Runoff from typical urban and suburban landscapes may contain significant levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and a broad spectrum of various pesticides (mainly herbicides and insecticides) due to excessive application rates of these chemicals and high irrigation requirements of most commonly used landscape plant species. Preliminary water quality data (runoff) from a comparative study of 20 microwatersheds using 4 different levels of maintenance, show reductions in these types of pollutants in runoff for microwatersheds planted to resource efficient plants. Utilization of plants indigenous to an ecoregion (and other resource efficient plants) in landscape design and management allows considerable reduction in inputs from fertilizer, water, and pesticides. This results in lower pollutant concentrations in runoff and is estimated to result in lower total pollutant loadings from such systems. Installation of native or resource efficient plants in new developments (commercial and residential) and replacement of existing landscapes with these plants as older plants die or neighborhoods are updated could provide cities and suburban areas with a cost-effective, low-maintenance, and aesthetically-pleasing pollution control technology. Data from the comparative study should provide municipalities charged with meeting the new requirements of the National Pollutant Elimination Discharge System with a way to compare the pollution prevention effectiveness of resource-efficient landscapes with more traditional structural urban runoff controls.
Most plant materials marketed in the United States are produced in containers under controlled growing conditions at large (> 20 ha) nurseries located in southern and pacific coast states. The nursery/greenhouse business is one of the fastest growing segments of American agriculture accounting for 11% of all crop income in 1991. Runoff and irrigation return flow from containerized nursery facilities can contain nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria, certain pesticides, various salts, and trace metals. Because of their large size, the intensity of the growing cycle, the huge volume of water needed to produce the product, and the concentration of these nurseries in certain areas, there is the potential for diffuse pollution from these nurseries to adversely impact a number of surface and ground water systems in the southern and western United States. Discharges from nursery/greenhouse operations are not federally regulated although some states require large facilities to obtain discharge permits. A number of larger nurseries in Texas, Oklahoma, and California have designed and installed pollution control and prevention systems that appear to be effective. This paper will provide background information about containerized plant culture and discuss the structural, vegetative, and management Best Management Practices that are in use at two different large containerized nurseries in Texas.
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