Anthropogenic effects are causing significant environmental degradation, and regardless of actions taken to mitigate further changes, humans and animals will have to live with these impacts (IPCC 2019). Rapid population growth in coastal regions, saltwater intrusion (SWI), lowering water quality, and increased presence of toxic materials are degrading coastal resiliency. An important and popular coastal region for the United States is the state of Florida, and it is also an area extremely vulnerable to aspects of climate change such as sea-level rise (SLR) (Noss 2011). This project analyzes how the state is currently experiencing the direct and indirect impacts of toxic materials on the state’s people, environment, and economy. It will do so through analysis of the performance of federal legislation created with the intent to protect human and environmental health, quantification of current rates of using toxic chemicals and potential pollution, as well as quantifying effects of both anthropogenic and natural toxic materials on Florida’s housing market. It was anticipated that legislation such as the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to ensure strict enforcement of drinking water standards and the Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) to prevent toxic pollution would be present in the vulnerable region. Also that natural phenomenon such as the harmful algal blooms significantly degrade the housing market through decreasing income through tourism and lowering housing prices in coastal neighborhoods. This project found that the SDWA is not being enforced, EPCRA data shows a huge risk to potential exposures from large storms, and that algal blooms are significant to housing prices in the state. Using these scientific findings to improve policy and appropriately communicating complex scientific topics to the public is extremely important. Doing so will enable a higher level of coastal resiliency as communities continue attempt to mitigate climate change, but also learn to understand current impacts and better live in a degrading environment.

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A unique characteristic of Earth is that it is the only planet in the solar system where water is known to exist. Seventy one percent of the earth is comprised of water with the largest body of water being the ocean. Everyone is very dependent on this water source and therefore, it becomes important, if not vital, to protect the ocean from unnecessary pollutants. Unfortunately, as the presence of manmade vessels in the ocean has increased it has become very difficult and costly to protect the ocean and prevent it from becoming polluted. One particular industry that has been heavily criticized for their disposal of waste into the ocean is the cruise ship industry. Although, there are many vessels that dispose of waste into the ocean this is an industry that has been surrounded by a lot of controversy regarding this issue. This may be attributed to the vast number of cruise vessels traveling in the ocean, making this industry a very visible one to the public. This thesis will examine the effect of the cruise ship industry on the ocean and if current laws are regulating this industry in a sufficient manner. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze these regulations in order to determine whether the government must place more stringent regulations on the cruise ship industry. It will examine the growth of the cruise ship industry in relation to the implementation of new guidelines to keep up with this growth. It will also analyze the current enforcement of these regulations to determine if the cruise ship industry is complying with current laws. This thesis will explain whether the government is doing all it can to protect the ocean or if the government needs to take a more active role in implementing new regulations.

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Water quality issues in the Leon River watershed in Texas exemplify the challenges water resource managers and the public face in the ongoing effort to improve water quality in our nation’s water bodies. Some pollutant sources are difficult to regulate and likely managed through non-regulatory means, such as voluntary action. The Leon River challenge is how to go beyond regulations to address the concerns of citizens and produce options they want to develop and implement voluntarily that address a common good. This dissertation argues that voluntary measures work only if those who must take action support the action, otherwise conflict can occur. Thus, it is critical to learn what people are willing to do to promote the public good (e.g., swimmable streams). This can be achieved through an effective public process. Public participation processes may have barriers that impede success, such as inadequate access, intimidation, competing interests, limited accountability, and scientific mistrust. This dissertation developed process enhancements to overcome these barriers based on documented public participation principles. This research tested whether specific enhancements can improve the quality of a public process and achieve desired process outcomes. This dissertation reports on quasi-experiments with stakeholders making actual environmental decisions. The findings suggest that these enhancements are capable of reducing conflict and reducing the time to produce environmental policy. Five process enhancements (representation, film, narratives, deliberative decision-making, and decision support) were put into operation to provide options for government agencies and stakeholders to consider when undertaking public participation processes. The lack of access can be avoided by giving stakeholders voice with representation through different types of meetings levels (e.g., focus groups and town hall meetings). Films, when captured, edited, and shown to others, can remove the mechanisms typically associated with the intimidation perceived by speakers during discussions. Narratives were used to collect information about stakeholders to develop a deeper understanding of the diversity of interests affected by a policy, avoiding gridlock from positional bargaining. Deliberative decision-making (no voting) can assure stakeholders have real and equitable decision-making power, with scenarios collaboratively developed that address the common good. Application of a decision support system (DSS) as an overlay to a scientific model can provide stakeholders direct access to science so they can develop scenarios, evaluate alternatives, and choose solutions. / text

