Issues and Pressures

  • Coal Mining
  • Culverts
  • Barriers
  • Invasive Species

Diffuse pollution

Diffuse sources of pollution include run-off from roads, houses and commercial areas, run-off from farmland, and seepage into groundwater from developed landscapes of all kinds. Diffuse sources are often individually minor, but collectively significant.

It is irrelevant whether the source is a pipe or not, more important is that such contamination is driven by the nature of the land use and the impact of rainfall events.

In the SEPA Significant Water Management Issues report (2007), the importance of diffuse sources of pollution was very evident:

  • for rivers, diffuse sources associated with agriculture were the largest sector identified;
  • for rivers, diffuse sources accounted for three of the top four sectors (agriculture, collection and treatment of sewage, urban development (rainfall driven contaminated drainage), and forestry);