The focus on chemicals alone in human-dominated ecosystems is inappropriate

As the earth's human population continues to increase, megacities rapidly expand, and agriculture tries to meet their needs, ecosystems are increasingly dominated by humans. This domination, of course, equates to increased loadings of eroded soils, nutrients, and chemicals, along with more degraded habitat. Governments will continue to struggle to address these conflicting issues and must adapt into more effective and efficient management modes. The traditional focus on using chemical-specific guidelines as the foundation of environmental protection and restoration no longer is sufficient and must move to a more realistic and effective approach. Improving environmental quality in aquatic systems to near an appropriate reference condition cannot occur without removing habitat and flow stressors, which in turn will be tied to removal of runoff loadings of soils, nutrients, and chemical pollutants. These issues cannot be resolved without a strategically designed, advanced weight-of-evidence approach to prioritize those stressors. This approach should subsequently improve the effectiveness and cost-benefit of site remediation and restoration. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:568–572. © 2017 SETAC Key Points Ecosystems are increasingly dominated by humans, which leads to increased loadings of eroded soils, nutrients, and chemicals, along with more degraded habitat. The traditional focus on chemical-specific guidelines as the foundation of environmental protection and restoration is no longer sufficient and must move to a more realistic and effective approach. Improving environmental quality in aquatic systems to near an appropriate reference condition cannot occur without removing habitat and flow stressors, which in turn will be tied to removal of runoff loadings of soils, nutrients, and chemical pollutants. A strategically designed, weight-of-evidence–based approach should improve the effectiveness and cost-benefit of site remediation and restoration.