FARMERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD NONPOINT POLLUTION CONTROL AND PARTICIPATION IN COST-SHARE PROGRAMS1

The success of government programs to control nonpoint source pollution depends upon attitudes toward those programs and the availability of technical and financial assistance. Applicants for the Rural Clean Water Program cost-share funding in Virginia possess different personal and operational characteristics than do nonapplicants. Factors associated with participation in the Rural Clean Water Program differed from those associated with the more traditional soil conservation programs. Discriminant analysis was used to differentiate between other farmers who may become applicants and nonapplicants. Farmers' attitudes toward various policy options for inducing implementation of nonpoint source management practices varied greatly. Farmers were most favorable to cost sharing, low-interest loans and tax credits, and least favorable to a soil loss tax. They were either very favorably or very unfavorably inclined toward cross-compliance between pollution control and other agricultural programs.     

FINANCING PRIVATE WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT: ANALYSIS OF A STATE LOAN PROGRAM1

ABSTRACT. A State loan program was analyzed for its effects on groundwater development in Wyoming. The analysis focused on the effects of low-interest State financing on the economic feasibility of investments in center-pivot sprinkler irrigation systems. The feasibility analysis indicated that investments in sprinkler systems for production of cash crops are highly profitable, and would frequently be carried out whether or not the State loan program were available. Investments in sprinklers for production of forage crops are perhaps frequently made attractive by the loan program. Thus, while the program appears to have accelerated the pace of private water resource development in Wyoming, it has also subsidized some investments that would have been carried out regardless of the program's existence. Further analysis indicated that sprinkler investments carried out with State financing contribute substantially to firm growth when cast crops are grown, but have less marked, and sometimes negative, effects on growth when forage crops are produced. Some positive effects of the loan program on southeast Wyoming's regional economy were noted, though a complete empirical analysis of regional impacts was beyond the scope of the study.     

A GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF WATER-RELATED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS IN TEXAS, 1985–19911

ABSTRACT: Texans participate directly in water policy decision-making through a referendum process involving amendment of the state's constitution. Prior to 1985, Texans voted on eight amendments. Five of these were ratified (1957, 1962, 1966, 1971, 1976), and collectively resulted in the creation of the Water Development Fund, with an authorization level of $600 million, and the Texas Water Development Board, the organization charged with administering the fund. Three other amendments were defeated in 1969, 1976, and 1981 by ever-increasing margins. From 1985 to 1991, six additional amendments were proposed and subsequently ratified, resulting in a $1.8 billion increase in Water Development Fund authorization and the creation of an agricultural water conservation fund and bond insurance program. County-level electoral data for the 1985–1991 referenda were mapped to assess sectional and regional factors underlying public opinion regarding these water resource development and funding programs. Regional contrasts were most pronounced for the 1989 and 1991 referenda that targeted economically distressed areas across the state, particularly the colonias located along the Rio Grande, and the 1989 amendment that removed a time limit on the issuance of agricultural water conservation bonds. As a specific case study, the Texas experience could serve as a guide in California where similar constitutional restrictions require tax and spending programs to be approved by voters, and in other states that may be considering the development of similar state-level financial programs for water projects.     

USE OF SOIL AND WATER PROTECTION PRACTICES AMONG FARMERS IN THE NORTH CENTRAL REGION OF THE UNITED STATES1

ABSTRACT: Data were collected in the fall of 1998 and the winter of 1999 from 1,011 land owner‐operators within three watersheds in the North Central Region of the United States to assess adoption of soil and water protection practices. Farm owner‐operators were asked to indicate how frequently they used 18 different agricultural production practices. Many farmers within the three watersheds had adopted conservation protection practices. However, they also employed production practices that could negate many of the environmental benefits associated with conservation practices in use. Comparison of adoption behaviors used in the three watersheds revealed significant differences among the study groups. Respondents in the Iowa and Ohio watersheds reported greater use of conservation production systems than did farmers in Minnesota. However, there were no significant differences between Ohio and Iowa farmers in terms of use of conservation production practices. This was surprising, since farmers in the Ohio watershed had received massive amounts of public and private investments to motivate them to adopt and to continue using conservation production systems. These findings bring into serious question the use of traditional voluntary conservation programs such as those employed in the Ohio watershed. Study findings suggest that new policy approaches should be considered. It is argued that “whole farm planning” should be a significant component of new agricultural conservation policy.     

