Runoff and the Environment
With Mike Hayden
Pew Oceans Commissioner
and former Kansas Governor
Monday, Jan. 28, 2002; 1 p.m. EST

A new report from the Pew Oceans Commission found that despite progress in controlling ocean pollution from direct sources, such as ocean dumping and treatment facility discharges, runoff from inland farms and cities have negated much of these gains.

Pew Oceans Commissioner and former Kansas Governor Mike Hayden was be online to discuss agricultural and urban runoff and its effect on marine life.

The Pew Oceans Commission, an independent policy group researching ways to best protect living marine resources in U.S. waters, will make formal recommendations in a report to Congress and the nation in Fall 2002.

A transcript follows.

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Mike Hayden: Greetings, the PEW Oceans Commission has been studying the state of our oceans in and around U.S. waters for the last 18 months. Today we'll be discussing the impact of nutrient run off mostly from agricultural fertilizers and how it impacts the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River Watershed is the second largest in the world and the largest on this continent. The agricultural heartland is drained by the Mississippi River Watershed and the accumulation of this runoff is contributing significantly to the creation of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. For the next hour we will be discussing the issues surrounding this relationship.

New York, N.Y.: How are Kansas and coastal states, most directly effected by Kansas' agricultural activities, working together to solve envrionmental problems, such as excess nutrients from farming polluting coastal estuaries and The Gulf of Mexico?

Mike Hayden: Unfortunately, there is currently no coordinated effort between the upstream states where most of the nutrients enter the watershed and the down stream states where the greatest impact is felt. The cornbelt states of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are the greatest sources of nutrient runoff because corn has the highest fertilizer requirement and most agricultural fields in these states have tile drains.


These drains transport the nitrogen runoff directly into the streams and rivers. The best opportunity to prevent nutrient runoff is through the use of buffer strips between farm fields and the adjacent streams and rivers. Also, when nitrogen is applied in the fall it should not be applied when the soil temperature is above 50 degrees. These two practices have the greatest opportunity to reduce nutrient loading that ultimately leads to hypoxia that causes the dead zone each summer in the Gulf.

Alexandria, Va.: When people talk about polluted agricultural runoff, how much of it is from fruits and vegetables and how much of it is from livestock and poultry?

Mike Hayden: Actually, the nutrient loading which leads to hypoxia is hardly associated with fruit and vegetable farming or livestock and poultry farming. It is directly related to fertilizer applied to row crops principally corn and soy beans. Pesticides from fruit and vegetable farms and waste products from livestock and poultry operations can cause serious problems in our estuaries and oceans. However, they are not significantly related to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

Wichita, Kan.: Goveror Hayden:
I have a combination of questions and comments. My question is: What action is being taken to reduce nitrogen runoff from agricultural fertilizing? Is there a prospect that farmers may be regulated as to the qantity of fertilizer may be applied or will some regulations be evolved to mitigate runoff and leaching?
My comment is: I have been working for some time on a system to apply fertilizer by airplane. Advantages are: a. Application can occur after a rain and after surface runoff has subsided. b. Application can be timed so as to permit greater percentage of plant uptake of applied fertilizer. c. Fertilizer application can be customized by using NASA earth sensing information thus enabling reduced level of fertilzing with nutirnets customized for the crop and field parameters.
I would like to bring my project to the attention of the PEW Commission. What is the best way to do this?

Mike Hayden: The most important action that can be taken to reduce nitrogen runoff is the creation of buffer strips between fields of row crops and adjacent streams and rivers. These strips must be sufficiently wide enough to allow the native grasses and trees to filter out the nutrients as runoff proceeds from the fields to the streams. I am not qualified to speak on the aerial application of feritilizer. However, any system that better targets the level of fertilizer with crop and field parameters has the potential to reduce nutrient runoff.

You may reach the PEW Commission at 2101 Wilson Blvd., Suite 550, Arlington, VA 22201. Telephone 703/516-0624.

Washington, D.C.: What do you expect will be done with the pollution report and others produced by the PEW process? It seems that they have a lot of quality information and I hope that it doesn't just stop at the report producing level.

Mike Hayden: It is the desire of the members and the staff of the PEW Oceans Commission to bring our report to public policy decision makers at the very highest level. Specifically in the White House and the United States Congress.

The Stratton Commission gave its report nearly 30 years ago which formed the basis for our current public policy regarding much of the ocean within US and state waters. Many things have happened in the last 30 years that has changed dramatically the state of the health of our oceans.

The Commission will report to policy makers and to the public in four critical areas:
Pollution, Coastal Development, over fishing,and governance. In addition, we will use the resources of the Commission to raise the visibility of these issues among the press and the public to the highest level possible.

We do not simply want another report that gathers dust, but instead we want a report that forms the basis for improved public policy.

Bowie, Md.: I know we are in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. What can the average suburban homeowner do to help keep pollutants out of the bay (besides the obvious of not dumping anything down a storm drain)?

Mike Hayden: The Chesapeake Bay watershed is becoming more suburbanized each day and runoff into the Bay is directly impacted by urban development. The pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers applied to your lawn and shrubs can end up in the Bay. In addition, waste from family pets can have a huge impact on water quality in highly suburbanized areas. The planting of native grasses and native trees can reduce the need for fertilizer and chemical use. These plants have evolved over thousands of years in the watershed and do not require as much fertilizer or chemical treatment as non-native plants and shrubs. You can compost pet waste and reduce the amount that runoff carries into streams and rivers.

Each time open space is converted to concrete or asphalt the runoff is greatly accelerated and all the chemicals that are carried in the runoff go directly to the streams without being filtered out by the grasses and trees that were formerly there.

Washington, D.C.: Mr. Hayden,

When you talk with farmers, what is their attitude toward reducing nitrogen runoff?

Also, you mention planting vegitation barriers around fields. Hasn't this been suggested for years to reduce soil erosion? Why isn't this being done?

Mike Hayden: It is not being done because Congress has not made available in the Farm Bill the adequate amount of incentive payments to farmers for these practices. Most farmers do not want fertilizers to runoff their fields into the streams. However, it is a matter of economics. When land is taken out of production to create buffer strips farmers lose potential income. Incentive payments have been in place in agriculture for over 50 years in this country, yet a tiny percent of these are directed toward creating buffer strips to prevent nutrient runoff. The value of buffer strips has been known for years, however the relationship between the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and fertilizer runoff has only become known in the last decade.

Members of Congress from every state in the watershed need to become knowledgeable about the dead zone and its creation, and need to join forces to place incentive payment programs in the next Farm Bill to reduce nutrient runoff in a significant way.

Silver Spring, Md.: Is the "dead zone" a permanent phenomenon or seasonal? Is it influenced by the seasonal cycles of farming?

Mike Hayden: The Dead Zone is a seasonal phenomenon caused by the annual influx of nutrients from fertilizer runoff and high water temperatures during the summer months. The alarming fact is that during the years of study the Dead Zone continues to increase in size each summer. Within the Dead Zone any organism that cannot swim away is killed by lack of oxygen. This disrupts the entire food chain and has a huge negative impact on both the shrimp and commercial fishing industries, not to mention offshore recreational fishing.

Mike Hayden: Thank you for a series of excellent questions, unfortunately, in the time alloted, I was able to only address a fraction of your comments. Please continue to follow the work of the PEW Oceans Commission and to be concerened about the state of the world's oceans, particularly in US waters.

Please visit www.pewoceans.org for more information.

washingtonpost.com:

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