| Water
quality issues are coming to bear on every aspect of societal
land use. Thirty-plus years after passage of the Clean Water
Act, we are still faced with degraded water quality.
Approximately
80 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of an impaired
waterway. What is an impaired waterway? It’s a river,
lake or stream that, because of pollution levels, is not
meeting water quality standards for its designated use,
such as fishing, swimming or as a drinking water source.
Through
regulations and permitting, most point sources of pollution
have reduced contaminated effluents to as low as technology
will allow. Point-source pollution generally comes from
the wastewater discharged from the pipes of industrial facilities
and municipal sewage treatment plants. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the major remaining
source of water quality impairment is from nonpoint source
pollution. These sources include stormwater runoff from
forestry operations; row crop, pasture, and range agriculture;
lawns and gardens; roads, highways, and parking lots; as
well as natural areas.
Urban
sprawl and its accompanying increase in impervious surface
area and improved drainage put an increasing burden on natural
floodplains and coastal areas. According to the Pews Ocean
Commission (2003), sprawling development in the coastal
areas of the U.S. is consuming land at five times the rate
of population growth. And, coastal counties, which comprise
17 percent of the land area, are inhabited by over half
of the U.S. population. In order to maintain and restore
water quality, it will take an effort by all land use interests
within each watershed.
One
of the major issues facing urban/residential areas is the
management of stormwater runoff.
There
are two consequences of urban sprawl concerning stormwater
– water quality and water quantity. Simply, what this
means is that as we sprawl out from the urban areas into
the rural countryside, the amount of impervious surfaces
increase and improved drainage carries stormwater away from
areas which previously stored and infiltrated water. This
increases the risk of flooding to residential and business
properties. Also, the inability of runoff waters to contact
vegetation and soil increases the amount of pollutants it
carries, such as nutrients, sediment and pathogens. This
situation is not unique to our area, but is a common occurrence
nationwide.
Population
densities in other parts of the country have reached critical
levels before coastal Louisiana, so they have had to deal
with these issues through ordinances, building codes and
implementation of best management practices (BMP’s)
for urban stormwater. We are approaching population densities
and sprawl which will require action. This is indicated
by the many municipal and parish areas listed on the Stormwater
Phase II permitting requirements. In the near future coastal
Louisiana communities will see an increased focus on stormwater
management, development of ordinances to reduce nonpoint
pollution and implementation of best management practices.
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