STATE FINANCING OF WATER PROJECTS: THE UTAH EXPERIENCE1

ABSTRACT: Dramatic changes in Utah's economy caused by urbanization, large scale energy developments, and other influences will significantly reorient water use patterns. Thus, state water management policies and programs which have evolved over many years should be reevaluated. Several factors have influenced Utah water project financing policy. Among these have been: 1) the prominence of agriculture in the settlement of Utah and the century following, 2) dry cycles and periodic severe droughts, 3) recurring periods of economic depression, and 4) allocation of Colorado River water among the basin states and Mexico, Three revolving funds have been established. The Revolving Construction Fund, created in 1947, provides money for irrigation projects; the Cities Water Loan Fund, created in 1975, provides money to communities for developing culinary systems and improving quality to meet the demands of exploding population growth; and the Water Resources Conservation and Development Fund, created in 1978, provides money for large scale multipurpose water projects costing $1 million or more. The justification for these financing programs seems to be a mixture of rectifying market imperfections and income redistribution. However, trends in the agricultural sector and the multipurpose nature of large scale projects now being funded suggest that earlier justifications may no longer be valid. Rigorous project evaluation procedures, lacking in the past, should be adopted.     

WATER QUALITY MODELING OF ALTERNATIVE AGRICULTURAL SCENARIOS IN THE U.S. CORN BELT1

ABSTRACT: Simulated water quality resulting from three alternative future land‐use scenarios for two agricultural watersheds in central Iowa was compared to water quality under current and historic land use/land cover to explore both the potential water quality impact of perpetuating current trends and potential benefits of major changes in agricultural practices in the U.S. Corn Belt. The Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to evaluate the effect of management practices on surface water discharge and annual loads of sediment and nitrate in these watersheds. The agricultural practices comprising Scenario 1, which assumes perpetuation of current trends (conversion to conservation tillage, increase in farm size and land in production, use of currently‐employed Best Management Practices (BMPs)) result in simulated increased export of nitrate and decreased export of sediment relative to the present. However, simulations indicate that the substantial changes in agricultural practices envisioned in Scenarios 2 and 3 (conversion to conservation tillage, strip intercropping, rotational grazing, conservation set‐asides and greatly extended use of best management practices (BMPs) such as riparian buffers, engineered wetlands, grassed waterways, filter strips and field borders) could potentially reduce current loadings of sediment by 37 to 67 percent and nutrients by 54 to 75 percent. Results from the study indicate that major improvements in water quality in these agricultural watersheds could be achieved if such environmentally‐targeted agricultural practices were employed. Traditional approaches to water quality improvement through application of traditional BMPs will result in little or no change in nutrient export and minor decreases in sediment export from Corn Belt watersheds.     

A Watershed Approach to Improve Water Quality: Case Study of Clean Water Services’ Tualatin River Program1

Cochran, Bobby and Charles Logue, 2011. A Watershed Approach to Improve Water Quality: Case Study of Clean Water Services’ Tualatin River Program. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(1):29‐38. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00491.x Abstract: Over the last five years, Clean Water Services developed and implemented a program to offset thermal load discharged from its wastewater facilities to the Tualatin River by planting trees to shade streams and augmenting summertime instream flows. The program has overcome challenges facing many of the nation’s water quality trading programs to not only gain consensus on the frameworks needed to authorize trading, but also provide a broad range of ecosystem services. This paper compares the Tualatin case study with some of the commonly cited factors of successful trading programs.     

GOAL-ORIENTED AGRICULTURAL WATER QUALITY LEGISLATION1

ABSTRACT: While significant nonpoint source (NIPS) pollution control progress has been made since passage of Section 319 in the 1987 Water Quality Act, existing federal legislation does not provide for the most timely and cost-effective NIPS pollution reduction. In this paper, we use findings from the Rural Clean Water Program and other nationwide agricultural NIPS pollution control programs, building on legislative history to recommend a coordinated and efficient direction for agricultural water quality legislation. A collaborative framework should be established to accomplish the goals of the Clean Water Act (CWA), Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), and the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill. Valuable elements of the 1990 CZMA amendments that created a coastal NIPS program should be subsumed into the CWA. The CWA should reemphasize use of receiving water quality criteria and standards and should allow states flexibility to tailor basin-scale NPS program implementation to local needs. Implementation should involve targeting of NIPS pollution control efforts to critical land treatment areas and use of systems of best management practices to address these targeted water quality problems. The 1995 Farm Bill should reorient production incentives toward water quality to support the collaborative framework, implementing ecologically sound source reduction principles. The Farm Bill and the CWA should contain interrelated provisions for voluntary, incentive-assisted producer participation and fallback regulatory measures. Such coordinated national water quality and Farm Bill legislation that recognizes the need for flexibility in state implementation is supported as the most rational and cost-effective means of attaining water quality goals.     

