Colorado%20Ag.%20Science%20Curriculum%20Section:%20Plant%20and%20Soil%20Science%20Unit:%205%20-%20Environmental%20Factors%20Lesson:%205%20Water%20Quality%20and%20Pollution

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Colorado Ag. Science CurriculumSection Plant
and Soil ScienceUnit 5 - Environmental
FactorsLesson 5Water Quality and Pollution
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WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

• Water Quality Standards are a critical part of
  working towards the goal of fishable/swimmable
  waters in the United States.
• Water quality standards are the foundation of the
  water quality-based control program mandated by
  the Clean Water Act.
• Standards help to identify water quality problems
  caused by, for example, improperly treated
  wastewater discharges, runoff or discharges from
  active or abandoned mining sites, sediment,
  fertilizers, and chemicals from agricultural
  areas, and erosion of stream banks caused by
  improper grazing practices.

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WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

• A water quality standard consists of four basic
  elements
• 1) designated uses of the water body (e.g.,
  recreation, water supply, aquatic life,
  agriculture),
• (2) water quality criteria to protect designated
  uses (numeric pollutant concentrations and
  narrative requirements),
• (3) an antidegradation policy to maintain and
  protect existing uses and high quality waters,
  and
• (4) general policies addressing implementation
  issues (e.g., low flows, variances, mixing zones).

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CLEAN WATER ACT

• Growing public awareness and concern for
  controlling water pollution led to enactment of
  the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
  Amendments of 1972.
• Amended in 1977, became the Clean Water Act at
  that time.
• Established the basic structure for regulating
  discharges of pollutants into the waters of the
  United States.
• Unlawful for any person to discharge any
  pollutant from a point source into navigable
  waters, unless a permit was obtained under its
  provisions

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DESIGNATED USES

• The water quality standards regulation requires
  that States and authorized Indian Tribes specify
  appropriate water uses to be achieved and
  protected. 
• Appropriate uses are identified by taking into
  consideration the use and value of the water body
  for public water supply, for protection of fish,
  shellfish, and wildlife, and for recreational,
  agricultural, industrial, and navigational
  purposes.
• In designating uses for a water body, States and
  Tribes examine the suitability of a water body
  for the uses based on the physical, chemical, and
  biological characteristics of the water body, its
  geographical setting and scenic qualities, and
  economic considerations.

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ANTIDEGRADATION

• The water quality standards regulation requires
  States and Tribes to establish a three-tiered
  antidegradation program.
• Tier 1 maintains and protects existing uses and
  water quality conditions necessary to support
  such uses such as fishing and swimming.  Tier 1
  requirements are applicable to all surface
  waters.
• Tier 2 maintains and protects "high quality"
  waters -- water bodies where existing conditions
  are better than necessary to support
  "fishable/swimmable" uses.
• Tier 3 maintains and protects water quality in
  outstanding national resource waters.

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AGRICULTURAL RUNOFF

• Agricultural runoff refers to the total loss of
  water from a watershed by all surface and
  subsurface pathways.
• The term agricultural runoff encompasses two
  processes that occur in the field surface
  runoff and subsurface flow.
• Surface or overland flow can infiltrate into a
  soil during movement down a slope, move laterally
  as interflow, and reappear as subsurface flow.

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SURFACE RUNOFF

• Surface runoff from grass, forest, noncultivated
  soils carries little settlement and is,
  therefore, generally dominated by dissolved
  Phosphorous (about 80 of P loss).
• This release occurs when rainfall or irrigation
  water interacts with a thin layer of surface soil
  (1 or 2 inches) and plant material before leaving
  the field as surface runoff.
• Runoff water may contain pollutants
• Nonpoint source of contamination unclear
• Soil, fertilizers, pesticides, manure, pathogens

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How pollution occurs

• Human activities of greatest concern
• Wildlife may spread pathogens
• Plant growth and decay
• Dissolved minerals and gasses

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POLLUTION

• Pollution of surface water can cause degradation
  of ground-water quality and conversely pollution
  of ground water can degrade surface water.
• Eutrophication, accelerated by human activities,
  has been determined as the main cause of impaired
  surface water quality.
• Agricultural runoff (surface and subsurface) and
  erosion from high Phosphorous soils may be major
  contributing factors to surface water
  eutrophication.

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What can you do to help solve this problem?
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