Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - NACWA in the News
Group Urges Water Quality Emphasis In Upcoming Farm Bill Reauthorization
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies is asking its members to comment on the best way to leverage conservation programs in the upcoming farm bill to reduce nonpoint source pollution in the country's lakes, streams, and rivers.
In a draft position paper made available to BNA, NACWA said the reauthorization process for the 2007 Farm Bill offers "prime" opportunities to partner with conservation groups, farm groups, states, and environmental groups to "push funding toward agricultural programs that benefit the environment, especially water quality."
The current farm bill, which was authorized in 2002 and expires in 2007, contained $9.2 billion for conservation programs to spend over a six-year period (Pub. L. No. 107-171). In contrast, NACWA said Congress has appropriated $6.5 billion since 2002 to fund the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, the primary source of funds that local communities use to improve wastewater treatment processes and to upgrade aging plants and pipelines.
Significant Contribution to Conservation
According to the August NACWA paper, the Department of
Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) said the 2002 Farm
Bill represented the "single most significant commitment of resources toward
conservation on private lands in the nation's history."
The NRCS's conservation programs address soil erosion, wetlands, wildlife
habitat, and farmland protection through a portfolio of voluntary assistance,
including cost-share, land rental, incentive payments, and technical assistance.
In a November 2005 paper published by the Ohio Environment Report, Brent Sohngen,
an agricultural economist with Ohio State University, estimated conservation
spending in future farm bills to increase to possibly as much as $5 billion
annually or $25 billion over five years.
Since 2001, conservation payments have accounted for 13 percent of total farm
payments, according to Sohngen.
NACWA cites Sohngen, who believes states also will be urging the federal
government to expand conservation payments to improve water quality because they
are "too strapped for cash to handle the substantial burden" to meet water
quality requirements in lakes, rivers, and streams on their own.
Leading Impairment Source Still Nonpoint
Nonpoint source pollution, mostly from agriculture, is the leading source of
impairment for rivers and streams, according to the Environmental Protection
Agency.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment runoff from soil erosion, tree removal, and
land paving activities are smothering fish and polluting nearly half of the
nation's streams, according to a statistical survey on the health of streams
released by EPA in May (88 DEN A-4, 5/8/06 ).
NACWA points out that publicly owned wastewater treatment plants often get
"stuck" paying a large portion of the bill to improve the quality of the
nation's waters "even though study after study shows significant impairment from
nonpoint sources of pollution."
Currently, "many NACWA member agencies are being asked to spend hundreds of
billions of dollars to meet lower and lower nutrient levels that will net little
water quality benefit because of the contribution from uncontrolled nonpoint
sources," NACWA wrote.
New Water Quality Program Suggested
The NACWA paper broaches the idea of Congress establishing a $500 million water
quality program within the conservation title that would, for instance, reduce
nutrient runoff, recharge groundwater, protect aquifers, and yield other
environmental gains.
NACWA and its municipal partners strongly recommend that the next farm bill
should provide a "sound farm policy coupled with a strong commitment to water
quality."
The group is advocating four positions:
maximize funding for conservation programs that target water quality
improvements through coordinated efforts with like-minded groups;
seek language in the bill that promotes coordination on a watershed basis,
rather than on a point-source-to-point-source basis, to maximize use of funds
for clean water goals;
identify mechanisms to track progress made in reducing nonpoint source
pollution; and
incorporate language requiring better management of nutrients, phosphorus, and
nitrogen on farmlands, while reaffirming the right of producers to choose the
fertilizer they consider most cost-effective and beneficial.
By Amena H. Saiyid