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GRASPING FOR SOLUTIONS - While many states are failing to protect rivers and watersheds from polluted runoff, some communities are taking matters into their own hands - diffuse pollution threatens American waterways
National Wildlife, April-May, 2001 by Joby Warrick
"None of us were environmental maniacs, but we all wanted a healthy creek," says local resident Mike Miller. "What we kept hearing was we had to look at the entire watershed. We had to make sure we didn't have problems upstream that would blow out what we were doing downstream."
For other watersheds, cleanup progress has been maddeningly slow. Neighbors of Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border, for example, still have little to cheer about after nearly 40 years of efforts to restore the lake's famous crystal clarity.
Tahoe is North America's largest alpine lake and the eighth-deepest freshwater body in the world. A century ago, its waters were so pure a visitor could see objects at depths of more than 100 feet. But runaway development in recent decades brought changes that sullied the lake's waters.
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Today the maximum depth for visibility has dropped to 69 feet and is worsening at a rate of a foot a year. A study last year warned the lake's clarity could be "irreversibly doomed," and many of its fish and wildlife lost, without a dramatic restoration effort.
Attempts to curb runoff at Tahoe are now underway. Local authorities from communities along the lake have adopted some of the nation's toughest curbs on runoff, requiring landowners to, for example, install water traps and overflow tanks to prevent rainwater from leaving their property. But even with such measures, it may be years before significant improvements are seen.
"There's no easy fix for these problems," says Murray. "But in a lot of communities, people are coming up with workable solutions. It makes you wonder: What's holding back the states from doing the same?"
NWF Priority: Safeguarding America's Watersheds
The above map shows the results of an NWF assessment conducted last year of state efforts to control nonpoint pollution using the watershed-restoration provision of the Clean Water Act. In the study, NWF assigned a grade of "D" or "F" to 38 states. A dozen others earned a "C" or "B," and no state received an "A." "There are other tools to control runoff," says Kari Dolan, an NWF water resources specialist. "However, because many sources of polluted runoff are industries with political might, some states lack the leadership to confront them. That is why the Clean Water Act restoration provision is essential."
The study is part of NWF's ongoing Saving Our Watersheds program, designed to provide citizens with an understanding of how watersheds work and what tools are available to help protect local lakes, rivers and estuaries. NWF currently is working with activists and scientists on specific watershed projects throughout the country, including:
* In Vermont and New York, NWF is part of a team creating a cleanup plan for a polluted river in the Lake Champlain Basin. NWF also initiated an effort to reduce mercury and polluted runoff in the lake.
* In Alaska, NWF is working with Native organizations and other environmental groups to defend the vast Copper River Delta against logging, mining and other water-quality threats.
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