As the new home of WISPIRG's environmental work, Wisconsin Environment can be contacted with any questions regarding this news release.
The following opinion editorial, written by WISPIRG's Kerry Schumann, appeared in the Milwaukee Business Journal and the Capital Times.
After
almost three years of drafts and revisions, public comment and private
conversations, politics and policy, the state of Wisconsin is poised to
take action against runoff pollution - the state's number one water
quality problem. But, despite vocal public and scientific support for
strong standards to prevent polluted runoff, the Department of Natural
Resources recently weakened the rules by eliminating one of the most
important components of curbing runoff pollution - mandatory natural
vegetative buffers.
In
recent years, the real estate boom, new road construction, and changes
in agriculture have combined to threaten our waterways by allowing a
toxic soup of pesticides, animal wastes, motor oil, fertilizer, and
dozens of other pollutants to contaminate at least 40% of our streams,
90% of our lakes, our Great Lakes coastal waters, and much of our
groundwater.
This
indirect pollution is called run-off, because the pollutants aren't
discharged from a pipe, but are washed by rain and snow over the land,
or asphalt, as the case may be, into the water. Beyond sending
pollutants into rivers and lakes, runoff also causes soil to erode into
waterways, killing aquatic plants and animals. It's time to clean it up.
In
many ways, we commend the DNR for taking action to curb polluted
runoff. The DNR's proposal addresses runoff from construction sites,
roadways, farmland and urban areas. However, by weakening the standards
for natural buffers for farmland, DNR staff created a gaping loophole
in the proposed rules.
The
use of natural vegetative buffers between farmland, construction sites,
roads and waterways is a key component to stopping contaminated runoff
and excess sediment from reaching lakes, rivers and streams, as well as
creating habitat for wildlife and moderating stream temperatures. While
the DNR plans to require adequate buffers between waterways and urban
land uses such as construction sites and roads, the agency has weakened
standards for buffers between farmland and waterways.
In
a December 27 press release, DNR staff claimed that mandatory buffers
will result in a loss of federal money for voluntary buffers. While
that may be true, federal money will only cover the cost of creating
buffers for less then 50% of Wisconsin's rivers and streams, making it
imperative that the DNR have a plan for mandating the practice for the
remainder of our waterways.
The
solution we propose is to phase in mandatory natural buffers over a
number of years, focusing first on rivers and streams that are most
heavily polluted by runoff and those that are most pristine. This
phase-in would ensure that Wisconsin was eligible for federal dollars
under the federal voluntary buffer program, but we would also be
situated to finish installing buffers after the federal money ran out.
We
agree with the DNR that the width of natural buffers is very important.
Scientific studies have shown that natural buffers between farmland and
rivers and streams need to be at least 30 feet wide in order to
adequately protect the waterways. Many studies conclude that a
vegetative buffer as wide as 100 feet is best for protecting water
quality. Buffers that are between 20 and 30 feet in width may be
adequate as long as there is an additional area that is not loose soil,
but rather contains some amount of plant growth.
The
Natural Resources Board will be voting on the proposed runoff rules on
January 23rd. We hope that they will choose to support clean water by
reinstating mandatory buffers through a phase in program.
One
thing is certain, without natural buffers along waterways throughout
Wisconsin, runoff pollution will continue to contaminate our rivers and
streams.
