Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

The key to protecting oceans is to reduce the flow ofpollution from the land and from streams emptying intothe ocean. Thus ocean pollution control must be linkedwith land-use and air pollution policies because aboutone-third of all pollutants entering the ocean worldwidecome from air emissions from land-based sources.22-6 PREVENTING AND REDUCINGSURFACE WATER POLLUTIONHow Can We Reduce Surface Water Pollutionfrom Nonpoint Sources? Emphasize PreventionThe key to reducing nonpoint pollution, mostof it from agriculture, is to prevent it from reachingbodies of surface water.There are a number of ways to reduce nonpoint waterpollution, most of it from agriculture. Farmers canreduce soil erosion, especially by keeping croplandcovered with vegetation and by reforesting critical watersheds.They can also reduce the amount of fertilizerrunning off into surface waters and leaching intoaquifers by using slow-release fertilizer, using none onsteeply sloped land, and planting buffer zones of vegetationbetween cultivated fields and nearby surfacewater.Applying pesticides only when needed and relyingmore on biological control of pests can reducepesticide runoff. Farmers can control runoff and infiltrationof manure from animal feedlots by plantingbuffers and locating feedlots and animal waste sitesaway from steeply sloped land, surface water, andflood zones.Good news. In 2003 Smithfield Foods, a large porkproducer, announced plans to build a facility in Utahto convert the wastes from 500,000 hogs—about half ofits annual hog production in Utah—to make renewablebiodiesel fuel for vehicles. In addition, researchersare experimenting with planting poplar trees to suckup waste from contaminated hog waste lagoons.In 2002 a federal court forced the EPA to upholdthe intent of the Clean Water Act and require about15,500 of the nation’s largest livestock feedlots or factoryfarms to apply for EPA runoff permits by 2006, developplans to handle manure and wastewater, and fileannual reports with the EPA. If this rule goes into effect,large livestock operations will have to obey thesame pollution control regulations that have been appliedto other industries since 1972.Livestock producers who have successfully foughtsuch regulation for over 30 years say the new rules willcost them too much, and they hope to persuade Congressto eliminate, delay, or weaken the new rules. Staytuned for developments.These tougher rules are spurring scientists tocome up with better ways to deal with animal waste.They are exploring ways to burn it, convert it to naturalgas, recycle undigested nutrients in manure backinto animal feed, and extract valuable chemicals frommanure to make plastics or even cosmetics.Other scientists are looking at ways to rinse awaymany of the soluble and smelly ingredients in manureto leave tough, strawlike particles of fiber that can bepressed into fiberboard for making cabinets and furniture.The resulting fiber is called animal processedfiber, a formal name for processed cow and hog poop.xHOW WOULD YOU VOTE? Should we greatly increase effortsto reduce water pollution from nonpoint sources? Castyour vote online at http://biology.brookscole.com/miller14.How Can We Reduce Water Pollution fromPoint Sources? Legal and Market ApproachesMost developed countries use laws to set waterpollution standards, but in most developingcountries such laws do not exist or are poorlyenforced.The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (renamedthe Clean Water Act when it was amended in1977) and the 1987 Water Quality Act form the basis ofU.S. efforts to control pollution of the country’s surfacewaters. The Clean Water Act sets standards for allowedlevels of key water pollutants and requires pollutersto get permits specifying how much of variouspollutants they can discharge into aquatic systems.The EPA is also experimenting with a dischargetrading policy that uses market forces to reduce waterpollution (as has been done with sulfur dioxide for airpollution control, p. 454) in the United States. Underthis program a water pollution source is allowed topollute at a higher level than allowed in its permit bybuying credits from permit holders with pollution levelsbelow their allowed levels.Some environmentalists support discharge trading.But they warn that such a system is no better thanthe caps set for total pollution levels in various areas,and call for careful scrutiny of the cap levels. They alsowarn that discharge trading could allow pollutants tobuild up to dangerous levels in areas where credits arebought. In addition, they call for gradually loweringthe caps to encourage prevention of water pollutionand development of better technology for controllingwater pollution, neither of which is a part of the currentEPA water pollution discharge trading system.Bad news. According to Sandra Postel, director ofthe Global Water Policy Project, most cities in developingcountries discharge 80–90% of their untreatedsewage directly into rivers, streams, and lakes, whichhttp://biology.brookscole.com/miller14509