State Implementation of Agriculture Nonpoint Source Pollution
Tammy L. Castonia
Despite more than thirty years of federal legislation regulating water quality, pollution from agriculture runoff has not been sanctioned nor reduced. Therefore, in order to abate agriculture runoff pollution, or nonpoint source pollution, it is up to individual states to implement programs either through grants provided by the Clean Water Act and/or by creating their own laws and funding sources.
A case study was conducted on two states to see what helped or hindered their abilities to implement agriculture nonpoint source pollution policies. The states of Wisconsin and Michigan were studied as they have a similar agriculture infrastructure and are both located in the Great Lakes basin, a valuable resource to both states’ populations.
The case studies consisted of two parts using Scheberle’s Implementation Model: a documentation review of each state’s water quality programs and laws related to agriculture nonpoint source pollution and interviews of key state officials. Factors in the model that were analyzed included both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors were: agency capacity, state-level political support, and working relationships between state and federal governments. Extrinsic factors examined were: resources allotted to federal agencies, statutory and regulatory language/related state laws, and the presence of an implementation energizer.
It was found that Wisconsin contains resources for staff and programs, many related state laws, statutory authority, state-level political support, and good working relations between state and federal governments. However, shrinking budgets are preventing Wisconsin from expanding its implementation efforts. Michigan has not directed as much attention to agriculture runoff; only when the EPA mandated CAFO permits in 2002 did the state start to regulate. Because of scarce resources to implement further runoff control measures, Michigan is relying on a limited voluntary program to address agriculture runoff.