The conservation district role in nonpoint pollution control

Excerpt

CONCERN for the nation's water resources has been an integral part of conservation district programs from their inception in the late 1930s. Hugh Bennett's philosophy, as expressed to a congressional committee in 1945, was and still is a basic tenet of districts:

“The only way in which water pollution due to erosion silt can be effectively controlled is by the adoption of soil- and water-conservation practices applied in accordance with the needs and capabilities of the land.”

Despite this recognized connection between erosion control and water quality, as well as the extended activities of many districts during the 1960s and early 1970s to respond to evolving community needs with respect to sediment control for water quality purposes, the conservation district role in agricultural nonpoint-source pollution did not come about easily. Not until passage of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (P.L. 92-500) and not until the nonpoint aspects of water pollution were identified as a national priority by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did conservation districts begin to incorporate water quality objectives into their local program goals.

This effort began in 1973 when EPA made …