REDUCING NUTRIENT AND PESTICIDE POLLUTION

Solutions to water pollution caused by excess nutrients and

chemical pesticides can be found in five broad categories:

• Encourage smart agricultural practices.

Right-sizing applications of fertilizer and using techniques like

biodynamic farming, no-till planting, settling ponds, and riparian
buffer zones can help keep polluted runoff from entering streams.

Animal agriculture can be a problem too. For example, runoff from

chicken-raising operations is a leading cause of nutrient pollution in
the Chesapeake Bay. As a compassionate society, we should
probably ban altogether the barbaric practices imposed on animals
in concentrated feeding operations; but until we do that, these
potent pollution centres must be made to meet strict water quality
standards.

• Reduce urban/suburban runoff of lawn fertilizers and

pesticides.

If you put "normal" fertilizer, pesticides, and other chemicals on your

lawn, landscaping, and gardens, you are part of the water pollution
problem. While you may find these products helpful, much of their
volume is washed by rain or blown by air to nearby streams, ponds,
and rivers. They also tend to degrade your soil over time, making
your future gardening efforts that much more difficult and reliant on
chemicals.

• Prevent further destruction wetlands, and re-establish

them wherever possible.

Both inland and coastal wetlands act to buffer surges in runoff and
to filter pollutants from runoff and flows. Yet it has been standard
practice in the US (and many other countries) to allow development
concerns to almost always trump the value of "nature's services."
It's time to get serious about preserving wetlands.

• Drive less.

Nitrogen deposition from air pollution is a big part of the nutrient

pollution problem. About a third of the nitrogen pollution in the
Chesapeake Bay is from nitrogen deposition from air pollution, much
of which comes from automobile emissions.
How much we drive, how large a vehicle we motor in, mileage
standards, and many other factors all play a part in how much
pollution we personally leave behind when driving. People are also
constrained with brainless building codes that force separation
between houses, stores, and work, forcing us to drive more than
we'd like. But driving less is something we all can do better at, if we
try; and all of the relatively small individual contributions will make a
big difference when summed across millions of drivers.

REDUCING SEWAGE POLLUTION

If the toilet in your house were spewing its contents onto your
bathroom floor, you would make it a very high priority to get the
situation corrected. As societies, we should place the same priority
on upgrading out-of-date or under-capacity sewage treatment plants
that sometimes spew their contents into our waterways. It's also
important to ensure that homeowners with septic fields are installing
and maintaining their systems in a way that does not contaminate
nearby groundwater or surface water.

More specifically, we should...

• Get going on fixing outdated municipal water treatment
plants. If you flush, you may be part of the problem. Society
needs to ante up whatever is necessary to fix inadequate
sewage treatment systems. But the ante here is not
necessarily that painful—for instance, Maryland instituted a
mere $3 "flush tax" on citizens' sewer bills to help fund the
upgrade of the state's aging treatment plants.
• Fully fund the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which
provides federal funding in the form of loans to municipalities
who need to upgrade their systems. It's worth noting that in
2006 a certain someone with the initials "GWB" decided to
significantly cut funding for the program. Boo hiss.
• Help localities set up programs that ensure septic
system maintenance and monitoring. A lot of rural
homeowners seem to think that a septic system is a magical
place where No. 1's and 2's go, never to be heard from again.
Nope. Septic systems are bio-mechanical devices that need
occasional attention; otherwise, they begin to fail and send
poo-goo into streams and groundwater. A great way to help
keep your septic field in good shape is to occasionally add
Flow, a biologically active formula that helps break things
down.
 • Eliminate "straight pipes." In some areas, even in the US, a
few people still run the outflow pipe from their house's
plumping system straight to the nearest creek. These illegal
setups need to be corrected.
• Fully fund beach monitoring programs so that people will
stay out of the water when it's not safe. (OK, we know that's
not really a water pollution solution, but its worth doing until
sewage problems are truly solved.)
• Conserve water which helps reduce loads on septic systems
and treatment plants, reducing the likelihood that they will
send waste into our waters.

IMPROVING STORM WATER MANAGEMENT AND WATERSHED

MONITORING

Water pollution control is most appropriately addressed at the

watershed level. As the saying goes, everyone lives upstream of
somewhere else. What happens in someone's back yard and
neighbourhood impacts every other part of the watershed system at
lower elevations—all the way to the ocean.

