This book deals with voluntary approaches between farmers and water suppliers as an instrument to meet environmental standards, impacted by agricultural activities, more economically efficient and environmentally effective than by exclusive application of alternative instruments including command-and-control approaches. The book is based largely on the results of the research project 'Co-operative Agreements in Agriculture as an Instrument to Improve the Economic Efficiency and Economic Effectiveness of the European Water Policy', which was supplemented for specific issues by key experts. The research was partly funded by the European Commission under the Specific RTD Programme in the Field of Environment and Climate (Contract No. ENV4-CT98-0782) and partly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries in the Netherlands, the Environment Agency in England and Wales, the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the Government of the German Bundesland North Rhine Westphalia. Additional funds for preparing the book were obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries in the Netherlands. The financial and technical support received from the different organisations is gratefully acknowledged. The editors appreciate very much the efforts the authors have made in preparing their contributions for the book and for the secretarial assistance provided by Mrs. Tessa van Dongen from LEI who took responsibility for guiding the publication process and preparing the chapters of the book. We also appreciate the support given by Mrs. Henny Hoogervorst and Mrs. Gloria Verhey (Kluwer Academic Publishers).

Water pollution control has been a top environmental policy priority of the world’s most developed countries for decades, and the focus of significant regulation and public and private spending. Yet, significant water quality problems remain, and trends for some pollutants are in the wrong direction. This book addresses the economics of water pollution control and water pollution control policy in agriculture, with an aim towards providing students, environmental policy analysts, and other environmental professionals with economic concepts and tools essential to understanding the problem and crafting solutions that can be effective and efficient. The book will also examine existing policies and proposed reforms in the developed world. Although this book addresses and has a general applicability to major water pollutants from agriculture (e.g., pesticides, pharmaceuticals, sediments, nutrients), it will focus on the sediment and nutrient pollution problem. The economic and scientific foundations for pollution management are best developed for these pollutants, and they are currently the top priorities of policy makers. Accordingly, the authors provide both highly salient and informative cases for developing concepts and methods of general applicability, with high profile examples such as the Chesapeake Bay, Lake Erie, and the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone in the US; the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe; and Lake Taupo in New Zealand.

When waterfowl began to die from selenium poisoning at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in California's San Joaquin Valley, considerable alarm arose among environmental and agricultural specialists. This new volume suggests that Kesterson is not a unique problem and the events there offer important lessons for the future. Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems uses the San Joaquin experience to suggest how we can prepare for similar problems elsewhere. As one committee member put it, "There will be elsewheres"â€"trace elements and organic contaminants are being concentrated by irrigation in many river basins. This book addresses how the Kesterson crisis developed, how irrigation can endanger water quality, and how economic, legal, and other factors impede our ability to respond to water quality problems. The committee explores how to study these problems, unraveling complex issues and clarifying the varying perspectives of farmers, environmentalists, scientists, and other key figures. This dispassionate analysis of a controversial topic will be useful to policymakers, resource managers, and agricultural specialists and farmers, as well as specialists in hydrology, water quality, irrigation, law, and environmental quality. It will also be useful as a case study in the environmental policy classroom.

This comprehensive text provides a concise overview of environmental problems caused by agriculture, (such as pesticide pollution and increased nitrate levels) and offers practical solutions to them. It is well illustrated and contains a fully-referenced introduction to the main contemporary agricultural pollution issues in the UK. It will help provide clear, scientific and technical understanding of the most important sources of agricultural pollution.