Nutrient Standards To Be Set By EPA In Florida, Not Likely in West Virginia

Here is an article about a federal judge in Florida upholding a settlement between US EPA and environmental groups that requires EPA to step in and set criteria for nutrients in state waters. Nutrients are things like nitrogen and phosphorus that can contribute to excessive growth of algae and other plant life, which tend to suck up oxygen when they decay.

Ordinarily, EPA will take a stab at developing water quality criteria (think of it as the safe limit of pollutants that can be in water). For example, to protect aquatic life it will subject different species to different levels of a substance, like selenium, and determine the levels at which adverse results like impaired reproduction occur. Those criteria are then adopted by the states in their water quality standards, or the states justify some other criteria. Once adopted by the state, EPA approves or disapproves the water quality standards. If states don't make a decision one way or the other, or if EPA disapproves the state standard, EPA is supposed to step in and set criteria under the Clean Water Act.

In the case of nutrients, EPA decided that there were too many factors to weigh before safe levels of nutrients could be set. Some streams or lakes would respond to very low levels of nutrients before algae started to grow; others could tolerate large loadings with little adverse effect. Instead of doing one-size-fits-all studies to come up with acceptable levels of nutrients, EPA set some general regional parameters, but for the most part turned nutrient criteria-setting over to the states.

West Virginia has developed nutrient criteria for lakes, but EPA has not yet ruled on the proposed criteria, and is looking at additional data. See the EPA response to the lake criteria in this letter . The DEP has also done studies showing that the limiting factor for algae growth in West Virginia rivers is phosphorus, but no criteria are presently proposed. See the initial results of that study here.

For those interested in more information, here is a press release from EPA about a nutrient webinar:

1) Watershed Academy Webcast on Report of the State-EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group
Nutrients have been identified as one of the top causes of water quality impairment in the United States. On Dec. 1, 2009, EPA’s Watershed Academy will present a Webcast highlighting the new State-EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group report and related issues. This Webcast will present findings from the new report called An Urgent Call to Action: Report of the State-EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group posted at www.epa.gov/waterscience.

Ephraim King, Director, Office of Science and Technology, in U.S. EPA’s Office of Water, will join us for this Webcast and will discuss the key findings of this report, which characterizes the scope and major sources of nutrients, and includes recommendations to address the issue. Other speakers will include Craig Cox, Midwest Vice President, Environmental Working Group, who will discuss effective ways to address nutrient pollution from agriculture. And finally, Walter Baker, Director, Utah Division of Water Quality in Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality will share successful approaches Utah is using to reduce nutrient pollution from agricultural livestock and municipal sewage treatment plants.

To register for this Webcast, visit: www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts. EPA’s Watershed Academy Webcasts reach thousands of federal, state and local practitioners with the latest training on watershed management topics through convenient on-line training. The Webcasts build local, state and regional capacity to achieve measurable water quality improvements, targeted to meet Strategic Plan objectives. All EPA Webcasts are archived on the Watershed Academy Webcast Web page at www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts. Webcast participants are eligible to receive a certificate for their attendance. Slide presentations are posted in advance and participants are encouraged to download them prior to the Webcast at www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts.