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United States Environmental Protection Agency
National Estuary Program
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National Estuaries Progam logoEstuaries are places where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are critical to the health of coastal environments and to our enjoyment of them.

EPA’s National Estuary Program was established by Congress in 1987 to improve the quality of estuaries of national importance. The Clean Water Act Section 320 directs EPA to develop plans for attaining or maintaining water quality in an estuary. This includes protection of public water supplies and the protection and propagation of a balanced, indigenous population of shellfish, fish, and wildlife, and allows recreational activities, in and on water, requires that control of point and nonpoint sources of pollution to supplement existing controls of pollution. In several cases, more than one State is participating in a National Estuary Program. Each program establishes a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan to meet the goals of Section 320.

EPA’s National Estuary Program is proud of its progress and has had many successes. For these programs several funding mechanisms are available and many differing management structure have been developed by these programs.

Features

Recent Additions

The NEP National Meeting was held in Washington, DC at the Hilton Washington Embassy Row, 2015 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. March 8 - 11, 2004. Click here for presentations and support documents.

Draft National Coastal Condition Report II

Coastlines Newsletter

Tour Our Nation's Estuaries, September 25, 26, 2003  New!

Lessons from Regional Marine Planning by Federal Agencies - The National Estuary Program." Presented by Suzanne Schwartz

Proceedings of the Workshop on Improving Regional Ocean Governance in the United States, December 9, 2002, Washington, DC.

10 Ways to Protect Estuaries (PDF format, 437KB)

Explore America's Estuaries from your classroom! (PDF format, 357KB)

Cookbook of Innovations in Coastal Protection (PDF, 1MB)



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