What is nonpoint source pollution?
Rain falls, moves over rocks and streets and fields or sinks into the earth. Depending on its path, it might pick up pathogens from pig or rat dung from high in the forest. Or it might encounter oil from a parking lot, an underground cocktail of petroleum products left at a military site, or pesticides locked into agricultural soils. The list can go on to include every disease organism, chemical, heavy metal, invasive species, sediment, nutrient, pesticide, or waste product the rain might carry to sea. If these things accumulate excessively in streams and coastal water, they can increase the risk of human disease, of coral-threatening algae blooms, of fish kills, and of destroyed aquatic habitat.
As the state Department of Health says in its Implementation Plan to Control Polluted Runoff, “Since nonpoint source pollution results from how we choose to use our land and the activities we conduct, we all hold the key to its prevention.”
What agencies have a role in its regulation?
Federal: Recognizing the need for greater federal leadership to focus nonpoint source efforts, Congress amended the Clean Water Act in 1987 to establish the section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Program. The Environmental Protection Agency oversees this program, under which states, territories, and Indian tribes receive grant money for nonpoint source control activities.
The Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program (Section 6217) addresses problems in coastal waters, and requires states with Coastal Zone Management Programs (including Hawai’i) to develop Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs. This program is administered jointly with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
State: The Department of Health and the Office of Planning both play a role in managing nonpoint source pollution. The DOH receives its funding and direction from the Clean Water Act, while the Coastal Zone Reauthorization Amendments govern and fund the state Office of Planning’s coastal zone management activities.
The DOH’s Clean Water Branch protects the health of coastal and inland waters for humans, marine life, and wildlife. It manages state waters through issuance of permits, water monitoring, enforcement, sponsorship of runoff control projects, and education.
Within the DOH’s Clean Water Branch is the Polluted Runoff Control Program. This program administers grants and programs to improve water quality for waters affected by nonpoint source control.
County: The departments of Public Works and of Planning in Kaua’i, Maui, and Hawai’i counties can all issues permits and implement ordinances that control runoff. The Department of Environmental Services and the Department of Planning and Permitting perform these functions in the City and County of Honolulu.
What groups have organized to address nonpoint source pollution, and what are they doing?
Many groups have formed to protect or restore specific areas throughout Hawai’i, though they do not always specifically address nonpoint source pollution. Even so, they work to control it. ‘Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi, for example, which is dedicated to caring for Kawainui Marsh, has done water quality testing and wetland restoration, but also addresses cultural and archaeological issues.
These groups often overlap and help one another. ‘Ahahui has worked with the Kailua Bay Advisory Council, which addresses nonpoint source pollution in windward O’ahu.
Here is a sampling of DOH Section 319(h) grant recipients:
- The Moloka’i-Lana’i Soil and Water Conservation District installed more than 16,000 feet of fencing to exclude livestock and wildlife from the Wai’ahewahewa watershed on Moloka’i, and planted ground cover in steep areas, constructed terraces and smoothed land to improve drainage. “Overall, it is estimated that the project was successful in reducing soil loss by 382 tons per year,” a DOH report states.
- The Ala Wai Canal Watershed Improvement Project is designed to restore the Ala Wai watershed, which drains into the state’s “most polluted water body,” the Ala Wai Canal. The program oversees more than 16 projects, including stream cleanups, taro lo`i demonstration and restoration projects at schools, streambank restoration near Kaimuki High School, dumping mitigation at Tantalus, restoration of Kaneloa wetlands at Kapi`olani Park, water quality monitoring training for McKinley High School students, and storm drain filter installations at Ala Moana.
- Pacific Islands Sustainable Community Ecosystems (PISCES) received a DOH grant to demonstrate best management practices in the Nawiliwili Bay watershed. PISCES held a watershed festival and a water quality workshop and began a volunteer community water quality monitoring program and watershed committee to help development of a Watershed Restoration Action Strategy for Nawiliwili Bay.
- Although its work goes far beyond nonpoint source pollution, Friends of He’eia State Park has tried to prevent pollution from entering Kane’ohe Bay through He’eia Stream by removing mangroves and experimenting with native plant species to see which will flourish best along the stream. The Friends of He’eia conducts regular water quality monitoring.
Volume 14, Number 3 September 2003
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