Farming, Saturday, March 31,1979
1!
soil and animals contribute to non point pollution
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Nonpoint pollution has a two
way impact on our nation’s
rivers, streams, lakes and
harbors according to
specialists at the University
of Maryland.
First, there is a non
organic filiing-in effect
caused by sedimentation, or
settling of soil particles as a
result of stormwater run-off
from agricultural land,
forests, streets, parking lots,
lawns, strip mine areas and
construction sites.
Secondly, there is an
organic effect involving
growth processes referred to
by scientists as
eutrophication and
putrefaction. This
phenomenon results from
water being polluted with
nutrients, organic matter,
microorganisms and other
materials. Sources for such
pollution would include
septic tanks, animal pens,
and areas where fertilizer or
chemicals have been applied
on land vulnerable to rapid
run-off. ,
While not organic them
selves, fertilizer and
chemical particles provide
nutrients which can fuel the
processes of eutrophication
and putrefaction.
Farmers are not the only
contributors to nonpoint
pollution problems, by any
means, declares Dr. Fred P.
Miller, professor of
agronomy and Extension
soil and water resources
specialist at the University
of Maryland in College Park.
In fact, studies in New
Jersey, Virginia, and other
states indicate that forested
and undeveloped land
contribute little pollution per
unit area; that row-crop
agriculture and single
family housing contribute
moderate amounts, and that
shopping centers, multiple-
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Monolithic Silos
• Oxygen Controlled
• Conventional
• Supreme
Forage
Blowers
family bousing, urban
centers, and industrial
activities are generally high
contributors to stream
pollution - using the per-unit
measuring method.
However, Miller ex
plained, keep in mind the
large areas devoted to
agriculture in this country
and the fact that some of this
farmland is vulnerable to
rapid surface run-off.
Materials carried from these
vulnerable areas
especially when in proximity
' to streams - can contribute
significantly to the total
amount of pollutants in a
body of water.
Miller notes that nonpoint
pollution is really a function
of dosage. In many water
sheds, no one source can be
identified as the major
contributor. Rather, it is the
sum total of all contributors
that most often causes a
problem’.
Agricultural activities
tend to contribute
significantly toward the
supply of nutrients in
polluted waters, while
stormwater run-off from
shopping centers is often
high in poisonous lead
contamination.
All of this does not mean
that farmers - or any other
group - can point to others
while 'doing nothing them
selves to help solve nonpoint
pollution problems. The time
for action is here, and,
hopefully, it can be done
largely on a voluntary basis.
Maryland has a showcase
example of how this can be
accomplished. That is the
dramatic transformation
resulting from a one-day
facelifting operation last
Summer (Aug. 19, 1978) on
the 245-acre Warren D.
Roelkey farm near Knox
ville, in central Maryland’s
Frederick county. It was
Don’t Delay - Call Today
SOLLENBERGER
ILO & EQUIPMENT
R.D. #2, Chambersburg, PA. 17201 Ph: 717-264-9588
dubbed “Operation Clear
water.”
That event was sponsored
by the Catoctin Soil Con
servation District, with
assistance from the Farm
Bureau, Grange, Future
Farmers of America, and
many civic, commercial,
governmental and
educational groups - in
cluding the University of
Maryland’s Cooperative
Extension Service. Much of
the latter effort was coor
dinated by Extension agents
in Frederick county.
An extensive terrace
building program helped
switch the Roelkey- crop
fanning operation from “up
and-down” to “around the
hills,” thus reducing annual
sedimentation loss into the
streams and the nearby
1 Potomac river from an
estimated 350 tons to only 40
' tons or less. (A neighbor’s
farm pond has been com
pletely filled in by this
sediment run-off in earlier
years.)
And the big cutback of
stormwater run-off has
eliminated - for all practical
purposes - previous washing
of fertilizer and herbicide
salts into those same
waterways.
Also helping to meet clean
water standards was virtual
elimination of contamination
from, animal waste run-off
on the Roelkey farm. This
was accomplished by bull
dozing a 1.1-acre farm pond,
building a new hoghouse
with farrowing stalls and a
fence to keep pigs from
wallowing in a stream
leading to the Potomac
river, and construction of
two gravity-flow pasture
watering troughs to help
keejTbther livestock out of
the stream.
6. Paul Edwards, district
conservationist for the U.S.
OLLENBERGER
ILO & EQUIPMENT
Department of Agriculture’s
Sod Conservation Service in
Frederick County, predicted
a 25 per cent increase in corn
production and a 50 per cent
increase'in pasture grazing
capacity as a result of the
Roelkey farm renovation.
He reported that a recent
inspection (early March)
revealed water from the
Roelkey farm stream was
running clearer than water
from streams on neigh
boring farms, despite the
pollution potential created
by spring rains and ex
tensive melting from this
past Winter's heavy
snowfall.
Financial underwriting for
such a project could be
handled on a cost-sharing
arrangement through county
offices of the USDA’s,,
Agricultural Stabilization .
and Conservation Service
(ASCS).
Technical and general
advisory assistance is
available from professional
people like Edwards and his
counterparts in the Soil
Conservation Service and its
associated soil conservation
districts throughout the
nation.
Other professionals here in
Maryland who can help are
appropriate representatives
of the University of
Maryland’s Cooperative
Extension Service and the
Forest Service of the state
Department of Natural
Resources.
FinaUy, some specific
guidelines on nonpoint
poUution from dairy and
livestock farms are con
tained in a mimeographed
leaflet revised earlier this
year by Herbert L. Brodie,
agricultural engineer on the
upper Eastern Shore for the
Maryland Cooperative
Extension Service.
The leaflet is titled “Water
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Pits
• Jamesway Farm
Equipment ,
Pollution-How Do You percolation of pollutants to
-Measure Up f” It is iden- surface or groundwater,
tified as “Facts' No. 102.” } One of the large sources of
Single copies are available pollutants on most livestock
free by writing to; farms is obviously manure,
Agricultural Engineer, he comments. Thus,
Cooperative Extension management and handling
Service, County Building, of both manure and animals
Centerville, Md. 21617, or by is an important part of water
telephoning Brodie at (301) quality improvement.
758-1064. Brodie’s leaflet is intended
In the leaflet, Brodie
points out that farm animal
production systems ■ can
cause water pollution as the
result of direct discharge,
diffuse run-off, seepage, or
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