Scientific framing of sediment as pollution drove the definitional shift leading to regulation

Evidence

Because the survey had a strong interest in water quality, the hydrologists studying urban erosion often defined sediment as a form of water pollution. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 822

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows the conceptual move—redefining a physical process (erosion) as a legal category (pollution)—that the reader may want to trace.
• XREF: connects to: Soil-conservation agencies reframed sprawl problems as soil-science failures — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 826; Federal hydrologists first named urbanization a major sediment-pollution cause — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 822; Maryland pioneered the first state sediment-control legislation — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 833 (+1 more)