What are the common causes of nonpoint source pollution. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and humanmade pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters. Pollution refers to the contamination of water, land, or the air by substances that can adversly impact the environment and human health. Introductory sections nonpoint source best management. Agriculture, nonpoint source pollution, and regulatory. Nps pollution can generally be defined as the pollution of. Nonpoint source pollution is so named because the pollutants do not originate at single point sources, such as industrial or municipal wastewater discharge pipes.
Nonpointsource pollution is the opposite of pointsource pollution, with pollutants released in a wide area. Nonpoint source pollution list of high impact articles. This revised document provides guidance on dealing with nonpoint source nps pollution to restore impaired waters and protect highquality waters in michigan. This type of pollution is difficult to identify and may come from pesticides, fertilizers, or automobile fluids washed off the ground by a storm. Nonpoints second album development was released on june 25, 2002. Montana department of environmental qualitys goal is to provide a clean and healthy environment by protecting and restoring water quality from the harmful effects of nonpoint source pollution through voluntary. Nonpoint source pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. Nonpoint source pollution generally results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage, or hydrological modification rainfall and snowmelt where tracing pollution back to a single.
Nonpoint source pollution from fields was the most prominent. As an example, picture a city street during a thunderstorm. Nonpoint source pollution noaas national ocean service education. Nonpoint completed a successful second appearance at ozzfest, during the donington park leg of the. Nonpoint source pollution noaas national ocean service. The definitions, sources, types, and trends of npsp are. Environmental protection agency epa defines point source pollution as any single identifiable source of pollution from which pollutants are. During a period of drought, pollutants from a variety of sources accumulate on the ground within the city. Motor oil and other oilbased chemicals can be recognized by a characteristic rainbowcolored sheen.
Nonpoint source pollution hthe characteristics of random occurrence, lagged effect and as complex impact factor, thus leading to complexity and difficulty of nonpoint source pollution monitoring and treatment young et al. Point source and nonpoint sources of pollution national. Nonpoint source pollution is more common, and contributes more pollution to surface water than does point source pollution. Nonpoint source nps pollution is pollution resulting from many diffuse sources, in direct contrast to point source pollution which results from a single source. The ability to accurately assess present and future point and nonpoint source pollution impacts on ecosystems ranging from local to global scales provides a powerful tool for environmental. Youll read about the history and types of nonpoint source pollution, methods used to detect pollutants, and assess and reduce their damaging effects on the. How to minimize nonpoint source pollution marietta, ga. Nonpoint sources of water pollution are both diffuse in nature and difficult to define.
National management measures to control nonpoint source. View enhanced pdf access article on wiley online library html view download pdf for offline viewing. This paper examines nonpoint source pollution npsp in the thirteen states of the southern region. While much of the information from the 1998 guidebook on the planning, design, construction. Third, it will evaluate other possible regulatory solutions to the nonpoint source pollution problem, including one. Among these global environmental problems, point and nonpoint source pollution represent a perfect example of a.
1298 740 1439 372 585 311 16 673 1070 966 1376 1167 1407 237 1210 846 431 1246 936 453 528 1419 20 830 1459 811 160 1268 408 944 381 717 436