Iowa Statewide Stream Nitrate Load Calculated Using In Situ Sensor Network

Various techniques exist to estimate stream nitrate loads when measured concentration data are sparse. The inherent uncertainty associated with load estimation, however, makes tracking progress toward water quality goals more difficult. We used high‐frequency, in situ nitrate sensors strategically deployed across the agricultural state of Iowa to evaluate 2016 stream concentrations at 60 sites and loads at 35 sites. The generated data, collected at an average of 225 days per site, show daily average nitrate‐N yields ranging from 12 to 198 g/ha, with annual yields as high as 53 kg/ha from the intensely drained Des Moines Lobe. Thirteen of the sites that capture water from 82.5% of Iowa's area show statewide nitrate‐N loading in 2016 totaled 477 million kg, or 41% of the load delivered to the Mississippi–Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB). Considering the substantial private and public investment being made to reduce nitrate loading in many states within the MARB, networks of continuous, in situ measurement devices as described here can inform efforts to track year‐to‐year changes in nitrate load related to weather and conservation implementation. Nitrate and other data from the sensor network described in this study are made publicly available in real time through the Iowa Water Quality Information System.     

ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES FOR WETLAND MANAGEMENT1

Wetlands provide a variety of ecological services, but are attractive sites for many development activities. Between the mid-1950's and mid-1970's about 550,000 acres, or about 0.5 percent, of the vegetated wetlands remaining in the conterminous states were converted to other uses each year. About 80 percent of these losses involved draining and clearing of inland wetlands for agricultural purposes. Recent reductions in national wetland conversion rates are due primarily to declining rates of agricultural drainage and secondarily to government programs that regulate wetlands use. Several governmental policies and programs exist that either encourage or discourage wetland conversions. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act is the major tool for Federal involvement in controlling the conversion of wetlands to other uses. The 404 program, in combination with State regulatory programs, is responsible for reducing annual conversions nationwide by about 50 percent of what is applied for, or 50,000 acres of wetlands per year, primarily through project modifications. Coastal wetlands are reasonably well protected. Inland, freshwater wetlands are generally poorly protected. Efforts to protect wetlands, given a set level of resources, could be improved by categorizing wetlands according to their relative importance and focusing existing wetland programs on high value wetlands.     

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES FOR AGRICULTURAL AND SILVICULTURAL NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION CONTROL IN CALIFORNIA AND WISCONSIN1

ABSTRACT: In the absence of detailed outlines such as those characteristic of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit program, Nonpoint source pollution control is being initiated in a variety of ways in different states. In California, Regional Water Quality Control Boards play a strong enforcement role in point source control, but agricultural Nonpoint source needs are still being evaluated. Tentative approval of State Board of Forestry Forest Practice Rules by the State Water Resources Control Board has the potential of bringing Nonpoint control to all State and private forestry operations in the state. Wisconsin had developed an agricultural Nonpoint control program which emphasizes a state-wide policy of selecting priority watersheds under the administration of the state Department of Natural Resources, and developing implementation programs under the guidance of local county Land Conservation Committees. The Priority Watershed program institutes BMP's with cost-share funds authorized by the legislature. Wisconsin had not seen a problem in silvicultural activities, and has developed no statewide control program in that area. Common to effective land use control in both states is a state-level policy implemented by agencies within the state. This pattern may be the model for successful programs as development of areawide management strategies continue.     

An Ex Post Evaluation of Ohio’s Great Miami Water Quality Trading Program1

Newburn, David A. and Richard T. Woodward, 2011. An Ex Post Evaluation of Ohio’s Great Miami Water Quality Trading Program. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(1): 156‐169. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00601.x Abstract: Market‐based approaches to address water quality problems have resulted in only limited success, especially in trading programs involving both point and nonpoint sources. We analyze one of the largest point‐nonpoint trading programs – the Great Miami Trading Program in Ohio, administered by the Miami Conservancy District (MCD). Our evaluation focuses on the economic and institutional aspects of the program, including cost effectiveness, efficiency of bidding, transaction costs, trading ratios, and innovation. We use a unique dataset consisting of all bids from agricultural nonpoint sources and interviews of soil and water conservation district (SWCD) agents in the watershed. We find that the MCD’s reliance on county‐level SWCD offices to recruit and advise farmers has been essential to achieve relatively high rates of farmer participation. Additionally, the MCD is able to partly free ride on the administrative costs that SWCD offices receive to assist federal conservation programs, which is helpful to lower costs for a fledgling trading program. However, the involvement of SWCD offices reduced the potential cost savings from the reverse auction structure because some agents were able to learn about the threshold price over the six rounds of bidding and help farmers bid strategically. Overall, the program structure serves as an effective model for future trading programs in other regions that seek to involve agricultural nonpoint sources.     

