted a webinar called The Clean Water Act Through the Biological Lens to cover the newsletter topics in a format that mixed a presentation from a very well-known Clean Water Act expert – law professor Bob Adler --- and discussion of our Partners' ideas and experiences with the topics.

Don’t miss this exciting chance to think creatively about one of our nation’s most important environmental laws and to hear how your peers around the country are applying it creatively to protect and restore flows, riparian habitats, and more!

This was an intermediate-level Clean Water Act webinar. Participants will need a basic understanding of water quality standards, Total Maximum Daily Loads, wetlands permitting and 401 water quality certification. Visit our online Clean Water Act course to get yourself prepared before viewing the webinar.

Associated resources

• A copy of the River Network newsletter – River Voices – which spawned the webinar. The issue includes a lead article by Professor Adler and other articles covering specific examples of Clean Water Act tools in action in the biological context, resources, and more. (Free download for River Network Partners; $3 for others.)

• A “toolkit” covering ideas for using the Clean Water Act to address flow issues, and to a limited extent habitat problems, which includes a River Network white paper, an associated webinar recording and links to several good academic articles (legal and scientific) on the topic.

• More information on 401 water quality certification, one of the topics covered by Professor Adler.

• A really understandable and helpful paper from Professor Adler addressing the physical and biological portions of the Clean Water Act’s objective (from a legal perspective).

• A new report from U.S. EPA on the use of bioassessement data in Clean Water Act programs (includes cool case studies!) -- A Primer on Using Biological Assessments to Support Water Quality Management.