The 2 million miles of pipe carrying water, wastewater and storm water in the nation are sorely in need of repair and replacement. "Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure," a new Penn State Public Broadcasting documentary that airs nationally this fall, not only explores the history, engineering challenges and economic realities of these hidden resources, but also offers a toolkit for public television stations to engage the public on the topic. The toolkit includes a discussion guide and other materials to use surrounding local events, such as a screening of the documentary.

"The goal is to stimulate community discussion and bring this issue into the public consciousness, using television as a catalyst," said Tom Keiter, executive producer of the documentary (http://liquidassets.psu.edu).

Penn State's Cooperative Wetlands Center (http://www.wetlands.psu.edu), directed by Dr. Robert Brooks, for 15 years has produced scientifically valid assessment tools for the conservation and restoration of wetlands, wildlife and aquatic resources. Current projects include:

• Mid-Atlantic States Wetlands Assessment: Penn State and Virginia Institute of Marine Science teams are sampling 400 wetlands in five states over two years to assess the health of these ecosystems.
• Best Management Practices (BMPs) in Spring Creek Watershed: Brooks and his team are conducting ecological monitoring and other analyses, while Dr. James Shortle of Penn State's Environment and Natural Resources Institute is assessing landowners and residents' attitudes and perceptions about adopting BMPs for the watershed. Project partners include Canaan Valley Institute and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
• Pennsylvania's Mitigation Wetlands: A sampling of 120 wetland mitigation and restoration projects around the Commonwealth will be compared to the center's unique set of natural reference wetlands. The goal is to design mitigation projects to mimic natural wetlands so they function more effectively.

Susquehanna County farmer John Benscoter used to plow his fields before planting corn. “I love to plow,” Benscoter said. Then he learned about the no-till method, which involves planting crops without disturbing the soil. He now plants his corn that way. In addition, Benscoter has fenced in the creek running through his farm, keeping livestock from damaging the grasses growing along the bank. These changes have reduced the amount of sediment from his farm that enters the creek—and eventually the Chesapeake Bay. Benscoter is not alone in making changes to cope with soil erosion and other factors affecting water quality on his farm and downstream. Nearly half of the state’s farmers have adopted no-till farming practices, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Even with such changes, agriculture—a $45 billion industry in Pennsylvania—contributes to water pollution within the state and in the Chesapeake Bay watershed from the runoff of excess nutrients from barnyards and fields. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, and its watershed includes the entire District of Columbia and parts of six states—New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

“Nutrients sound like a good thing. We need them to grow—plants do, people do—but they can also be too much of a good thing,” said Dr. James Shortle, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Economics and director of the Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) at Penn State.

That’s why Shortle, along with Kristen Saacke Blunk, director of the College of Agricultural Sciences’ new Agriculture and Environment Center (a collaboration between ENRI and Penn State Extension, an Outreach unit), have launched an effort to work with both internal and external partners—state agencies, municipal wastewater treatment plant operators, farmers, regulators, agricultural and environmental nongovernmental organizations, and others—to develop solutions to the problem.

How to Restore the Bay

Removing nutrients-fertilizers, animal manure and sediments-from Pennsylvania and the other states’ waters is key to restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Excess nutrients—primarily nitrogen and phosphorus—are the result of changing agricultural practices. Today animal agriculture is more concentrated, with more animals being raised on a farm and fewer acres being devoted to growing feed. Instead of growing feed, Pennsylvania farmers buy it from the Midwest and no longer have a use for the nutrients their animals produce in the form of manure.

Farm nutrients end up in the Chesapeake Bay when they run off into creeks, streams and rivers and eep into the groundwater during rains. Sewage treatment plants are another source of nutrients—from humans. Even after being treated, the water released from these plants still contains large amounts of nutrients.

The nutrients cause algal blooms that deplete oxygen from the water and create dead zones. Stretching across more than 64,000 square miles, the Chesapeake Bay watershed receives nearly 50 percent of its fresh water from Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, making the Commonwealth a major contributor of nutrients in the bay.

The kickoff event for the pollution initiative was a water quality conference in June, called Agriculture and the Environment: Achieving Balance.

“The conference was a very empowering experience, as it brought together diverse interests from all walks of agriculture and environmental protection,” Saacke Blunk said.

The conference, which opened with a video produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting, allowed participants to discuss how to help farmers better manage animal nutrients. One way is by developing a nutrient management plan. Penn State Extension offers a training program on how to do this, and now 2,500 farms are using these plans, said Dr. Douglas Beegle, Penn State professor of agronomy and leader of the program. Beegle added that Penn State’s nutrient management research and education efforts have helped to shape Pennsylvania’s first Nutrient Management Act, as well as subsequent legislation regulating nutrients involving farm animals.

Another challenge explored at the conference is safeguarding water quality within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Wetlands can help, said Dr. Denice Wardrop, associate professor of geography and ecology at Penn State and associate director of the Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center (see box at right), where she specializes in wetland ecology and evaluation, assessment and restoration techniques.

“Wetlands play an important role in water quality improvements,” said Wardrop. “They provide an ecosystem service by trapping sediments and retaining and transforming nutrients in ways that are beneficial to watersheds, keeping them out of the Chesapeake Bay.”

Pollution Control Tool

Shortle’s research points to water quality trading as a water pollution control tool. “Trading has the potential to benefit farmers by offering a revenue stream from the sale of nutrient reduction credits generated by switching to farming practices aimed at reducing nutrients in surface waters,” he explained.

What are the next steps? Shortle and College of Agricultural Sciences colleagues are developing and extending farming practices and systems to improve the environmental performance of agriculture. Other plans include policy research and analysis and policy education—sharing research and practical applications with agricultural and environmental stakeholders at seminars and workshops.

Both internal and external partners are also working on doing a better job of assessing and communicating to the public how certain agricultural practices can be a benefit. A farm that has wetlands, for instance, is cleaning and recharging water that supplies groundwater used for drinking, as well as replenishing stream flows that support fisheries.

Organizations such as farm feed stores are being trained to recognize the importance of their feed formulas in contributing to water pollution and to communicate appropriate feeding regimens to their farm clients.

The progress of these strategies and others will be posted online at http://www.enri.cas.psu.edu and http://aec.cas.psu.edu. Saacke Blunk added, “We’re focused on creating a future where Pennsylvania agriculture is in balance with the environment.”