1990 Farm Bill Forum 



Proceedings 



Montana Department of Health 

 and Environmental Sciences 

 (Water Quality Bureau) 

 Jack Thomas 



Environmental Specialist 



Much of the talk during the day has directly or 

 indirectly pertained to water quality and the 

 management of our resources to protect and 

 improve the quality of both surface water and 

 groundwater. 



The big emphasis during the past decade and 

 particularly the last couple years has been on 

 non-point sources of pollution as regulatory 

 programs have largely eliminated or controlled 

 fX)int source pollution. 



In Montana, agriculture has been credited with 

 producing nearly half of all the surface water 

 non-f)oint source pollution as reported in the 

 Water Quality Bureau's 1988 non-point source 

 assessment report. 



Admittedly, that figure is likely inaccurate now 

 as the support data for the figure is nearly five 

 years old. Since that time significant changes 

 have been made. 



Most notably, the 1985 Farm Bill contained 

 provisions that benefitted water quality in 

 Montana. 



The Conservation Reser\'e Program put many 

 acres of erodible land that were contributing 

 large amounts of sediment to the state's waters 

 into jxjnranent vegetative cover. 



Both the sodbuster and the swampbuster 

 provisions helped improve water quality as 

 well. 



Another important piece of federal legislation 

 that has the potential to impact water quality 

 management and non-point source pollution 

 control came with the passage of the 1987 Clean 

 Water Act, specifically Section 319. 



Section 319 required each state to assess non- 

 point source impacts to state waters and 



Montana Chapter, 8oD and Water Conservation Society 



develop a non-point source management 

 program to address those identified problems 

 with the promise of federal funding to assist in 

 that effort. 



The Water Quality Bureau, with assistance from 

 DNRC, SCS, and conservation districts, pro- 

 duced an assessment rep>ort and management 

 program and submitted both to the EPA 

 August 4, 1988. 



The state received approval of the assessment 

 rep>ort and parts of the management program in 

 April of this year. Our agricultural section of 

 the management plan was approved in June. 



Our program profXDses the voluntary applica- 

 tion of best management practices and resource 

 management systems through demonstration 

 projects, educational programs, and by provid- 

 ing financial incentives to landowners to imple- 

 ment specified best management practices. 



To accomplish the objectives of the program we 

 need funding. Four hundred million dollars 

 was authorized in Section 319 to be allocated to 

 the states over a four-year period beginning in 

 1987, but none has been appropriated to date. 



The lack of federal funding to support a pro- 

 gram that was federally mandated to the states 

 has hindered our efforts to secure funding from 

 nonfederal sources. 



We have hop>e that an appropriation is forth- 

 coming during the next fiscal year so that our 

 program can proceed as planned. 



Continuation of the CRP program and other 

 beneficial provisions of the 85 Farm Bill in the 

 1990 bill and the possible addition of water 

 quality protection and improvement provisions 

 will go far toward accomplishing the non-point 

 source pollution control goals we have set. 



A strong farm bill coupled with efforts to 

 supply adequate funding under Section 319 will 

 vastly improve water quality in this state. 



19 



Auguttza, 1888 



