Our lives depends on clean water for so many things like drinking, irrigation, and power generation. But, from all of these processes, we have caused many bodies of water to be polluted and filled with chemicals, in some cases rivers no longer flow to the sea, or are blocked with dams. According to Professors Margaret Palmer and J. Allan, we must restore rivers so they provide clean water for humans, fisheries and wildlife. They believe or current methods of restoring rivers are not suffiecent; "The United States needs regulatory and legislative federal policy reforms in order to improve the effectiveness of river restoration and thus the health of the nation's waterways." (114, Easton) Standards have been established for river restoration they are;
"The design of a river restoration project should be based on a specific gudining image of a more dynamic, leathy river.
The rivers ecological condition must show measurable improvement.
The river system must be more self-sustaining and resilient to external perturbations, so that only minimal follow up maintenance is needed.
During the construction phase, no lasting harm should be inflicted on the ecosystem.
Both pre and post-assessments must be completed and data made publically available."
(115 Easton)
Will the appropriate use of money and by following the above standars, Allan and Palmer believe "rivers and streams can oce again flow clear and clean." (117, Easton)