One thing that works well to help control backyard and

neighbourhood pollution is to implement urban and suburban storm
water management strategies, including:
• Preserving undeveloped land to help soak up rains; and
• Constructing wetlands, stream buffer zones, and settlement
ponds to allow contaminated runoff to undergo natural
biological remediation before it gets into the watershed.

STOPPING DEFORESTATION

A healthy forest acts like a sponge to soak up the rains when they
come, holding the water and filtering it before it makes its way to
nearby streams, lakes, and rivers. When all the trees are cut down—
clear cutting is still logging companies' preferred method of
operation—the forest ecosystem dies and can no longer perform this
service. Rain water rushes directly into streams, flowing over
exposed soil, picking up and carrying sediment pollution into nearby
waterways.

You can support healthy forests by

• supporting efforts to ban clear cutting;

 • supporting "road less rules" that keep logging roads out of
pristine national forests;
• Making smarter lumber and paper choices for yourself and
implementing methods to save paper. It's also worth noting
that paper manufacturing is a highly polluting affair, and using
paper sourced with high levels of "post consumer content"
helps reduce pollution from the production of virgin paper.

OPPOSING COASTAL DEVELOPMENT

• Natural shorelines (and the wetlands usually found there)

serve many purposes, from fish nurseries to absorption of
hurricane impact to filtration of the river water entering the
estuary. But in the US alone, more than 20,000 acres of these
sensitive areas disappear each year. When houses, hotels, and
resorts go up or other development occurs, not only are the
wetland and coastal eco-services lost, but the human activity
imparts many types of pollution to these sensitive coastal
areas.
• Coastal development is a significant problem for the oceans,
but all forms of suburban sprawl chew up wetlands, forests,
meadows, and other natural areas that help soak up rains and
filter water before it enters streams and rivers. Supporting
smart growth, urban redevelopment, and open space
preservation is an important solution to water pollution.

REDUCING POLLUTION FEOM OIL AND PETROLEUM LIQUIDS

While it's true that a large amount of oil naturally seeps into the
ocean from underground geological sources, marine life in the areas
where this occurs have had eons to adapt to the conditions. Human-
caused petroleum pollution invariably happens in much more
sensitive areas, often with disastrous consequences.

The first-level solution to this type of water pollution is to stop

letting so much oil and oil by-products get into the water in the first
place. Yes, we must reduce the occurrences of oil spills; but more
importantly, we must reduce the amount of petroleum pollution
getting into waterways from non-spill sources, which contribute far
more to the problem than spills.

Governments and corporations can respond to both types of petro-

pollution by:
 • Quickening the pace of moving the world's tanker fleet to all
double-hull ships.
• Tightening regulations governing maintenance and inspections
of commercial ships, motor boats, and recreational water craft,
which can leak oil and fuel into the water. (And maybe it's a
good idea if we completely prohibit motorized craft on our
drinking-water reservoirs!)
• Requiring filtration ponds and natural buffer zones around
roads and parking lots to help keep runoff contaminated with
oil and gas drips from getting into waterways.
• Doing more citizen education on the subject of how to keep oil
out of our environment.

You as an individual can do some things too:

• Drive your vehicle less. That will mean your vehicle is putting
less petroleum pollution into our waters (not to mention less
air pollution into our air).
• Maintain your vehicle more. If you see oil stains on your
driveway, your car needs attention.
• If you must own a motorized boat or jet ski, keep it well
maintained.
• We hope it goes without saying, but if you change your oil
yourself, don't dump the used oil down the nearest sewer
drain! In many places, local service stations are required by
law to accept your used oil. Alternatively, most municipal
recycling centres accept used motor oil.

REDUCING MERCURY EMMISIONS

It's a real shame that we have let global mercury pollution get so
bad that wonderful fish like albacore tuna and swordfish are polluted
to the point where they aren't safe to eat, at least not in any
significant quantities.

The solution to mercury pollution in our waters is to solve the

mercury pollution problem coming from the land. In the United
States and many other countries, coal-burning power plants are the
largest human-caused source of mercury emissions. US power
plants account for over 40% of US mercury emissions. Other
noteworthy sources of mercury pollution are chlorine production
facilities and municipal and hazardous waste incinerators.

The technology exists to do a much better job of controlling mercury

pollution, and predictive models show that reducing mercury
emissions to the air will reduce mercury pollution in water and the
subsequent contamination of fish. For existing coal-fired power
plants, better scrubber technology can be applied to get 90% of the
mercury out of the emissions. For new coal-fired power plants, we
should be insisting that the only type of allowed construction is "coal
gasification," which allows all of the mercury pollution to be filtered
out. Let your state and federal elected officials know that you
support such requirements.

