BOZEMAN (AP)
The state’s plan to reduce water pollution from “nonpoint sources” such as agricultural runoff relies on public education and voluntary efforts, the state Department of Environmental Quality said. “Nonpoint source pollution” flows into streams over land or through the soil from pastures, roads, subdivisions, septic tanks, cities and clearcuts. It is responsible for about 90 percent of the documented problems in streams and 70 percent of the problems in lakes, reservoirs and wetlands, the DEQ said. Factories and sewage plants must have permits to discharge water and can be regulated, but “we don’t have the same hammer” to regulate nonpoint sources, Roger Ray of the DEQ’s planning, prevention and assistance office, said Monday. The DEQ plan calls for a push in education, encouraging people to think more about the ways in which they perform such activities as cleaning up after pets, washing cars and applying fertilizer. The plan also calls for improved agricultural practices and closer cooperation with local watershed groups and other government agencies. Public comment on the plan is being taken through May 6. The plan is necessary to obtain $2 million to $2.5 million annually in federal funding for cleanup or pollution avoidance work, Ray said. Agriculture has traditionally been the biggest source of nonpoint pollution. Livestock grazing contributes to the problem in 53 percent of impaired waters, the DEQ said. Poor grazing practices can put sediment, bacteria and harmful nutrients in water, and raise water temperatures by removing vegetation that creates shade. Agriculture has improved over the past decade, Ray said, in part because federal money has been available to help ranchers improve their lands and their grazing practices. Logging, also a traditional source of silt, also has shown improvement. One of the fastest-growing sources of nonpoint water pollution is urban and suburban development. “During a short period of time, construction activity can contribute more sediment to streams than is naturally deposited over several decades,” the DEQ report said. Construction sediment typically is 10 to 20 times that produced by agricultural land and 1,000 to 2,000 times that of forested lands, the report said. After construction is complete, effects continue, because water runs off streets, roads and rooftops and picks up pollution such as pet waste, fertilizer and hydrocarbons and heavy metals left by gasoline engine emissions along the way. “We’ve made some progress in some places, but we have a long, long way to go,” Ray said. “And we may have backslid in some places.”
