ABSTRACT
The control of eutrophication by restoring degraded lakes and reservoirs is a relatively new science. While some activity began in the 1960s, organization of knowledge into an assortment of techniques to improve the quality of standing bodies of freshwater did not occur until the 1970s. The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) began funding lake restoration activities in 1976 and instituted a Clean Lakes Program in 1980. As a result, activity profoundly increased. Dunst et al. (1974) reported a total of 81 restoration projects in the USA, employing one or more techniques, that were either started or finished prior to 1974. Between 1976 and 1987, USEPA had funded 362 projects through the Clean Lakes Program (USEPA, 1987). Additional projects were also funded solely through state 'Clean Lake Programs'. Lake improvement declined in the mid-1990s when funding to the Clean Lakes Programs at the federal and state levels markedly declined.
