Nonpoint source pollution and
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - It
comes from fields and forests.
Construction sites, roads and
parking lots are another source.
Some of its unwitting participants
are farmers, weekend auto
mechanics and your neighbor
down the street fertilizing his lawn.
“It” is what scientists call
“nonpoint source pollution,” a
very special kind of pollution
because it is elusive, its sources
cover large areas, and it is in
sidious.
In spite of the fact that it is
virtually invisible, nonpoint source
pollution accounts for millions of
pounds of contaminants entering
the Chesapeake Bay each year and
changing the health of a fragile
ecyosystem.
The best available research
concludes that a combined total of
160 million pounds of nitrogen and
phosphorus enter the Bay in a
typical year between March and
October. At this time, warmer
temperatures and low stream flow
compound the effects of polluted
runoff. A good deal of that pollution
comes from nonpoint sources.
Most scientists agree, a key link
exists between the Bay’s problems
declining fish and oyster har
vests, and the disappearance of
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aquatic grasses and pollution,
including nonpoint source
pollution.
At the request of Maryland
Secretary of Agriculture Wayne
Cawley, the State Soil Con
servation Committee is assem
bling for Maryland farmers a list
of recommendations. These best
management practices of BMPs
will help control the nonpoint
pollution that goes into the
Chesapeake Bay.
Part of the problem, however, is
educating everyone in the state
about the role each citizen plays in
polluting the Bay’s 150 tributaries
and, utlimately, the Bay itself.
Says Dr. William Magette, an
agricultural engineer at the
University of Maryland: “Most
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people see a pipe discharging
waste into a river or stream and
recognize that as pollution.
“Most of those same people,
however, do not see a connection
between runoff after a heavy
rainfall from lawns, corn fields,
forests or urban parking lots, and
pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.”
Because there is no easily
identified point of entry for
pollutants from fields, forests and
urban areas into rivers or the Bay,
most people are unaware of the
impact, according to Magette.
However, research shows that of
the combined total of 160 million
pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus
entering the Bay during a typical
seven-month period, when the
effects of pollution are most
critical, 67 percent of the nitrogen
and 39 percent of the phosphorus
come from nonpoint sources. The
same studies show runoff from
cropland contributes the largest
share of nonpoint source pollution
to the Bay.
When these nutrients enter the
Bay, they promote the growth of
algae, which in turn use oxygen
from the water and also make it
cloudy. Algae creates undesirable
living conditions for Bay grasses,
oysters and fish.
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its effect on the bay
“It shouldn’t be surprising that
we have to do something about
nonpoint sources of pollution if
we’re going to make progress
correcting the water quality
problems in the Bay,” says
Magette.
Not only is it difficult to pindown
the exact location where nonpoint
source pollution enters the Bay, it
is equally difficult to identify
specific culprits.
“Generally, once rain hits the
ground whether it is an urban
area or rural area the process of
non-point source pollution can
begin,” Magette explains.
In urban areas, surface runoff
from rainfall can carry a number
of contaminants such as oil and
grease from parking lots, deicing
chemicals from roadways, fer
tilizers and pesticides used by
homeowners, even pet droppings.
“In agricultural and forested
areas, many of the same con
taminants wash into rivers and
streams feeding the Bay. They
include fertilizers, pesticides,
animal wastes and soil particles,”
Magette says.
Even water moving through the
soil, in addition to that moving
above ground, can transport
contaminants to rivers and
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streams feeding billions of gallons
of water daily to the Bay, ac
cording to Magette.
Is nonpoint source pollution,
then, a problem caused by people
or rainfall?
Says Magette: “Nonpoint source
pollution is, of course, basically a
people problem, caused by people.
“But finding a solution and
controlling the problem is made
difficult by how water moves from
place to place on this planet. ’ ’
To Magette, the analogy is not
pleasant, but accurate;
Precipitation, or rainfall, starts
the process of nonpoint source
pollution in the same way a flush of
the toilet or use of a garbage
disposal begins the process of
sending contaminats to a central
treatment plant, where they will be
discharged into rivers and find
their way to the Bay.
Because no one can say with
absolute certainty when, where,
how much or how long it will rain
or snow, the efforts to control
nonpoint source pollution should be
directed at the sources of pollution,
according to Magette.
“We have to turn our attention to
those factors we can control,” he
says.
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