23 



think you people would be wise to start the process on a voluntary 

 basis because those that are voluntary, once signed up, may be- 

 come your allies 5 or 10 years down the road to deal with the invol- 

 untary. But if you start with everybody at the beginning, you are 

 going to end up with nothing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Johnson. Ms. Long. 



Ms. Long. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have heard differing esti- 

 mates on this. What percent of nonpoint source pollution can be at- 

 tributed to agricultural lands? What is your estimate? 



Mr. Wayland. The most reliable information that is available 

 comes from data which is collected by State water quality agencies 

 and it represents a snapshot of water quality problems and their 

 causes. In information that was collected by the States in 1990-91, 

 of impaired waters, which are differentiated between rivers, lakes, 

 and estuaries, impairments for rivers, for example, are about 13 

 percent of the waters assessed; for lakes, it is approximately 9 per- 

 cent of waters assessed; and the same number, 9 percent, is the 

 one that is the national picture for estuarian waters. 



[Editor's note. — Revised figures follow:] 



In information that was collected by the States in 1990-91, of impaired waters, 

 which are differentiated between rivers, lakes, and estuaries, impairments for riv- 

 ers, for example, are about 38 percent of the waters assessed; for lakes, it is ap- 

 proximately 44 percent of waters assessed; and the same number, 32 percent, is the 

 one that is the national picture for estuarian waters. 



Mr. Wayland. The sources of impairment may be multiple 

 sources. In other words, a particular reach of water or lake may be 

 affected by municipal, mining, agricultural, and other categories. 

 So that the numbers total to greater than 100. Having given you 

 that long preamble, the estimate by the States of the range of im- 

 paired rivers, which are impaired in part due to agricultural dis- 

 charges, is 72 percent; for lakes it is 56 percent; and for estuaries 

 it is 43 percent. 



Ms. Long. Are agricultural producers exempt from citizen suits 

 under section 503 of Chairman Mineta's bill? 



Mr. Wayland. I believe that is the case. The House bill is not 

 perfectly aligned, although we believe that it is largely consistent 

 with the administration's clean water proposals. The administra- 

 tion has not recommended that the citizen suit provisions of the 

 Clean Water Act, which are applicable to industry and municipali- 

 ties, be applied to individual landowners or nonpoint sources. 



Ms. Long. Thank you. 



Mr. Johnson. I would like to follow up just very briefly on the 

 rangeland concern that Mr. Barrett and I inquired about earlier. It 

 is my understanding that the SCS has, in fact, in the past, at least 

 prior to 1985, been actively involved and responsible for rangelands 

 and has also worked with Indian reservations. I have nine of them 

 in my home State, much of which is rangeland. Would it be fair 

 to say that the problem that the SCS has is more one of overexten- 

 sion than it is that they simply lack the expertise to be a lead 

 agency on rangelands? 



Mr. Hebert. It is a combination of both. Congressman. We do 

 have considerable experience in working on rangeland. We take a 

 lot of pride in the Soil Conservation Service in the work that we 

 do with the ranching community in managing their rangelands. 



