Laserfiche WebLink
<br />001003 <br /> <br />Which sources of pollution are more significant? Until the last decade or so, pollution <br />control experts might have responded automatically that point sources such as industries and <br />sewage treatment plants were the major contnbutors of pollution. After all, sewage outfalls, <br />industrial pipes, and plumes of pollution can be easily identified as responsible for poor, often <br />drastically degraded, water quality conditions. But as pollution control efforts were initiated in <br />the 19605 and 19705 to attack these point sources, it became evident that nonpoint sources-- <br />more difficult to track and identify--were also major causes of water quality problemsJ 6 . <br /> <br />According to that Report, sixteen (16) states identified control of non point sources as. <br /> <br />an issue of special concern. Thirty-three (33) states reported nonpoint sources as a major <br /> <br />problem, and fourteen (14) reported them to be a moderate problem. By far the most common <br /> <br />nonpoint source reported by the States in 1986 was agricultural runoff-cforty-seven( 47) states <br /> <br />listed agricultural runoff as the leading source of nonpoint source pollution.17 Agriculture was <br /> <br />reported as the primary pollutant source for sixty-four percent (64%) of affected river miles, <br /> <br />fifty-seven percent (57%) of affected lake acres, and nineteen percent (19%) of affected <br /> <br />estuarine acresJ 8 <br /> <br />In his letter transmitting the 1988 National Water QUlllity Control Inventory, <br /> <br />Administrator Reilly states: <br /> <br />The message presented by the States in these reports is that many point source-related surface <br />water-quality problems, such as bacteria and oxygen-demanding materials discharged by sewage <br />treatment plants appear to be diminishing as a result of pollution control programs. At the same <br />time, the pollution problems that are most difficult to assess and control--e.g., sedimentation, <br /> <br />16 Office of Water, United States Environmental Protection Agency, "National <br />Water Quality Inventory: 1986 Report to Congress" 14 (EPA-440/4-87-00s, Nov. 1987). <br /> <br />17 Id. at 81. <br /> <br />18 Id. at 82. <br /> <br />28 <br />