Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed whether federal programs and activities inhibited state and local efforts to control non-point-source water pollution, focusing on: (1) federal programs that may have inhibited state and local non-point-source control efforts; and (2) actions the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could take to better focus federal efforts on reducing non-point-source water pollution.
GAO found that: (1) Department of Agriculture and Forest Service program policies conflicted with objectives of the Clean Water Act, since many accepted practices contributed to soil erosion and water pollution; (2) information deficiencies restricted states' ability to educate landowners about pollution problems and control and determine the effectiveness of potential solutions; (3) states lacked the necessary technical information, federal guidance, and resources to control water pollution; (4) the sheer magnitude of non-point-source pollution dwarfed the resources available to deal with it; (5) although greater reliance on and enforcement of land-use provisions could help to protect water quality, political sensitivity over such regulation remained a formidable barrier; (6) preventing such potential problems as harmful resource extraction and urban runoff should help to limit water pollution; and (7) resource constraints, inappropriate funding priorities, and funding shortages will make it difficult for EPA to strengthen its efforts and take a leading role in coping with non-point-source pollution.
