What is a stream?
Abstract
Defining a natural feature is traditionally the domain of scientists, geographer/cartographers, and lexicographers. However, law requires exacting definitions to establish everything from land rights to jurisdictional rulings. For environmental law this can have significant ramifications in pollution regulation and mandating clean up, implying court battles when it comes to assigning (or charging for) blame. Doyle and Bernhardt confront this issue for hydrology, presenting a discussion of legal, geomorphological/physical, chemical, and biological definitions of streams and the policy implications.
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In contemporary legislation, ditches may be mostly ignored, e.g., in the USA Clean Water Act, and in New Zealand regulations where livestock do not have to be fenced out of agricultural ditches and streams <1 m wide and <30 cm deep.
“Contrastingly, in contemporary legislation, ditches may be mostly ignored, e.g., in the USA Clean Water Act 88 , and in New Zealand regulations where livestock do not have to be fenced out of agricultural ditches and streams <1 m wide and <30 cm deep 89 .”
From Lines in the landscape (2025) · cites this paper as [88]
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Cites
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Self-citation
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Clifford, C., Bieroza, M., Clarke, S. J., Pickard, A., Stratigos, M. J., Hill, M. J., Raheem, N., Tatariw, C., Wood, P. J., Arismendi, I., et al. (2025) · Communications Earth & Environment · doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02699-y · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Doyle, M. W., & Bernhardt, E. S.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Doyle, Martin W.
- ORCID
- Bernhardt, Emily S.
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2010-12-06
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 354-359
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2313514318
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 39.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Law › Environmental law and policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Environmental Science and Water Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes
- Keywords
- environmental law, pollution regulation, jurisdiction, land rights, hydrology, geomorphology, stream ecology, water policy
- MeSH terms
- Conservation of Natural Resources, Legislation as Topic, United States, Water Pollution, Water Supply, Rivers, Water Cycle, Environmental Policy
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