- Runoff is pollution that comes from every
square mile of land that humans live on. Synthetic
materials, sewage and artificial nutrients are all washed into
watershed by rain and eventually finds its way to many organisms
and into the ocean. About 44% of the toxic contaminants going into the
oceans come from runoff via rivers and streams. This makes the
problem a vast one.
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- Cities as well as farmlands have a
responsibility to reducing nonpoint pollution, as it is
called. Organic farming reduce the amount of wasteful
pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that make their way into
rivers. Cities have to control massive amounts of stormwater
at times. The infrastructure in the US is set up so sewage
and stormwater use the same pipes. Exacerbating that is the
fact most city surfaces are impervious to water. To
alleviate problems during storms, separate pipes would allow raw
sewage to be treated thoroughly, while stormwater can go to a be
filtered in a different plant before heading out to the nearest
body of water. This mix of effluence that makes it out to
sea can cause many problems including harmful algae blooms, and
beach closings.
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- Ensuring all 'artificial products' are not
used in the first place (such as pest and week killers) or at
least treated before going into nature's drainage system would
solve the problem. Encouraging cities to not pave over every
square inch of space is another way. Working at the
grassroots level, this problem can be solved nationally over a
reasonable amount of time.
