Reforming Agricultural Nonpoint Pollution Policy in an Increasingly Budget-Constrained Environment

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 1316 - 1325
• Main Authors: Shortle, James S, Ribaudo, Marc, Horan, Richard D, Blandford, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 07.02.2012
• Subjects: agricultural runoff; agricultural watersheds; Agriculture; Agriculture - economics; Agriculture - legislation & jurisprudence; Agriculture - methods; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Applied sciences; best management practices; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation; Conservation of Natural Resources; Conservation of Natural Resources - economics; Conservation of Natural Resources - legislation & jurisprudence; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; conservation programs; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; economics; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; funding; legislation & jurisprudence; methods; Natural water pollution; nonpoint source pollution; point source pollution; Pollution; pollution control; Pollution, environment geology; prevention & control; Public Policy; Public Policy - economics; Public Policy - legislation & jurisprudence; Soil and water pollution; Soil science; United States; water policy; Water pollution; Water Pollution - legislation & jurisprudence; Water Pollution - prevention & control; Water quality; Water Quality - standards; Water treatment and pollution; Watersheds; United States; North America; America; United States > US; Economic incentive; Environmental policy; Nonpoint pollution; Pollution control; Pollution prevention; Water quality; Agriculture; Water pollution; Pollution abatement; Polluter pays principle
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es2020499

Agricultural nonpoint source water pollution has long been recognized as an important contributor to U.S. water quality problems and the subject of an array of local, state, and federal initiatives to reduce the problem. A “pay-the-polluter” approach to getting farmers to adopt best management practices has not succeeded in improving water quality in many impaired watersheds. With the prospects of reduced funding for the types of financial and technical assistance programs that have been the mainstay of agricultural water quality policy, alternative approaches need to be considered. Some changes to the way current conservation programs are implemented could increase their efficiency, but there are limits to how effective a purely voluntary approach can be. An alternative paradigm is the “polluter pays” approach, which has been successfully employed to reduce point source pollution. A wholesale implementation of the polluter-pays approach to agriculture is likely infeasible, but elements of the polluter-pays approach could be incorporated into agricultural water quality policy.