Step 7: Apply Findings
A remarkable variety of government agencies, non-government organizations, and privately run programs are involved in restoration and protection of U.S. waters and watersheds. RPS was originally developed as a technical approach for arranging Clean Water Act Section 303(d)-listed impaired waters into a prioritized schedule for total maximum daily load development and restoration. As a flexible yet systematic framework integrated within an easy-to-use tool, RPS has proven applicable beyond this original purpose. In addition to impaired waters programs at the local, state or national level, other applications include fisheries management and restoration, nonpoint source pollution management, healthy watersheds planning, river basin plan development, urban watershed restoration strategies and priority-setting in public lands management. Across these varied interests, example uses for screening results include:
- Identify relative differences in restorability among subwatersheds to anticipate restoration workloads.
- Identify the subwatersheds with greater restoration or protection potential as an aid to decision makers.
- Identify, among subwatersheds with heavy pollutant loads or other stressors, the healthier subwatersheds where substantial load reduction could be accomplished.
- Help prioritize the CWA Section 303(d) list for TMDL development.
- Target promising subwatersheds for implementation of existing TMDLs.
- Evaluate where best to make CWA Section 319 (nonpoint source management) grant or other investments.
- Target monitoring where successful restoration or protection appears more likely.
- Establish a baseline for studying future restoration or protection patterns.
- Identify where impaired subwatershed restoration and healthy subwatershed protection efforts can have great synergy.
- Inform restoration or protection partnering initiatives based on social context.
- Coordinate with major groups or agencies who carry out restoration or protection.
- Provide a transparent, systematic basis for restoration or protection decisions and priorities.