Reducing Nonpoint Source Pollution Through Collaboration: Policies and Programs Across the U.S. States

Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution has emerged as the largest threat to water quality in the United States, influencing policy makers and resource managers to direct more attention toward NPS prevention and remediation. In response, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) spent more than $204 million in fiscal year (FY) 2006 on the Clean Water Act’s Section 319 program to combat NPS pollution, much of it on the development and implementation of watershed-based plans. State governments have also increasingly allocated financial and technical resources to collaborative watershed efforts within their own borders to fight NPS pollution. With increased collaboration among the federal government, states, and citizens to combat NPS pollution, more information is needed to understand how public resources are being used, by whom, and for what, and what policy changes might improve effectiveness. Analysis from a 50-state study suggests that, in addition to the average 35% of all Section 319 funds per state that are passed on to collaborative watershed groups, 35 states have provided financial assistance beyond Section 319 funding to support collaborative watershed initiatives. State programs frequently provide technical assistance and training, in addition to financial resources, to encourage collaborative partnerships. Such assistance is typically granted in exchange for requirements to generate a watershed action plan and/or follow a mutually agreed upon work plan to address NPS pollution. Program managers indicated a need for greater fiscal resources and flexibility to achieve water quality goals.     

REAUTHORIZING THE CLEAN WATER ACT: LOOKING TO TANGIBLE VALUES1

ABSTRACT: The degree of progress achieved under the 1972 Clean Water Act is reviewed by reference to traditional measures of program implementation, and to evidence of tangible, or “real-world” progress, such as beach closures, drinking water contamination, fishing bans and advisories, species health, and habitat degradation. Significant progress has been made in reducing pollution from point sources, but large point source releases of toxic and other pollutants remain. Little progress has been made in addressing runoff pollution, and in protecting aquatic habitats. Clean Water Act reauthorization should focus on pollution prevention to reduce further the release of toxics by point sources, a new program of mandatory but flexible controls on sources of runoff, and watershed protection programs to promote habitat protection and restoration. Economic factors should be considered in Clean Water Act programs, but must be balanced against scientific and governmental factors as well.     

Tasmanian landowner preferences for conservation incentive programs: a latent class approach

An empirical model of landowners' conservation incentive program choice is developed in which information about landowners' socio-economic and property characteristics and their attitudes, is combined with incentive program attributes. In a Choice survey landowners were presented with the choice of two incentive programs modelled as 'bundles of attributes' mimicking a voluntary choice scenario. Landowner behaviour and decision and the type of conditions and regulations they preferred were analyzed. Based on choice survey data, landowner heterogeneity was accounted for using a latent class approach to estimate the preference parameters. Three latent classes of landowners with different attitudes to the role and outcome of establishing conservation reserves on private land were identified: multi-objective owners; environment owners; and production owners. Only a small proportion of landowners, mostly environment owners, would voluntarily join a program. Although compensation funding contributed to voluntary program choice for multi-objective owners and environment owners, welfare losses were around 4000 AUD per hectare, which is less than the average agricultural land value in Tasmania. Landowners for whom compensation funding contributed to voluntary program choice were also most likely to set aside land for conservation without payment. This raises the possibility that the government's compensation expenditure could potentially be either reduced or re-allocated to landowners who will not voluntarily take conservation action. Increasing participation in conservation incentive programs and minimizing the welfare losses associated with meeting conservation targets may be best achieved by offering programs that allow flexibility in terms of legal arrangements and other program attributes.     

THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL GROUNDWATER CONSERVATION IN ACHIEVING ZERO OVERDRAFT IN ARIZONA1

ABSTRACT: The elimination of groundwater overdraft was a key feature of the 1980 Arizona Groundwater Management Act. To achieve this goal, the Arizona Department of Water Resources identified several Active Management Areas and developed urban, industrial, and agricultural water conservation plans. This study examines the reductions in groundwater use through agricultural water conservation in the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA). Linear programming models are developed to analyze changes in groundwater use and net returns to agriculture over a 38-year period, 1990 to 2025, for farming areas in the Phoenix AMA. Results indicate that the agricultural conservation program provides only modest groundwater savings under a wide range of scenarios. The low level of savings is partly due to the current economically efficient use of water. Other policy measures such as retiring agricultural land may be necessary if the Phoenix AMA is to meet its overdraft reduction goals; even if urban water conservation goals are met.     

