The Rural Voice, 1980-08, Page 5Our polluted
Great Lakes
How much does agriculture
add to the problem?
BY HERB SHOVELLER
When discussions of water pollution arise it seems we are
most inclined to identify the sources in large centres where paper
production, mining and smelting, high urban concentrations or
other industrial complexes are prominent.
These centres are described as point sources because they are
easy to identify and a great deal of attention was directed at
rectifying their contributions to pollution.
Recently, however, there has been a growing awareness of the
contribution to water quality deterioration from non -point
sources. Specifically, it is concerned with water pollution as a
result of agricultural practices.
The growing awareness of pollution from farming activities
was at least partially inspired by the work of the International
Reference Group on Great Lakes Pollution From Land Use
Activities (PLUARG), which conducted its work under the
auspices of the International Joint Commission (LJC) which is
based in Windsor.
INDIVIDUALLY SMALL SOURCES
Reports from PLUARG,which initiated its studies in the fall of
1977 and ended formally about a year later, say "nonpoint
pollution differs from that of industrial plants and municipal
sewage treatment plants (point sources) in that the former
results from a large number of diffuse sources often producing
individually small, but cumulatively significant, quantities of
pollution."
The contribution of nonpoint sources is especially significant in
the agriculturally rich region of southwestern Ontario which
borders on three of the Great Lakes, Huron, Erie and Ontario.
For measures of nonpoint loads in the Great Lakes, it was
discovered that cropland was the major source. This can be
attributed to two causes. First is the high density of row crops in
the area and the second is the fine grained clay soils which are
common in the southern part of the province and in several of the
northern American states.
Both of these factors, if not carefully attended, result in soil
erosion and poor drainage of land. Through erosion a variety of
agricultural wastes from livestock, fertilizers, pesticides and
insecticides make their way into the water system and much of it
eventually ends up in the lakes.
Hans Feldman, who farms in Wallace township in the north of
Perth County, has been interested in the problem of erosion
since well before groups like PLUARG focussed greater attention
on it.
"Pollution can be cleaned up one way or another, at a cost,"
he says, "but erosion is an ongoing process. You can't avoid
erosion, but you can limit it.
"The biggest source of pollution is too huge a concentration of
Hans Feldman, who devoted a great deal of time to
Investigating the erosion problem, looks over one of the
PLUARG reports. (Photo by Shoveller)
THE RURAL VOICE/AUGUST 1980 PG. 3