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SURROUNDED BY WATER, POLLUTION, AND SOLUTIONS By Kari Jermansen, Special Contributor to Real Mama, Inc.,


The Quick Facts: For many of us on the East Coast, it is almost beach season. What better way to spend time with your kids and families than splashing in the surf? However, many people are not aware of how clean the water is in which they swim, boat, and fish. For example, a single gram of dog feces that washes off streets and other surfaces into a river or the ocean contains 23 million fecal coliform - a type of bacteria that can contribute to health problems for swimmers and lead to beach closings. Ocean water usually looks clean and refreshing. However, it is the ultimate resting place for any and all pollution from upstream sources. This Spring and Summer make a day at the beach, river, or lake an opportunity to introduce kids to the importance of water in our lives and to teach them to understand that activities on land often affect water quality downstream.

Did you know that water covers three quarters of the Earth’s surface? Of that amount of water, over 97 percent is saltwater that is found in the world’s oceans. A mere three percent is freshwater, most of which is not readily available for human use.

Indeed, we are surrounded by water, yet we fail to see how our everyday activities threaten this limited resource. In fact, 40 percent of America’s rivers, lakes, and estuaries are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. Further downstream in our oceans, recent reports from the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission show that our oceans are in crisis due to pollution and other threats.

Yet, often unaware of the reality, we expect water to be clean and ready for use everyday.

Pollution Abounds
In the United States, the most significant source of water pollution is nonpoint source pollution. This type of pollution comes from many different sources: agriculture, construction, leaky septic systems, faulty sewage pipes, and stormwater runoff of rain and snowmelt. The combined effect of the various sources of nonpoint source pollution is degraded waterways and water supplies.

Imagine the path taken by a drop of rain from the time it hits the ground to when it reaches a river, groundwater, or the ocean. Any pollutant it picks up on its journey becomes part of the nonpoint source pollution problem. Rain and snowmelt wash pollutants off land surfaces (i.e., roads, driveways, sidewalks, rooftops, farms, lawns, and gardens) and into nearby waterbodies or storm drains (i.e., metal grates in roads and parking lots). In many areas of the United States, storm drains directly wash into nearby waterways untreated! This polluted runoff contains fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, oil, grease, animal and pet wastes (which contain bacteria and viruses), salts, heavy metals, litter, sediment, and toxic chemicals. In other areas of the country, stormwater and raw sewage travel in the same pipes to a treatment plant—called a combined sewer overflow (CSO) system. However, when rain or snowmelt overwhelms the treatment system, sometimes after only one-quarter of an inch of precipitation, raw sewage is combined with stormwater runoff and is directly dumped into nearby waterways!

As a result, nonpoint source pollution threatens aquatic and marine life, recreational water activities, commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, public health, drinking water resources, and the natural beauty of habitats. Specifically, nonpoint source pollution:

Consider these nonpoint source pollution facts:

Nonpoint source pollution is unhealthy for wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, and also presents a health risk for people going to the beach to surf and swim. Some of the health effects encountered by people who swim in polluted waters may include:

Public health can also be affected by toxic algae blooms that thrive on excess nutrients from fertilizers that wash into our waterways

Solutions are Around Us
In the past decade, the United States has made some progress in addressing nonpoint source pollution. At the Federal level, nonpoint source pollution control programs were established by the 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act. At the state level, many states have individual state programs to control this threat to water quality. However, enforcement of these laws and programs can only go so far, and much of the solution lies with people of all ages, whose activities and behavior often create and perpetuate this pollution problem. Fortunately, we all can gain the knowledge and use our power to be the solutions.

Simple New Habits Can Help
It has been said that old habits are hard to break. Perhaps not. Much like we are surrounded by water and, unfortunately, pollution, we are surrounded by simple ways to reduce pollution in our waters—the lifeblood of this planet. It’s as simple as not littering and dumping oil and grease onto streets or into storm drains. It’s as simple as bringing a bag with you to pick up your pet’s waste, taking it home, and flushing it down a toilet. It’s as simple as eliminating or limiting the use of fertilizers and pesticides, especially before a rainstorm.

In addition to these easy solutions, there are many alternatives available for your household and lawn and garden activities that ensure healthier waters for now and future generations (visit the resources listed below for more ideas). Better yet, go a step further and adopt more eco-friendly behaviors and habits, and encourage family members, students, fellow employees, employers, and church/synagogue members to join the challenge. Children are the leaders of tomorrow and can learn the value of clean water, a lesson they can carry with them for life. Just as many different sources contribute to the problem of nonpoint source pollution, individual efforts by many different citizens can help reduce water pollution and make a difference.

People have individual responsibilities to respect, care for, and safeguard our water resources. Each person can and must be the solution to pollution. Being surrounded by water is no excuse for polluting it. Don’t let clean water and the solutions to pollution go down the drain.

Special Contributor to Real Mama, Inc., Kari Jermansen is Outreach Director for Clean Ocean Action, an ocean advocacy organization that works to improve and protect marine water quality off the New York and New Jersey coast. Kari educates citizens, organizations, and elected officials about ocean pollution issues and engages them in actions and campaigns to advocate and promote solutions. Kari obtained a Master of Science degree with a concentration in Environmental Policy from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Alfred University with dual majors in Environmental Studies and Political Science. Kari resides in Eatontown, NJ, and enjoys swimming, hiking, traveling, and singing.

Information used in this article was found at the following sources, which you can visit if you want to find out more about this topic:

www.nrdc.org/water (Natural Resources Defense Council: For issues and actions on water quality issues (beaches, drinking water, oceans, and conservation and restoration)

www.oceancommission.gov (US Commission on Ocean Policy: A 16 member commission issued a report in 2004 that made recommendations for a coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy to the US President and Congress. The report’s recommendations for decisive and immediate action to carry out the recommendations, which will halt the steady decline of the nation’s oceans and coasts.)

www.pewoceans.org (Pew Oceans Commission: A commission that issued a report in 2003 on the state of the oceans, “America’s Living Oceans: Charting a Course for Sea Change.” Includes review of ocean pollution sources.)

www.cleanoceanaction.org (Clean Ocean Action: A nonprofit ocean advocacy organization with the mission “to improve the water quality of the marine waters off the New Jersey/New York coast…by [identifying] the sources of pollution and [mounting] an attack on each source by using research, public education, and citizen action.” Information about nonpoint source pollution and tips to help reduce this pollution in daily life can be found under the links for “Education” and “Nonpoint Source Pollution” and “10 Tips Series.”)

www.oceanconservancy.org (The Ocean Conservancy: A source of information and actions regarding ocean pollution. Click “runoff pollution” in issues menu.)

www.americanrivers.org (American Rivers: Provides factsheets and information on water pollution and relevant laws, as well as important current issues and actions.)

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html (USGS Water Resources Outreach Program: Provides numbers, tables, and charts for the amount and location of water on Earth.

http://www.nsta.org/main/news/pdf/sc0202_26.pdf (“The Diminishing Apple”: A lesson for all ages about the amount and distribution of the Earth’s natural resources.)

www.surfrider.org (Surfrider Foundation: Includes information about ocean pollution issues, sources, and actions. Learn about the Blue Water Task Force, the organization’s water monitoring program.)

www.epa.gov/OWOW/NPS (US Environmental Protection Agency: Information and factsheets about nonpoint source pollution and other water pollution issues.)

www.njstormwater.org (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection: Information about stormwater runoff.)

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