CLEANING UP MINING PRACTICES

Here in Grinning Planet's coal-rich home state of Kentucky, some

streams are so polluted from acid mine drainage that workers who
wade into streams to take water samples must wear protective
boots and gloves, otherwise the polluted water could cause skin
blisters and sores. There are worse cases of pollution from mining—
some bodies of water near mining operations are completely devoid
of life. In addition to increased acidity, the water can become
contaminated with heavy metals like cadmium, which are leached
into waterways by the action of rainwater on exposed rock and
earth. In gold mining, arsenic leach heaps may leak arsenic into
groundwater or surface water.

Coal, metals, and other products produced by mining are part of

what built modern society. But techniques exist for doing these
operations more cleanly, and we owe it to our waters and ourselves
to insist on it.

As consumers and citizens, there are a number of things we can do:

• Insist that regulatory agencies force industry to clean up long-
abandoned but still-polluting mines.
• Tell our elected officials to prevent the sitting of new mines
where they are likely to cause water pollution problems.
• Demand that the mining industry stop the highly destructive
coal mining practice of mountaintop removal mining, which
often buries streams altogether.
• Finally, you can place your vote against dirty gold-mining
practices at the web site of the No Dirty Gold campaign,
which lobbies for reform and helps steer consumers to gold
jewellery not produced with the typical high-pollution
methods.
CLEANING UP CHEMICAL POLLUTION

Biologist Joseph Sheldon has described the chemical inundation of

our biosphere as "global toxification". Chemicals are everywhere,
in everything—"better living through chemistry" has turned out to
have a serious pollution downside. Here's what we can do about it.

First, there are some things we should expect from our

government and corporations:
• Reinvigorate progress on cleaning up superfund sites, and re-
establish the "polluter pays" principle. Taxpayers should not
foot the bill for decades of industry abuses.
• Clean up polluted brown field sites—sites not quite bad
enough to make the superfund list, but still pretty bad—and
promote their redevelopment.
• Eliminate all remaining industrial waste-water discharges to
streams, enforcing a "zero emissions" policy for the waste
water from our factories.
• Sign into US law the international treaty on persistent organic
pollutants.
• Adopt the precautionary principle: Synthetic chemicals
should be considered toxic unless it can be proved otherwise.
This concept has already been incorporated into Europe's
new "REACH" law on chemicals. As it stands now, the US
public is a collective guinea pig for studying the long-term
effects of chemicals that have not been proven safe.
• Upgrade water treatment plants so they can filter out
chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Most plants do not handle
either.
• Continue the fight to stop emissions of acid-rain chemicals
(sulfur and nitrogen) that not only damage forests but also
acidify lakes.

There are also some water pollution solutions we as consumers

and citizens can implement when it comes to chemicals:
• Buy organic food.
• Start buying "green" household cleaners and personal care
products. (Hint: Most of what you find at Wal-Mart or a
"normal" grocery store or drug store is NOT on the "OK" list.)
Check out CHEC's Health-E House for tips on how.
 • Only use pharmaceuticals when absolutely necessary. Learn
about natural cures and how important good nutrition, sleep,
and low stress levels are to keeping you healthy.
• Stop all use of chemical pesticides around your house and
yard.
• If you have to dispose of old paint, varnish, or other DIY
chemicals, check with your local government's environment
or public works office to find out the safest way to do so.
FIGHTING GLOAL WARMING

In terms of water pollution, there are two main threats from global
warming:
1. Ocean Acidification — As atmospheric CO2 levels have
risen, ocean CO2 levels have risen even more, thus
increasing the acidity level of the ocean. At a minimum, this
trend will negatively affect organisms with shells, which may
dissolve or become malformed if the pH drops low enough.
2. Ocean Temperature — As the planet warms, so does the
ocean. All organisms in nature have limits to the temperature
range in which they can exist. Increasing the temperature of
the oceans will have varying—but likely negative—effects on
ocean creatures.

There are plenty more ways in which global warming will impact
water; for instance, less mountain snow pack and smaller glaciers
will result in lower river flows for many regions during summer,
and melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will change
salinity levels and ocean flows, and will raise ocean levels,
inundating coastal properties and ecosystems. But since we're
focusing on water pollution solutions in this article, we will leave
such effects for another time.

In the meantime, when the two water-pollution impacts above are

added to the many other predicted general effects of global
warming, there's plenty of reason to recommend action on global
warming as part of a broad strategy to address water pollution.