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NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Citation:
Lewis, M A. NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION. Presented at Urban Stormwater County Task Force Meeting, Pensacola Junior College Media Center, Pensacola, FL, 9 November 1999.
Description:
Non-point source pollution is a diffuse source that is difficult to measure and is highly variable due to different rain patterns and other climatic conditions. In many areas, however, non-point source pollution is the greatest source of water quality degradation. Presently, states and tribes identify non-point source pollution from cropland and livestock, urban runoff, and storm sewers as the greatest water quality threat to the Nation's surface waters. Other non-point sources of pollution to surface water include runoff from roads, construction sites, mining, and logging; drainage from waste disposal sites and landfills; and airborne pollutants that settle in the water. Two of the five major surface water quality problems in Florida include two non-point sources: (1) Urban Stormwater. Stormwater carries a wide variety of pollutants from nutrients to toxic chemicals. Siltation and turbidity associated with construction activities can also be a major problem. Problem areas are concentrated around urban centers and mimic, quite well, the population map of the state. Current stormwater rules and growth management laws address this problem for new sources, but are difficult to monitor and enforce. (2) Agricultural runoff. The major pollutants involved include nutrients, turbidity, BOD, bacteria, and herbicides/pesticides. These pollutants generally have the greatest adverse impacts in lakes and slow moving rivers and canals, and sometimes, the receiving estuary. The most advanced problems with non-point source pollution in Florida are concentrated in the central and southern portions of the state, and in several of the rivers entering the state from the north. Traditionally, agricultural operations have had far more lenient regulation than point sources; however, there is increasing recognition of the need for improved treatment of runoff water.