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L&W Home > Watershed > NPS Control

picture: Barberry Brook (1999)Nonpoint Source Control Program

EPA approval of program upgrade

Strategy text

In 1991, the Maine Legislature enacted a Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Management Program statute (38 M.R.S.A. §410-I) to restore and protect water resources from NPS pollution. The basic program objective is to prompt use of State agency defined "best management practice guidelines" (BMPs) to prevent water pollution. The overall aims of the State's NPS Water Pollution Control Program are:

Clean Water. Prevent, control, or abate water pollution caused by nonpoint sources so that beneficial uses of water resources are maintained or restored and waters meet or exceed their classification standards.
Using Best Management Practices. Best Management Practices are widely used in all Maine’s watersheds to minimize transport of pollutants or excessive runoff from the land into surface or ground waters.
Locally Supported Watershed Stewardship. Local community awareness results in commitment to maintaining or improving the condition of local water resources through citizen action. Watershed stewardship meets community needs and maintains beneficial uses of local water resources.
Compliance with Applicable Laws. Regulated activities are in compliance with existing State and Federal laws and rules that relate to nonpoint source pollution abatement.

DEP administers the NPS Program in coordination with other State, federal, and local governmental agencies as well as non-governmental stakeholder organizations. The following State agencies share responsibility for coordinating and implementing NPS programs: Maine Departments of Agriculture Food and Rural Resources; Conservation, Maine Forest Service; Transportation; Economic and Community Development; Human Services, Division of Health Engineering; Marine Resources, and the State Planning Office.

Maine’s lead NPS agencies have responsibilities to conduct programs: (1) to implement a variety of enforceable authorities (State laws, rules and municipal ordinances, governing specific land use activities or locations that require people to comply with certain performance standards to protect water quality); and (2) to encourage the voluntary usage of BMPs. The lead State NPS agencies have formal and informal working arrangements with other State and federal agencies, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, and business sector associations that address abatement of nonpoint sources of water pollution.

DEP and other State and regional agencies deliver a wide array of regulatory (permitting, compliance assistance and enforcement), technical assistance, financial assistance, NPS technical transfer, and NPS pollution awareness outreach services that promote or require usage of appropriate BMPs to prevent or minimize nonpoint sources of pollutants or water resources degradation.

Statewide regulatory programs operate to implement several laws that control potential sources of NPS pollution, include: the Stormwater Management Law; the Site Location of Development Law; Subdivision Laws; Erosion and Sedimentation Control law; the State Subsurface Wastewater Disposal Rules; the Natural Resources Protection Act; Land Use Regulation in Unorganized Territories; Pesticide Control laws; the Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Law; The Nutrient Management Act, Forest Practices Act and others.

Maine's lead NPS agencies encourage voluntary actions by governments, organizations, industry, and individuals to prevent or minimize the discharge of NPS pollutants. Program resources were assigned to support efforts both statewide and in specific watersheds, to improve and protect waters that are threatened or impaired due to NPS pollution. The lead NPS agencies provide direct technical assistance and information about BMPs to agencies, municipalities, businesses, and individuals. The NPS Training and Resource Center at DEP provides information and technical training on usage of BMPs. DEP administers a grants program to help fund NPS Pollution Control Projects to help prevent, control or abate water pollution caused by nonpoint sources so that water resources are maintained or restored. Grants funds are from Section 319(h) of the Clean Water Act and a 1998 State Bond appropriation.

The Maine NPS program has developed the following assortment of BMP guidance manuals to provide information on methods to prevent or reduce pollution generated by nonpoint sources.