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<br />Introduction
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<br />11('01111 officials hal'(>
<br />posted warnings a!Jout
<br />eating fish contaminated
<br />hy mercury and IJDT ill
<br />5;ulI Francisco Ray, the
<br />SmTWlleI/{(J-SUll Joaquin
<br />!Jelru. Santa Monica Bay
<br />and other parts of
<br />Califorllia.
<br />
<br />After heavy rain and spring snowmelt, a ring of
<br />muddy water sloshes along the urban shores of
<br />scenic Lake Tahoe. Eventually, the visible sediment
<br />settles to fhe bottom of the alpine lake. But over the
<br />long term, nitrogen and phosphorus carried into the
<br />water by eroding soils are turning Lake Tahoe -
<br />whose clarity earned it a reputation for mysterious
<br />beauty - unremarkably murky.
<br />
<br />Along San Francisco Bay, popular fishing piers are
<br />posted with warning labels - not unlike those on
<br />cigarette packages - telling of the dangers of eating
<br />game fish pulled from California's most famous
<br />estuary.
<br />
<br />And along southern California beaches - the sand
<br />and surf depicted on television and in Hollywood
<br />movies - millions of swimmers have been scared
<br />away by signs warning them to stay out of the water
<br />after it rains.
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<br />In each case, the postcard images of California are
<br />being degraded by a source of water pollution that
<br />actually has increased in recent years - everyday
<br />runoff contaminated by common pollutants. The run-
<br />off increases as more people, more neighborhoods
<br />and more businesses crowd into California.
<br />
<br />Polluted runoff - more formally known as nonpoint
<br />source pollution - is the unfinished business of more
<br />than a generation of otherwise successful efforts to
<br />clean up the nation's streams, lakes and bays. While
<br />substantial progress has been made to reduce
<br />pollution from "point sources,~ such as sewage
<br />outfalls and industrial plants, reducing nonpoint
<br />
<br />pollution has proven to be politically and technically
<br />more dilficull.
<br />
<br />
<br />By definition, nonpoint sources of pollution are not
<br />confined to pipes, which can be diverted to treat-
<br />ment plants. Rather, the potential for runoff to
<br />become contaminated lurks every place that water
<br />falls onto the landscape - every place it rains and
<br />snows, every place irrigation water is used to grow
<br />garden flowers and agricultural crops, and every
<br />place where water is used to clean up the urban
<br />environment.
<br />
<br />The pollutants also are ubiquitous: oil and grease
<br />dripped onto city streets; pesticides sprayed onto
<br />farm fields and urban landscapes; nutrient-rich soils
<br />exposed by overgrazing, timber harvest, construc-
<br />tion projects and agricultural tilling. Pollution flows
<br />from Sierra foothill mines long ago abandoned and
<br />modern subdivisions just being completed. Polluted
<br />runoff also blurs the rigid lines created by regula-
<br />tions. Air contaminants become water pollutants as
<br />rain and snow wash emissions from the sky.
<br />Contaminated runoff soaks into the soil - polluting
<br />the vast groundwater aquifers relied upon by farms.
<br />industries and homes.
<br />
<br />"We've done the easy part by controlling pollution at
<br />the end of the pipeline," U.S. Environmental Protec-
<br />tion Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner said
<br />in 1994 when she proposed tougher non point
<br />pollution laws. "For the first time ever, we are tackling
<br />the hard part - the control of polluted runoff, which
<br />is the biggest remaining barrier we face in keeping
<br />the nation's waters clean."
<br />
<br />The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 - which formal-
<br />ized the nation's commitment to curtail water pollu-
<br />tion - was the cornerstone for a generation of federal
<br />environmental initiatives. Billions of dollars have
<br />been spent to render to history the images that
<br />appalled Americans - rivers spontaneously catching
<br />fire, shorelines littered with dead fish, official
<br />warnings to stay away from waters that were tradi.
<br />tional playgrounds.
<br />
<br />The large investment has paid off as tremendous
<br />industrial growth and urban development have
<br />continued to take place, while the volume of
<br />contaminants in sewage and industrial pollution
<br />discharged into the nation's waters has dramatically
<br />declined. When the CWA was passed, two-thirds of
<br />the nation's waters did not meet the most simple
<br />standard of being safe for fishing and swimming.
<br />Today, because of efforts made under the act, two.
<br />thirds of the nation's waters pass that test.
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