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 Water Quality
EPA’s National
Water Quality Inventory identifies agriculture as the most important
source of water quality impairment for our nation’s rivers, streams
and lakes. Nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, sediments and pathogens
are the primary agricultural pollutants. Agriculture is considered a non-point
source of pollution, whereby rain water runs over and through agricultural
soils and picks up pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers,
wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking
water. Forestry can also be a non-point source of water pollution.
Carbon sequestration practices that reduce soil erosion and excess fertilizer
usage can decrease pollutant runoff and thus contribute to improved water
quality, in addition to preventing climate change.
The following studies have examined the water quality co-effects of greenhouse
gas mitigation strategies in agriculture and forestry:
- Pattanayak, S., B.A. McCarl, A.J. Sommer, B.C. Murray, T. Bondelid, D. Gillig, B. DeAngelo (2005) Water Quality Co-effects of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in U.S. Agriculture (PDF, 33 pp., 444 kb), Climatic Change
 71: 341-372.
- Greenhalgh,
S. and A. Sauer (2003) Awakening the Dead Zone: An Investment for Agriculture,
Water Quality, and Climate Change. This
WRI Issue Brief examines the potential synergy between greenhouse gas
reductions and improved water quality through changes in agricultural
management.
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