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INADEQUATE FUNDING and to what extent, flows in the park's Virgin River will be protected. But in many parks, the Park Service lacks funds to complete such crucial scientific studies. Similarly, the Park Service lacks the funding nec- essary to effectively defend park waters from deple- tion by the ever-increasing number of new water pro- jects and diversions. At Chickasaw National Recreation Area, for example, ground water pumping near the park boundary may have already dried up or diminished the flow of park springs, but the Park Service lacks adequate funds to investigate and address the problem. The situation is similar at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where nearby ground water pumping in Mexico appears to have diminished the aquifer that sustains important park springs. Again, however, funds have not been avail- able to adequately monitor and study the problem. At Death Valley National Monument, existing and proposed ground water pumping threatens to diminish aquifers that may be essential to the monu- ment's springs and to water resources in other Nevada national park units. The National Park Service has filed protests challenging more than 74 ground water pumping applications filed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District that could affect Death Valley (as well as 28 Las Vegas Valley applications that could affect Great Basin National Park). But available funds are not adequate to conduct the com- plex studies necessary to determine whether the pro- posed pumping is likely to harm park waters. Lack of funding has also stymied protection of park geothermal resources. Legislation in 1988 (Public Law 100-443) called for a monitoring and research program to determine whether geothermal development and other drilling outside park bound- aries could harm park geothermal resources. Data were to be collected and assessed at 16 park units. But funding has been available only for limited stud- ies at Yellowstone and three other park units. Finally, the marketing of water interests is becoming an increasingly important part of the legal and resource context in which water rights are acquired and protected. Though the availability of water for purchase may be limited, market transfers of water may be the only option to protect park waters where the Park Service is unable to establish legal entitlement. The Park Service needs funding to develop expertise in water marketing as well as to acquire interests in water by purchase. At this time, however, only limited funds are available for these purposes. ^ Lack of funding for programs to protect water quality: Because of limited funding for asystem-wide water quality program, few if any parks have been able to inventory, or consistently monitor, the quality of park waters. Even where pollution is known or suspected, the Park Service is often unable to investi- gate its nature, extent, possible sources or impacts. Thus, although heavy metals are leaching into surface and ground water from two acres of abandoned mine tailings in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the Park Service lacks funds to investigate the extent and impacts of the problem. Similarly, pes- ticide-laden water may be draining from commercial cranberry bogs into St. Croix and Lower St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, but funds are not available to monitor adequately or investigate the extent or impacts of contamination. At Acadia National Park, substantial residential development on adjacent watershed lands may be polluting park waters, but the Park Service has been able to monitor only a few of the potentially threatened water bodies. Park managers also lack the professional staff and studies necessary to initiate requests for protec- tive water quality designations that could ward off future pollution problems. Under regulations adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency, states can require that park water quality be "pro- tected and maintained" under an "outstanding National resource waters" designation if those waters are of "high quality" or have "ecological importance." Few parks, however, have the capacity to develop data demonstrating the quality or importance of park waters, making it difficult to seek this useful designa- tion. ^ Lack of adequate funding for resource man- agement programs and professionals: The Park Service Water Resources Division is able to provide technical expertise and some project funding to address specific water-related problems in park units and to assist in water resources management plan- ning. But the Service can not provide the ongoing resource inventories and monitoring, data collection and analysis, research and resource management pro- grams that must be implemented at the field level in all parks in order to protect park waters and water- related resources. Funding for natural resource management pro- grams throughout the Park System is inadequate to protect park waters and water-related resources. Only about six percent of the total Park Service budget goes directly to natural resource management pro- grams, including only two per cent devoted to research.z In contrast, maintenance, construction and visitor services and protection claim 25%, 18°~ and 16%, respectively.3 Similarly, few parks have adequate resource management staffs. The Natural Resources 19