Improvement of lake water quality by paying farmers to abate nonpoint source pollution

Lupi, Frank, Jr.; Braden, John B.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89768 Copy

Description

Title

Improvement of lake water quality by paying farmers to abate nonpoint source pollution

Author(s)

• Lupi, Frank, Jr.
• Braden, John B.

Contributor(s)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Issue Date

1988-12

Keyword(s)

• Water resource development
• Water resource development--Illinois
• Agriculture
• Watershed management
• Economic feasibility
• Water quality
• Erosion control
• Hydrologic models
• Subsidies
• Cost sharing
• Cost analysis

Geographic Coverage

Illinois (state)

Abstract

To mitigate damages caused by agricultural runoff, private lake owners' associations are paying for inlake and instream pollution abatement measures and onland conservation practices. This phenomenon supports the notion that individuals who benefit from improved water quality should be willing to pay part of the abatement costs. Our research suggests that onland conservation measures can substantially reduce sediment delivery at low cost. The Sediment Economics (SEDEC) model was modified and then used to select and to site management systems that achieved stated sediment goals at least cost. Other resource policies such as T value, no-till, and contouring were compared with the least-cost frontier and shown to be more costly. Abatement costs decreased substantially and sediment delivery increased only slightly when the same resource policies were applied to cropland areas closest to water channels. The research also pointed out the importance of noncropland areas adjacent to water channels. The noncropland areas substantially reduced sediment delivery to water channels and lowered abatement costs. Further research is needed for long-range watershed planning models such as SEDEC. More work is needed on the modelling of physical processes, particularly sediment delivery. The model also needs to be repackaged into a user-friendly format.

Publisher

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Water Resources Center

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89768

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

U.S. Geological Survey

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 1988 held by Frank Lupi, Jr., John B. Braden

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