Excerpt
THE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made steady progress toward attaining the nation's water quality goals since passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. Much of this forward movement has been accomplished by controlling industrial and municipal point sources of pollution. Further progress will require accelerated implementation of nonpoint-source management programs, in addition to ongoing point-source control efforts.
Many states and local governments have already taken steps to address their nonpoint-source challenges. Indeed, state and local management of nonpoint-source programs is the key to achieving water quality objectives. Only at these levels is there enough flexibility to make site-specific and source-specific decisions that really work.
EPA and other federal agencies have an important policy role to play, of course. EPA provides national coordination, oversight, technical assistance, and information transfer; the agency also supports research and development. We are intensifying our efforts in each of these areas. In addition, a Federal/State Nonpoint-Source Task Force has developed policy and strategy recommendations that will give direction to future initiatives by federal, state, and local agencies. The nonpoint-source project of the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators …
Footnotes
Lee M. Thomas is the acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460.
- Copyright 1985 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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