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<br /> <br />the adverse environmental effects have already occurred. <br />However, completion and operation of the project in the upper <br />reaches will continue to create difficulties in maintaining <br />existing fish and wildlife habitat due to the tendency of the <br />modified river to. destroy adjacent wetlands. Implementation of <br />environmental mitigation phases of the project by agencies <br />identified in the Corps of Engineers' Missouri River Fish and <br />Wildlife Mitigation Study is especially needed because many <br />opportunities have already been lost. <br /> <br />Water Qualitv <br /> <br />Overall, recommended water quality programs will have <br />beneficial effects on certain aquatic ecosystems through <br />reduction of pollutant loadings and achievement of Federal and <br />State "swimmable and fishable" goals. Most of these near-term <br />benefits will be realized on tributary streams and some natural <br />lakes in the Basin but significant benefits over the long-term <br />also will be felt along the main stem. Federal programs to <br />provide these benefits include assistance in the control of soil <br />erosion through implementation of best management practices in <br />the Rural Clean Water Program and construction of wastewater <br />treatment facilities. Indirect benefits of these programs will <br />be improved fish and wildlife habitat and increased recreation <br />development associated with construction of treatment plant <br />facilities. In some areas, construction of wastewater treatment <br />plants may occasionally produce local adverse environmental <br />impacts, or may induce undesirable urban growth trends. <br /> <br />While individual State efforts to implement water quality <br />management plans may be insignificant basinwide, the collective <br />implementation of State programs with Federal support will <br />improve water quality in the Basin through control of nonpoint <br />pollution sources. Other State efforts will concentrate on <br />licensing, monitoring, and enforcing discharge permittees, and on <br />the identification and implementation of solutions to water <br />quality problems of public lakes. The improvement of water <br />quality realized by these programs will also have indirect <br />beneficial effects on fish and wildlife resources and municipal <br />water supplies. <br /> <br />Leqal and Institutional Factors <br /> <br />Several studies have recommended various modifications to <br />the Basin's existing legal and institutional framework for the. <br />management of water and related land resources. Implementation <br /> <br />-260- <br />