Agricultural nonpoint pollution control: A time for sticks?

Excerpt

Fifteen years ago, agricultural nonpoint pollution seemed like conservation's ticket into the rapidly growing environmental movement. Controlling sediment and runoff from cropland and livestock operations was a tall order for sure. But the magnitude of nonpoint pollution problems enabled conservationists to tap the public's enthusiasm for cleaning up the nation's water in a way that reinforced traditional goals of wise land management.

More importantly, at a time when regulation was a common response to environmental problems, the farm and conservation communities got agriculture off the hook by insisting that the tried and true voluntary system of conservation could be successfully adapted for the non-point pollution problem. Research, education, planning, technical assistance, and cost-sharing-the federal-state-conservation district triad- were repackaged as agriculture's response to its most serious ecological problem. Leery of tangling with farmers and their powerful friends in Washington, policymakers bought the approach.

Today, it is clear that the voluntary approach has proven to be a slow boat on waters that remain polluted with sediment, nutrients, and pesticides. The 208 planning process, mandated by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments a decade back, is more or less …