Using Public Policy to Affect Human Behavior on Karst Landscapes in the United States

Abstract

Karst systems are often extremely sensitive to the nature of human activities taking place on the surface. Pollutants and contaminants can wash into karst landforms and downward through sinkholes and fissures in the hard carbonate bedrock, rapidly entering the aquifer below. Because so much of the world’s population (some sources estimate as much as 25%) draws drinking water from karstic aquifers, there is a significant incentive to understand and develop land use regulations that work to prevent the inadvertent contamination of groundwater supplies in karst landscapes. This chapter provides an overview of karst-related land use regulation in the United States including commonly used techniques, geographic distribution of different regulatory approaches, and factors that tend to influence the regulation-writing process.