Abstract:

As the cornerstone of national water ecological environment management, water quality standard is not only an important foundation for water quality monitoring, evaluation and management, but also the goal of water pollution control and ecological restoration. Water quality standards (WQS) of the USA, after decades of continuous improvement and modification, has formed a relatively perfect system, which has made positive contributions to the improvement of water quality and the protection of ecological health in the United States. The water quality standards of the United States, as legal provisions, mainly include the designated uses, water quality criteria necessary to protect the designated uses, antidegradation and general policies. They are used to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of Nation’s waters, and achieve a water quality level that provides protection and propagation for fish, shellfish and wildlife, as well as entertainment functions. However, the researches on WQS in China started relatively late, and the relevant system construction are still in continuous exploration and improvement. In addition, China's current water quality standards mainly referred to foreign water quality criteria and standards, which have certain limitations, such as the lack of special water quality standards for the protection of aquatic organisms, the insufficient protection of aquatic organisms for some pollution index, and without considering regional differences, which need to be further revised and improved. The technical regulations, key contents, concepts, objectives and related legal systems of WQS in USA are systematically summarized in this paper. Besides, the reference significance for the WQS research in China was discussed, including: (1) The water quality standards should be formulated according to different use functions, considering regional differences and seasonal changes of aquatic system; (2) The possible pollution of bioaccumulative chemicals should be concerned during investigation of the water quality standards; (3) The environmental emission standards should be derived based on the water quality standards of surface waters. The results of the study could provide guidance for the WQS derivation/revision and aquatic environmental management in China.

Key words: water quality standards, water quality criteria, economic analysis, environmental management, pollution control, emission standard

摘要：

水质标准作为国家水生态环境管理的基石,是水质监测、评估和管理的重要依据,也是水污染治理和生态修复的目标。美国水质标准经过了几十年不断完善和修改,已经形成了较为完善的制度和体系,为美国的水质改善和生态健康保护做出了积极的贡献。美国的水质标准作为法律条款,主要包括水体的指定用途、保护指定用途的水质基准、反退化和一般规则等元素,用于恢复和保持国家水体的化学、物理和生物完整性;达到为鱼类、贝类和野生生物提供保护和繁殖功能,以及提供娱乐功能的水质条件。而中国的水质标准研究起步较晚,相关的制度和体系建设仍在不断探索和完善中。另外,中国现行水质标准主要参考借鉴国外的水质基准和标准,具有一定的局限性,比如缺乏专门保护水生生物的水质标准、污染项目和部分标准限值对水生生物保护不足、标准值全国统一没有考虑区域性差异等,需要进一步修订和完善。文章系统介绍了美国水质标准的技术规定和重点内容,总结了美国水质标准制定的理念、目标及相关法律制度。通过研究分析美国水质标准的主要特色,凝练出其对对中国水质标准研究的借鉴意义,包括：（1）依据不同使用功能制定水质标准,考虑区域差异和季节性变化;（2）重视并开展累积性物质的水质基准和标准研究;（3）基于水质标准制订排放标准。研究结果可以指导中国的水质标准制修订研究和水生态环境管理工作。

关键词: 水质标准, 水质基准, 经济分析, 环境管理, 污染控制, 排放标准