In response to Vermonters’ continued call to clean up Lake Champlain and the rest of the state’s rivers and lakes, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC) retooled the former Vermont Center for Clean and Clear in 2011 to form the Ecosystem Restoration Program. The Program released its annual report this week, which describes continued efforts on the part of VTDEC, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, Agency of Transportation, and the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation to address unregulated nonpoint source water pollution. The 2011 report can be found at this link: http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/waterq/erp/docs/erp_2011annualreport.pdf
‘Nonpoint sources of water pollution are sources not directly attributed to a specific location such as wastewater treatment plants,’ explains Michaela Stickney, Vermont State Coordinator to the Lake Champlain Basin Program and principal editor of the report.
‘Nonpoint sources of pollution originate from water running off our town streets, parking lots, and gravel roads, agricultural fields and barnyards, and logging areas. This process delivers excess amounts of phosphorus and sediment to our lakes and rivers, causing toxic algal blooms in the Lake, high e. coli concentrations at swimming holes, and, in the form of stormwater runoff, it can even make our rivers unstable,’ Stickney said.
The annual report describes how state and federal agencies have invested more than $140 million since 2004 to reduce nonpoint sources of phosphorus and sediment pollution in Lake Champlain and other waters statewide. The report describes 2011 activities that addressed nonpoint source pollution associated with river instability, stormwater, construction sites, gravel roads, forest management, and agricultural land uses.
The report includes a discussion of 2011 flooding and its impacts, municipal actions supported by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the role of watershed planning in targeting priorities, and indicators to track progress. The report also draws attention to several important initiatives to improve the Program’s effectiveness in addressing nonpoint source pollution.
One initiative is the Critical Source Area Report, conducted by Stone Environmental, Inc. and the Lake Champlain Basin Program and released last month. This study identifies critical source areas of phosphorus in the Missisquoi Bay watershed as areas most likely to contribute phosphorus to Lake Champlain. The report describes how targeting phosphorus control measures at areas with the greatest potential to generate phosphorus runoff is two to three times more effective than implementing measures based solely on random signups.
‘Cleaning up Lake Champlain and the rest of the state’s rivers and lakes continues to be no easy task,’ notes Kari Dolan, Ecosystem Restoration Program Manager. ‘The current condition of our waters reflects decades of our influence on the landscape. The Critical Source Area Report in the Missisquoi Bay watershed shows us that strategically implementing control measures will enhance our cost-effectiveness in reducing nonpoint source pollution.’
‘Another absolutely crucial element to making progress in reducing polluted runoff is the dedicated and collaborative effort of our program partners,’ Dolan added. ‘These partners are our ‘boots-on-the-ground,’ making a difference one project at a time, and they include concerned citizens, municipalities, watershed and lake associations, agricultural conservation districts, regional planning commissions, academic institutions, sister agencies, Lake Champlain Basin Program, and federal partners.’
Each year since the initiation of the 2003 Clear and Clear Action Plan, VTDEC and the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets have jointly prepared an annual report describing accomplishments to date. Act 130 of the 2008 legislative session established a requirement that VTANR continue to submit to the Legislature an annual ‘Clean and Clear program summary reporting on activities and measures of progress for each program supported by funding under the Clean and Clear Action Plan.’ This report is submitted in accordance with the requirements of 10 V.S.A. §1386(d).
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. 2.13.2012