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Although nonpoint source (NPS) pollution needs were included in the 1992 and 1996 Clean Water Needs Surveys (CWNS), EPA and state NPS coordinators have been working to improve their estimates of the needs to address nonpoint source pollution.
EPA is working with the states to develop the 2000 CWNS, as required by sections 205(a) and 516(b)(1) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). This will be the 13th such survey since the CWA was passed in 1972.
The survey estimates the capital costs for water quality improvement projects and other activities eligible for Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) support. The 1987 Amendments to the CWA authorized use of the SRF to address nonpoint source pollution.
For the purpose of the survey, a NPS need is a cost estimate for achieving an economically reasonable level of control on a particular NPS pollution problem. The needs assessment will include an identification of the problem, the location of the problem, the solution for the problem, the cost of the solution, and the basis for determining this cost.
In the 1996 CWNS, EPA modeled needs for agriculture and silviculture using USDA’s National Resources Inventory database, which contains data on area of farmland, crop type, soil erosion rates, and other variables. EPA constructed a model to estimate needs to control nonpoint source pollution from cropland, pastureland, and rangeland. They then used Census of Agriculture data for each state to help calculate needs for animal feeding operations. The silviculture model used information on privately owned forestland from the U.S. Forest Service’s Forestry Resources of the United States. Only privately owned forests were considered since federal lands are ineligible for SRF loans.
A best management system for each land type and source category was then identified and costed out, yielding an estimated needs figure. Using the model, the 1996 CWNS estimated needs totaling $9.4 billion to properly address pollution from silvicultural and agricultural sources, a figure criticized by many as being too low. A few states actually documented needs (as opposed to modeling them) for the previously mentioned nonpoint source categories, as well as for the following categories:
These documented needs were listed separately from the modeled needs for agriculture and silviculture in the 1996 CWNS; the methods used for documenting varied from state to state.
EPA is attempting to use only actual documented needs, as opposed to modeled needs, for the 2000 CWNS. Since the last survey, EPA has updated its CWNS database, which it has used in the past to help calculate needs for point sources. The database is specifically designed to: