The Alaska's Clean Water Actions (ACWA) decision tree outlines a process to:
- Determine if waterbodies are adequately protected;
- Identify and prioritize waterbodies-at-risk for additional protection action;
- Identify and prioritize waterbodies needing recovery for restoration or remediation action.
In the Nomination Phase individual waterbodies nominated by the public and agencies are reviewed and entered into the ACWA database (or returned to the nominator for additional information).
In the Analysis Phase each waterbody is analyzed to determine:
- Whether existing stewardship programs are adequate to maintain and protect the waterbody;
- Whether available data is sufficient to determine the existence or extent of a current or potential problem.
The analysis phase directs waterbodies to three possible actions or outputs:
- Waterbodies that are adequately protected;
- Waterbodies requiring additional data;
- Waterbodies that require additional protection or recovery.
Waterbodies-at-risk and waterbodies needing recovery, are addressed in the Action Phase by:
- Prioritizing individual waterbodies for action;
- Identifying and implementing protection or recovery actions;
- Evaluating the success of protection/recovery actions and directing the waterbody for additional information, continued monitoring or additional protection/recovery actions.
During all phases, additional data needs may be identified, sending the waterbody to the data collection track. |