millions of
Saving ^ Wetlands
Newsletter of the Audubon Wetlands Campaign
Summer/Fall 2000
UP THE CREEK WITHOUT A PADDLE
Our rivers, lakes, and estuaries are still polluted
because we have yet to address the unfinished business of the Clean
Water Act _ addressing non-point sources of pollution and cleaning up our
most polluted waterways.
Non-point source pollution _
rainwater that carries a load of pollution from animal manure, agricultural
fertilizers and pesticides, and oil, grease, and harmful bacteria from city streets
_ is by far the leading cause of polluted waterways. The leading cause of pollution in our
rivers and lakes is agriculture _ predominantly a non-point
source of pollution. In fact, agriculture contaiminates nearly
three times as many miles of rivers as the second-leading
pollution source. In total, four of the top five polluters of
rivers and lakes are either non-point sources of pollution
or a mix of point and non-point sources.
What the American public traditionally envisions as
polluters _ industrial or municipal plants _ rank low as
non-point pollution sources. Municipal point sources such
as sewage treatment plants are fourth in the nation for
polluting rivers and lakes. Industrial point sources don't
even make the top five polluters list for rivers or lakes.
However, the situation is different in estuaries where
municipal point sources are the leading cause of pollution
and industrial point sources are fourth.
While we ultimately need to
reauthorize the Clean Water Act in order to create an enforceable
nonpoint source program, we can make progress right now by
implementing and enforcing existing Clean Water Act programs such as the
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program. This program is designed
to clean-up polluted waters regardless of where the pollution comes from. Under this
watershed cleanup program, states identify their most
polluted waters and develop site-specific cleanup plans.
The cleanup plans coordinate programs to address
both non-point source and point source pollution. It is a
common-sense, fair, and locally-driven approach to
cleaning up our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.
Unfortunately, the TMDL program has not been
implemented and is currently under attack in the U.S.
Congress by special interest industry groups. Several
bills have been introduced in Congress that would
undermine the TMDL provisions of the Clean Water Act.
For example, a least four different introduced bills
would grant the timber industry an exemption from the Act
and its TMDL program.
