Obed Wild and Scenic River - Explore Nature - National Park Service

Regulatory Relationships
Water Resource Legislative,
Regulatory and Planning
Relationships
Numerous federal and state laws, regulations
and executive orders mandate specific
regulatory considerations with regard to
protection
and management of water-related resources
in and adjacent to the Obed WSR.
Additionally, policies and guidelines of the
NPS broadly require management of natural
resources of the national park system to
maintain, rehabilitate, and perpetuate the
inherent integrity of aquatic resources.
The primary federal laws governing aquatic
resources management and which apply to
the Obed WSR WRMP, include the NPS
Organic Act, the Clean Water Act, the
Endangered Species Act, the Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act, the NPS General Authorities Act,
the Redwood National Park Act, the
Floodplain Management Executive Order (No.
11988), the Protection of Wetlands Executive
Order (No. 11990), the Surface Mining Control
and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), and 36 CFR
9B Non-Federal Oil and Gas Rights.
Management of aquatic resources is further
addressed in various applicable provisions of
the Federal Power Act, the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, the Safe
Drinking Water Act, and the Food Security Act
of 1985. For a more detailed list of applicable
federal laws and executive orders, see
Appendix A.
The Clean Water Act delegates most of its
administration and enforcement requirements
to the states. Therefore, states have the
responsibility to regulate aquatic resources
resulting in laws and regulations pertaining to
aquatic resource management in NPS units.
For example, Tennessee has established
criteria, standards, guidelines for water quality,
and erosion. The State has also established
sediment control and has enacted
groundwater management laws. In general, it
is NPS policy to comply with these laws and
regulations.
Policy regarding aquatic resources
7
management is provided in the NPS
Management Policies (NPS 1988). Specific
management policies provide for protection
of quality and quantity of surface water and
groundwater (4:15-16), preservation of
floodplains and wetlands (4:16-17),
maintaining, protecting, and securing water
rights (4:17), and protection of aquatic
biological resources (4: 5-14). Program
objectives and specific guidance regarding
these goals are presented in the Program
Guidance Section of NPS-77 Natural
Resources Management Guidelines (NPS
1991).
Water Rights for Obed Wild
and Scenic River
The precise nature and extent of the
National Park Service’s water rights for
Obed WSR are unclear and will remain
uncertain until determination is made by
the courts. In general, it is clear the United
States has riparian water rights within the
National Park Service Unit by virtue of its
status as a riparian landowner, although
these rights are currently undefined. The
present value of these rights is to maintain
stream flows for natural conditions, the
National Park Service Unit does not
withdraw water from streams for
consumptive uses in support of the Unit
administration.
It is unclear to what extent Federal rights
established by the Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act (October 2, 1968, 82 Stat. 906) for
Obed WSR may protect Unit resources
from future alterations in flow. Section 13
(c) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act states
that rights are established for wild, scenic,
or recreational rivers for the primary
purposes of the act. These primary
purposes include rivers which “possess
outstandingly remarkable scenic,
recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife,
historic, cultural or other similar values,”
and that they” ... shall be preserved in freeflowing
condition, and that they and their
immediate environs shall be protected for
the benefit and