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8 NONMANDATORY ANTIDEGRADATION STANDARDS The Environmental Protection Agency's "antidegrada- tion policy" for "outstanding National resource waters" has not been effectively implemented to pro- vide meaningful protection for park waters. Theoretically, special protection for park water qual- ity should be available under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations providing for designation and protection of "high quality" waters, including park waters, as "outstanding National resource waters" (ONRW).25 Unfortunately, EPA has not required states to adopt the highly protective standard set by its ONRW regulation, probably because of uncertainty and dispute about the extent to which the Clean Water Act was intended to impose antidegradation requirements. As a result, few, if any, states have adopted regulations providing the level of protection for park water quality intended by EPA's regulation. The ONRW regulatiori prescribes the most rigor- ous of several water quality standards adopted by EPA to avoid further degradation of existing water quality. The ONRW designation was adopted to pro- tect "high quality" waters from degradation, including waters that are "important, unique or sensitive eco- logically, but whose water quality as measured by tra- ditional parameters may not be particularly high or whose character can not be adequately described by these parameters.ze EPA regulation prescribes the following water quality standard for ONRWs: Where high quality waters constitute an outstanding National resource, such as waters of National and State parks and wildlife refuges and waters of exceptional recreational or ecological significance, that water quality shall be maintained and protected.27 EPA has explained that the requirement to "maintain and protect" water quality means "no degradation," with only a narrow exception for "some limited activ- ities which result in temporary or short-term changes in water quality." As defined in the EPA regulation, the ONRW designation and standard could provide a significant tool for protecting park waters from both individual and cumulative impacts of activities upstream and beyond park boundaries. Moreover, the protection provided by ONRW designation can extend beyond state boundaries, because EPA regulations require upstream states to prevent pollution discharges that would violate the antidegradation standards of down- stream states -- a requirement recently approved by the United States Supreme Court.ze Unfortunately however, several defects in the ONRW program weaken the protection available for park waters. First, EPA apparently does not regard its ONRW regulations as mandatory. As a result, many states have failed to designate park waters as ONRWs, or created similar designations that prescribe weaker standards than those suggested by the EPA regula- tion. Thus, many current state program allow degra- dation of "high quality" waters if there are significant "economic" or "public interest" benefits. In contrast, EPA's ONRW designation imposes an essentially unqualified nondegradation standard. In Florida, for example, the state designated waters in Everglades National Park as "outstanding Florida waters," but state water quality standards allowed continuing runoff of damaging nutrients from huge agricultural areas to pollute park waters. At St. Croix and Lower St. Croix National Scenic 37 Despite designation of waters within Everglades National Parh as "outstanding Florida waters,°nucrient-polluted runoff continued to flow into the park threatening the parhs at{uatic ecosystem.