Farming techniques that improve soil quality and reduce pollution, such as no-till farming, crop rotation, and managing farm runoff, can help protect water supplies. Runoff is the most common source of water pollution. Farm runoff and urban runoff can pick up pollutants and deposit them into fresh water sources if not properly managed. Proper farming practices like no-till farming, crop rotation, and runoff management can reduce pollution and improve soil health.

1. Caring for Our Water Supply
Managing runoff
Farming techniques that reduce pollution and build topsoil
Kella Randolph B.S., M.Ed.

3. How does farming
affect the earth?
Which farming technique can improve the
soil and the environment?
No-till farming improves the soil quality and
helps the environment.
This fragile layer of topsoil, together with air
and water, supports our life. This layer of life
grows our food and fiber. Our soil supports
the roads we drive on, the buildings we live
in and the recreation areas we enjoy. Our soil
cleanses and holds our water, and it absorbs
the sun and radiates heat.
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/St
udyGuides/Soils_study_guide.htm
Photo from Creative Commons

4. Build up the topsoil
Instead of turning over the
soil, create a layer of mulch
and allow earthworms and
other soil dwelling creatures
to burrow. This aerates the
soil and allows it to hold more
water for your plants.
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/St
udyGuides/Soils_study_guide.htm
Photo from Creative Commons

5. What is the best change
a farmer can make to use
more sustainable farm
techniques?
Rotate the crops.
Planting methods can control much
erosion in agriculture. Crop rotation
is a planting method whereby
farmers alternate crops instead of
planting the same crop every year in
a given field. Important nutrients are
replenished, close-grown crops
prevent erosion and plant diseases
are controlled through rotation of
crops.
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/StudyGuides/S
oils_study_guide.htm
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6. Prevent water
pollution by managing
farm runoff.
Crop residue management is a key
conservation practice for reducing
sediment. Planting methods and
crop residue management not only
control water erosion but also
control wind erosion. Windbreaks
(rows of trees or shrubs planted at a
perpendicular angle to the
prevailing winds) also reduce wind
erosion and provide wildlife habitat.
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/Stu
dyGuides/Soils_study_guide.htm
Photo from Creative Commons
V
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/Stu
dyGuides/Soils_study_guide.htm
Photo from Creative Commons

7. The most common source of pollution in
ground water is runoff.
• The main types of runoff are
• Urban runoff
• Industrial runoff
• Storm water runoff
• Farm runoff
• Polluted runoff generally happens anywhere people use or alter the land.
For example, in developed areas, none of the water that falls on hard
surfaces like roofs, driveways, parking lots or roads can seep into the
ground. These impervious surfaces create large amounts of runoff that
picks up pollutants. The runoff flows from gutters and storm drains to
streams. Runoff not only pollutes' but erodes streambanks. The mix of
pollution and eroded dirt muddies the water and causes problems
downstream. http://www.ncstormwater.org/pages/stormwater_faqspage.html#stormrunoff

8. Prevent polluted water runoff.
Urban runoff
Detention ponds, built to
temporarily hold water so it seeps
away slowly, fill up quickly after a
rainstorm and allow solids like
sediment and litter to settle at the
pond bottom. Then, they release
the water slowly. Green roofs,
storm drain grates, filter strips,
sediment fences and permeable
paving can help.
Industrial runoff
Federal and state storm water regulations now
require many kinds of industrial facilities to take
steps to prevent storm water pollution.
1) Prevent water from contacting working areas.
2) Keep pollutants off surfaces that come into
contact with water.
3) Manage storm water before it is discharged
to the storm drain.
http://www.waterresources.saccounty.net/stormwater/documents/industrial-BMP-manual.pdf
http://www.hgcity.org/comm_dev_docs/building/Industrial%20Facilities%20Runoff%20Pollution%20Prevention%20(BM
Ps).pdf

9. Home and farm runoff safety
Storm water runoff
Keep lawns and driveways clean.
Do not dump lawn trash down
storm drains.
Never dump hazardous wastes
such as paint, gasoline, oil, or
chlorinated pool water into storm
drains.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wat/wq/nps/NPS_Pollution/Stormwater_Runoff/sw_
main.htm
Farm runoff
Surface water includes ponds, open springs, lakes, rivers, and
streams. It has the highest risk for contamination because we often
do not have control over what might be entering the water source
upstream at any given time. Access of wild and domestic animals,
drainage from upstream cattle operations, runoff from manure
piles, and sewage discharges are all possible causes for sudden and
unexpected surface water contamination.
http://extension.psu.edu/food/safety/farm/gaps/safe-uses-of-agricultural-water

10. Protect groundwater
Which is the most common
contamination source for freshwater
resources?
Runoff is the most
common source for
freshwater
contamination.
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/Stu
dyGuides/Soils_study_guide.htm
Photo from Creative Commons

11. How does pollution
get around?
Wind and moving water can carry all
sorts of pollution from one place to
another.
Many chemicals are dissolved into
water. Then when the water seeps into
the ground, those chemicals go right in
there with the water. Over time, water
seeps down to the water table.
Humans have wells that bring water up
from the water table. We then drink
the water and use it to make our crops
grow. We unknowingly spread the
toxins in this way.
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/StudyGuides/Soil
s_study_guide.htm
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12. Of several ways that groundwater collects in
an area what is most responsible?
The movement of surface water and precipitation that has seeped through soil and rock is most
responsible for the quality of local area ground water.
Groundwater definition, the water beneath the surface of the ground, consisting largely of surface water that has seeped down: the source of water in springs and
wells. www.dictionary.com/browse/groundwater
Photo from Wikimedia.com Photo from www.ca.gov660x427

13. What’s it to me?
Living things, including us,
breathe the air, ingest (eat)
plants and meat, drink, bathe
and swim in water.
When air, water, and food
are polluted, then our bodies
become polluted too.
http://www.maswcd.org/Youth_Education/StudyGuide
s/Soils_study_guide.htm
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14. Dirty Water...
http://www.childrensprize.org/blog/clean-water-vs-dirty-water-which-one-would-you-choose/
http://dirtywaterintheworld.weebly.com/illness-and-disease.html
-3.575 million people die each year from
water-related disease.
-Less than 1% of the world's fresh water (or
about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily
accessible for direct human use.
-Over 40 billion work hours are lost each year
in Africa to the need to fetch drinking water.
- At any one time, it is estimated that half the
world's hospital beds are occupied with
patients suffering from waterborne diseases.
-90 percent of wastewater in developing
countries is discharged into rivers and
streams without any treatment.
(UNDP,UNEP,World Bank, and the World
Resources Institute.

15. Thank you for viewing.Photo from Creative Commons