By Dr. Gary Matlock, Director, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (Guest Article)
June 2, 2008

More than half of the nation’s population now lives and works in coastal communities. As the coastal population increases so does urban runoff, and it increases contamination of both coastal waters and inland lakes and rivers. Urban runoff is a growing source of nutrients, sediments, pesticides and other toxic chemicals in our valuable water resources. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the federal agency responsible for assessing impacts on the coastal waters of the United States. NOAA recognizes that mayors are front-line stewards of finite water resources and they shoulder heavy responsibilities in meeting the needs of a growing and increasingly urban population and in preserving our delicate ecosystems. NOAA’s science centers can provide valuable logistical information to mayors to help them devise effective urban runoff mitigation strategies and increase their chances to succeed as water stewards.

Substantial progress over the last four decades in controlling water pollution at the “point-source” has greatly improved the quality of our nation’s water resources. These gains, however, are limited because of persistent “nonpoint” pollution, ranging from agricultural fields to urban development including highways, parking lots and residential lawns, etc. Urban runoff is the leading source of harm to surveyed estuaries along our coasts, and the third largest source of water quality damage to all surveyed lakes; and it is a major challenge to control because the sources are many and diffuse.

Coastal population growth requires substantial change in land use patterns to accommodate homes, jobs, and major infrastructure improvements. Sediments from new construction will combine with increased volumes of oil, grease, highway salt, and toxic chemicals associated with the growing number of vehicles and miles travelled. Simultaneously, existing sewage systems are frequently overwhelmed until they are expanded or upgraded, and this raises concern of potentially greater bacterial and virus risks to our public health.

Storm water runoff in many of our older cities is often discharged directly into our local water system with little or no treatment. There is well documented evidence that the untreated storm waters adversely impact fish, shellfish and wildlife populations; threatens native vegetation; leads to closures of valuable land and marine recreational and commercial resources; and fouls drinking water supplies, posing threats to public health.

Adding to this dangerous mix of nonpoint water pollution is the projected increases in average atmospheric temperatures. Scientists currently estimate that average temperature increases across the continental U.S. will exceed global average increases by one-third over the next century. Impacts and average temperature increases will vary regionally, with most areas, other than the already arid southwest, projected to experience precipitation increases in frequency and intensity, leading to more frequent flooding events and more storm water volumes that will further increase adverse impacts.

Along the U.S. coasts and inland Great Lakes, urban and agricultural runoff, harmful algal blooms, beach and fishery closings, oxygen-deprived “dead zones,” declines in submerged aquatic vegetation, fish kills, and invasive species will play out in a warmer climate pitting urban water needs against irrigation-dependent agricultural interests. Increasing energy costs will complicate and increase costs of attempts to access and transport deeper and more distant groundwater resources, themselves facing increasing recharge challenges as a result of a growing population and economy and a warmer climate.

NOAA believes that strategies like the public health community’s prevention and treatment approach can be emulated by mayors to marshal an impressive array of knowledge and informed action in confronting these challenges. NOAA brings to the table a sweeping range of research, monitoring, assessment and proactive management techniques for understanding the causes and effects of these resource challenges. The information logistics that NOAA can share with mayors sheds a bright light on optimum strategies for preventing and/or controlling these risks.

NOAA’s environmental modeling and ecological forecasting capabilities can provide critical advance notifications, helping cities prevent or reduce adverse environmental impacts before they take occur. Working with other federal agencies, NOAA’s assessment activities help in devising control strategies, for instance in developing nutrient controls to be implemented through state water quality standards.

The agency’s critical long-term monitoring activities – such as the Mussel Watch Project tracking chemical levels in oysters, mussels, and sediments – help determine which areas face greatest contamination risks, and thus can be used to help local government determine priority actions. Measuring the health in relatively undeveloped coastal regions such as NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries can help point the way to the ‘healthy coastal waters’ available through effective environmental management strategies.

NOAA’s logistical information is broader than that of local government because we provide information on a watershed or ecosystem basis. These capabilities can help mayors identify where their efforts matter most in serving the needs of citizens and their invaluable water resources. NOAA’s information base can help mayors identify new development and remodeling activities where best management strategies such as buffer strips of grass separating impervious surfaces from water bodies, retention ponds to capture runoff and storm water, porous paving materials, and sediment fences to trap large materials and sediments can be required to protect water quality. Mayors already play an essential role in helping home owners carry out water conservation, tree planting, and runoff management in landscaping efforts, often leading to cost savings for their citizens. Mayors can also promote development of volunteer, citizen monitoring efforts critical in evaluating management strategies employed

We have an opportunity, at this time, to combine the logistical information capabilities of NOAA with the front-line stewardship challenges facing mayors to protect water quality and ecosystems from urban runoff. These challenges will mount over coming years as our population and our economy grow and our climate warms. Combining our efforts to confront these mutual challenges is timely.