In 1997, New York City adopted a mammoth watershed agreement to protect its drinking water and avoid filtration of its large upstate surface water supply. Shortly thereafter, the NRC began an analysis of the agreement's scientific validity. The resulting book finds New York City's watershed agreement to be a good template for proactive watershed management that, if properly implemented, will maintain high water quality. However, it cautions that the agreement is not a guarantee of permanent filtration avoidance because of changing regulations, uncertainties regarding pollution sources, advances in treatment technologies, and natural variations in watershed conditions. The book recommends that New York City place its highest priority on pathogenic microorganisms in the watershed and direct its resources toward improving methods for detecting pathogens, understanding pathogen transport and fate, and demonstrating that best management practices will remove pathogens. Other recommendations, which are broadly applicable to surface water supplies across the country, target buffer zones, stormwater management, water quality monitoring, and effluent trading.

Provides all new material on urban, industrial, and highway pollution, as well as on management and restoration of streams, lakes, and watershed management techniques. * Includes revised chapters on agricultural diffuse pollution; control of urban, highway, and industrial diffuse pollution; and wetlands considerations. * All regulatory data is up to date, with new material provided on judicial law based on significant decisions made in recent years.

Pollution Control for Agriculture, Second Edition describes approaches adaptable to the treatment, disposal, and management of agricultural wastes, incorporating full-scale technologies, concepts, data, and operating systems. The book also discusses energy conservation, natural resource utilization, and nonpoint source control. Examples of problems attributable to agriculture include unbalanced natural ecological systems and increased eutrophication from waste disposal practices. Other problems include the depletion of dissolved oxygen in surface water, and impurities in groundwater from improper waste disposals on land. The text notes that understanding the characteristics of these wastes leads to more effective disposal methods and treatment. For example, biological treatment is preferred for liquid waste that contain dissolved organic solids, while incineration or composting is appropriate for solid waste with a high organic content. The book also lists the options that can be chosen to control agricultural nonpoint sources, the best of which is by planning and management practices that regulate the source and delivery of nonpoint pollutants, These practices will limit nonpoint pollutants from reaching their destinations (surface water or groundwater). The text also emphasizes the need for a balance between the extremes of agricultural production, profit motives, and environmental concerns. The book is suitable for agriculturists, economists, environmentalists, ecologists, and policy makers involved in food production, environmental safety, and health issues.