Water quality has been an issue of concern since the settlement of man and continues to be of great concern today in many locations around the world. In the United States, to address the issues of water pollution, the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972. This study examines the implementation and prioritization of impaired water bodies listed on the Illinois CWA section 303(d) list between 1992 and 2004. This study used the Delphi survey method to obtain opinions from water quality/management experts that reside in the state of Illinois. The goal of this study was to determine if a consensus could be reached amongst water quality experts on the severity of individual water pollutants for a given designated use of a water body by assigning weights, determining if any prioritization trends exist within the current Illinois 303(d) process, as well as identifying any shortcomings of the process and suggesting possible modes of improvement. The survey identified four major shortcomings of Illinois' current approach to water quality management: 1) limited funding and manpower, 2) lack of coordination/monitoring, 3) failure to regulate point sources, and 4) lack of biological monitoring. The survey respondents indicated that the entire state needs attention in terms of water quality improvement and that agriculture and urban runoff are the most important sources of water pollution and water body impairment. They rated the current prioritization system as being between "average" and "good" and identified that development of a weighting scheme could be feasible as long as it received adequate funding and adequate stakeholder support. The measure of consensus among respondents regarding weights for individual pollutants and designated uses varied significantly; however, the overwhelming majority of consensus values improved after participants were asked to revise their original responses in an effort to move towards central tendency in the distribution of assigned ranks.

We initiate by making a brief summary concerning the importance of water resources and its multiple uses, informing of the environmental crisis. Afterwards the international and national Statutes about water resources are situated historically. A new view of the Constitutional Law in the competency aspect is proposed in the water resource field. It is defined that the access to water resources are a fundamental right. The management of the water is, in itself, a restriction to fundamental rights. Restrictions to fundamental rights are only viable to introduce in the jurisdictional system by means of a Legislative Act. To price the water resource as did the Water Act implies in the establishment of a restriction to fundamental rights, witch can only be legitimated if it is instituted by a Legislative Act. The polluter-pays principle informs the necessity of preservation of water resources. This principle, the fundamental rights theory, the public goods and externalities theory, the Pareto Law and the enlargement of the anthropocentrism are legitimate arguments that sustains the environment taxation. The price of water resource established in the Water Act is a tax, because all the elements in legal definition of a tax are present. The price of water resource established in the Water Act is qualified as a tax to intervene in the economical domain (species of Brazilian taxes). All the aspects in tax instituted in Water Act are identified. / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho inicia-se fazendo um apanhado sobre a importância e os diversos usos da água, informando que existe uma crise ambiental. Após, situa-se a água historicamente nos diplomas internacionais e nacionais. Faz-se uma releitura constitucional das competências em matéria de águas. Define-se o direito ao acesso aos recursos hídricos como direito fundamental. A gestão de recursos hídricos traz consigo a idéia de restrição ao direito fundamental de uso. Restrições a direito fundamental só podem ser feitas através de lei. A cobrança pelo direito de uso dos recursos hídricos é uma restrição a direito fundamental, logo só pode ser instituída por lei. O princípio do poluidor-pagador afirma a necessidade de preservação da água. Esse princípio, ao lado da teoria dos direitos fundamentais, da teoria de Pigou, do Ótimo de Pareto e do antropocentrismo alargado são fundamentos que legitimam a tributação ambiental. A cobrança de água é um tributo porque estão presentes, em sua caracterização, todos os elementos do conceito legal. A cobrança na Lei de Águas é uma contribuição de intervenção no domínio econômico. Apontam-se, então, os critérios material espacial, temporal e pessoal da hipótese de incidência.