Pollution Assessment and Prevention
Whole Farm and Management System Approaches
-
"Whole Farm Planning/Best Management Practices." Project Leaders: K. Porter, M. Walter, W. Knoblauch. Center For The Environment, Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853. Start Date December 1992.
Summary: The program is a response to the pollution prevention mandate in Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (1986). Potential pollutants of concern include microbes (particularly fecal bacteria), pathogenic protozoa, viruses, nutrients, pesticides, sediments and other organic chemicals (such as fuels). Management practices for each will be considered from the perspective of efficacy as water pollution prevention measures, compatibility with short and long term farm business goals and farm operator abilities and management capacities. The program is part of conditions for a waiver of the filtration requirements specified in the Surface Water Treatment Rule for the New York City water supply system. It began with ten demonstration farms in four of the eight counties in the watershed. The ten will serve as proving grounds for methods and materials designed to set priorities for preventive and remedial farm planning. The program depends upon strong local support and leadership. Specific goals are to develop an approach to minimizing water pollution from farming practices that considers individual farm business expectations and needs and operator management capacities.
-
Central Coast Vineyard Team "Clean Water Program." In April 2001, the Central California Vineyard Team received a grant from the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program to demonstrate biologically integrated farming practices (BIFS) in Central Coast vineyards. CCVT also received a grant from the Regional Water Quality Control Board to develop demonstration sites that minimize non-point source pollution and protect water quality. CCVT's innovative Positive Points System and its whole farm approach are important tools in protecting water quality for drinking, irrigation, recreation, and environmental uses. http://www.vineyardteam.org/water.html.
Watershed Assessments
-
"Squaw Creek Watershed Social Assessment: Values, Beliefs, and Perceptions of Water Quality & Landscape Change." September, 2003. Project Leader: Mimi Wagner, Principal Investigator, Iowa State University. Department of Landscape Architecture, Funded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/grants/files/2003-E1_Squaw_Creek.pdf
Summary: The objectives of this research were to characterize social conditions in the Squaw Creek watershed relative to water quality and landscape change. Specifically, we wanted to understand how residents perceive water quality and other natural resource issues in the region. We compared data from interviews with information gathered from local newspapers and technical experts. We identified a great deal of uncertainty surrounding water quality that helps explain why residents don't demand a higher quality of water. First, we found that many subjects assumed that the term "water quality" is used to describe only the quality of their drinking water rather than the broader interpretation considered by technical experts. The majority of subjects in this research believe they already have a high quality of drinking water. In contemplating impaired water quality, most subjects demonstrated a fairly low level of understanding about the typical causes and sources of impaired conditions in watersheds such as Squaw Creek. Additionally, they held conflicting sets of expectations about what the quality of water in local streams and lakes should be-what was acceptable to one subject is likely unacceptable to another. We also identified a relatively small range of spatial perceptions among subjects-that is, most subjects were focused on landscape conditions very close to their home range. Many visibly struggled to contemplate the entire watershed basin. The results of this research have already positively impacted this watershed. The Squaw Creek Watershed Council, local soil and water conservation districts, and Prairie Rivers RC&D are utilizing the findings to structure water quality awareness campaigns among residents. The Council has also begun work to diminish the tension between rural and urban areas relative to water quality by focusing on urban areas close to Ames.
-
"On-Farm Monitoring of Nutrient Flow Through a Vegetated Filter Strip," and "Understanding Nutrient Transport through Monitoring of an Intensively Cropped159 km2 Watershed." Maquoketa River Watershed Project, Iowa State University Extension, http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/waterquality/projects/maquoketa.html.
Summary: In sub-watersheds of the Maquoketa River Basin in northeast Iowa, Iowa State University Extension is providing facilitation for citizens' watershed councils and for integrated research, extension and education programs related to management of agricultural impacts on water quality. The project has been praised for its timeliness and responsiveness to clients. Data have been used by a local group in developing an initiative on environmentally-sound manure management approaches for small cattle feedlots.
|
|
Table of Contents
This online document is organized in three groupings:
|
