Organizing an information program for nonpoint pollution control

Excerpt

SCCESSFUL implementation of nonpoint-source pollution control projects depends in large measure on public information programs to inform participants and to create public awareness in communities where the programs operate. While there is a wealth of experience about the role of information in adoption of individual farm practices, much less is known about how an information program encourages adoption of best management practices (BMPs) in targeted watersheds to accomplish specific water quality objectives.

The Wisconsin experience

Information programs for communitywide water quality projects, particularly nonpoint-source pollution abatement, are in a pioneering stage. Much remains to be learned. Some early experience comes out of Wisconsin, one of the first states to implement a statewide nonpoint-source pollution abatement program.

Wisconsin's legislature in 1978 created the Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Abatement Program (known as the Wisconsin Fund). Under the program, four or five new watersheds are selected annually until a total of about 125 are funded. Participation is voluntary. Contracts are signed during a three-year period, and implementation must occur within five years after signup. Government cost-sharing averages 70 percent.

The first five projects funded included four rural watersheds and one urban watershed. The five watersheds covered …