Forest Ecosystem Services and Eco-Compensation Mechanisms in China

Forests are a major terrestrial ecosystem providing multiple ecosystem services. However, the importance of forests is frequently underestimated from an economic perspective because of the externalities and public good properties of these services. Forest eco-compensation is a transfer mechanism that serves to internalize the externalities of forest ecosystem services by compensating individuals or companies for the losses or costs resulting from the provision of these services. China’s current forest eco-compensation system is centered mainly on noncommercial forest. The primary measures associated with ecosystem services are (1) a charge on destructive activities, such as indiscriminate logging, and (2) compensation for individual or local activities and investments in forest conservation. The Compensation Fund System for Forest Ecological Benefits was first listed in the Forest Law of the People’s Republic of China in 1998. In 2004, the Central Government Financial Compensation Fund, an important source for the Compensation Fund for Forest Ecological Benefits, was formally established. To improve the forest eco-compensation system, it is crucial to design and establish compensation criteria for noncommercial forests. These criteria should take both theoretical and practical concerns into account, and they should be based on the quantitative valuation of ecosystem services. Although some initial headway has been made on this task, the implementation of an effective forest eco-compensation system in China still has deficiencies and still faces problems. Implementing classification-based and dynamic management for key noncommercial forests and establishing an eco-compensation mechanism with multiple funding sources in the market economy are the key measures needed to conquer these problems and improve the forest eco-compensation system and China’s forestry development in sequence.     

Where Did the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Trades Go? Lessons from Virginia Water Quality Trading Programs

Governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and agricultural organizations promote water quality trading programs as an innovative policy to engage agricultural producers in conservation activities. Cost analyses suggest regulated sources can reduce compliance costs by purchasing agricultural nonpoint source credits. Yet, such “point‐nonpoint” trades are rare. This article assesses the demand for agricultural nonpoint sources in well‐developed nutrient trading programs in Virginia for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants, municipal stormwater programs, and land developers. Evidence suggests nutrient trading programs in Virginia will not stimulate investments in pollutant reduction practices on working agricultural lands. The lack of demand for agricultural nonpoint source credits can be attributed to a substantial degree to the design features and incentives present in multiple overlapping regulatory programs. The legal setting that dampens regulated source demand for nonpoint source credits in Virginia is broadly representative of conditions found elsewhere in the United States.     

Water Prism: A Tool to Assess Water Availability Risk and Investigate Water Management Strategies

Water availability risk is a local issue best understood with watershed‐scale quantification of both withdrawal and consumptive demands in the context of available supply. Collectively, all water use sectors must identify, understand, and respond to this risk. A highly visual and computationally robust decision support tool, Water Prism, quantitatively explores mitigation responses to water risk on both a facility‐level and basin‐aggregated basis. Water Prism examines a basin water balance for a 40‐ to 60‐year planning horizon, distinguishes among water use sectors, and accounts for ecosystem water needs. The 2012 Texas State Water Plan was used to apply Water Prism to the Big Cypress‐Sulphur Basin (Texas). The case study showed Water Prism to be an accurate and convenient tool to provide fine‐scale understanding of water use in the context of available supply, evaluate multi‐sector combinations of conservation strategies, and quantify the effects of future demands and water availability. Analyses demonstrated water availability risks for rivers and reservoirs can vary within a basin and must be calculated independently, simulation of water balance conditions can help illuminate potential impacts of increasing demands, and scenario simulations can be used to evaluate relative conservation efficacy of different water resource management strategies for each sector. Based on case study findings, Water Prism can serve as a useful assessment tool for regional water planners.     

Conservation‐Induced Wastewater Flow Reductions Improve Nitrogen Removal: Evidence from New York City1

Abstract: Water resources are under increasing pressure to meet potable supply needs while sustaining aquatic ecosystems and fisheries. Growing populations and enforcement of the Total Maximum Daily Load provisions of the Clean Water Act present public water and wastewater utilities with costly options to meet potable water demands and reduce pollutant discharges into receiving waters. This paper documents that New York City’s comprehensive water conservation program – designed to extend the city’s safe yield of potable water—has also resulted in reduced nitrogen discharges from the city’s water pollution control plants during a period of population increases. This paper demonstrates and quantifies the effects that wastewater inflow volume reductions have on increased nitrogen removal, controlling for plant process changes. Conservation programs have saved the city billions of dollars in delayed or avoided capital improvements to both water and wastewater treatment plants, and have enabled the city to meet interim effluent discharge standards.