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Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico
Watershed Nutrient Task Force
2015 Report to Congress
£EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Hypoxic Zone
Biennial
2015
" -
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
Acknowledgments
Special thanks go to the many federal, regional, and state representatives and their staff who
support the efforts of the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force, also
known as the Hypoxia Task Force (HTF). Their diverse knowledge and expertise contributed to
the successful collaboration and consensus building needed to produce this report to Congress.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appreciates the input provided by the HTF
members:
State Agencies
Arkansas Natural Resources Commission - Randy Young
Illinois Department of Agriculture - Philip Nelson
Indiana State Department of Agriculture - Ted McKinney
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship - Bill Northey, State Co-Chair
Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection - Larry Taylor
Louisiana Governor's Office of Coastal Activities - Kyle R. "Chip" Kline, Jr.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency - Rebecca Flood
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality - Gary Rikard
Missouri Department of Natural Resources - Joe Engeln
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency - Karl Gebhardt
Tennessee Department of Agriculture - Jai Templeton
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - Russell Rasmussen
Federal Agencies
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Major General Michael C. Wehr
U.S. Department of Agriculture: Natural Resources and Environment - Ann Mills
U.S. Department of Agriculture: Research, Education and Economics - Ann Bartuska
U.S. Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Rear Admiral Gerd Glang
U.S. Department of the Interior: U.S. Geological Survey - Lori Caramanian
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Ellen Gilinsky, Federal Co-Chair
Tribes
National Tribal Water Council - Michael Bolt
Additional Entities Participating on the HTF's Coordinating Committee:
Lower Mississippi River Sub-basin Committee - Doug Daigle
Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission - Greg Youngstrom
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force
2015 Report to Congress
August 2015
First Biennial Report
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
Contents
Executive Summary 1
Part 1: Introduction 3
1.1 2014 HABHRCA Amendments 4
1.2 The Nature of the Hypoxia Problem: Environmental, Economic, and Social Impacts 5
1.3 The Hypoxia Task Force 8
1.3.1 2001 Action Plan 9
1.3.2 2006-2007 Science Advisory Board Evaluation 9
1.3.3 2008 Action Plan 9
1.3.4 2013 Reassessment 10
1.3.5 2015 Revised Goal Framework 10
Part 2: Understanding the Hypoxic Zone and Sources of Nutrients in the MARB 11
2.1 Understanding the Extent and Nature of the Hypoxic Zone 11
2.1.1 Assessing the Dead Zone 13
2.1.2 Operational Hypoxia Monitoring 13
2.1.3 Operational Hypoxia Scenario Forecast Modeling 14
2.1.4 Ecological Modeling of the Impacts of Hypoxia 14
2.2 Monitoring and Modeling Water Quality and Nutrient Loading in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya
River Basin 15
2.2.1 Nutrient Monitoring and Trends 15
2.2.2 Sources of Nutrients 18
2.2.3 Mississippi River Basin Monitoring Collaborative 21
2.2.4 EPA Water Quality Monitoring 22
2.2.5 Conservation Effects Assessment Project 26
2.2.6 USDA Edge-of-Field Water Quality Monitoring 28
Part 3: Assessing the Progress Made toward Nutrient Load Reductions and Water Quality throughout
the MARB 29
3.1 Progress and Accomplishments of HTF States and Tribes 29
3.1.1 Arkansas 29
3.1.2 Illinois 32
3.1.3 Indiana 35
3.1.4 Iowa 38
3.1.5 Kentucky 42
3.1.6 Louisiana 44
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
3.1.7 Minnesota 48
3.1.8 Mississippi 52
3.1.9 Missouri 54
3.1.10 Ohio 55
3.1.11 Tennessee 58
3.1.12 Wisconsin 60
3.1.13 Tribes 63
3.2 Federal Assistance to HTF States and Tribes 63
3.2.1 EPA Grants and Programs 63
3.2.2 EPA and USDA Collaboration 68
3.2.3 USDA Programs 68
3.2.4 U.S. Department of the Interior Programs 75
3.2.5 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Programs 76
Part 4: Keys to Success and Lessons Learned 78
4.1 Cooperative Development and Implementation of Nutrient Reduction Strategies 78
4.2 Forging State and Basinwide Partnerships to Implement Nutrient Reduction Strategies 79
4.3 Lessons Learned from USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) 80
Part 5: Recommend Appropriate Actions to Continue to Implement or, if Necessary, Revise the
Strategy Set Forth in the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008 82
5.1 Continue to Implement the 2008 Action Plan 82
5.2 Revising the Coastal Goal and Committing to Accelerated and New Actions to Reduce
Nutrients 82
5.3 Tracking Environmental Results 82
5.3.1 Measuring Progress on Reducing Nutrient Loads 82
5.3.2 Conducting Long-Term Assessment of Environmental Conditions and Trends 83
5.3.3 Compiling Existing Site-Specific Monitoring from Many Sources 83
5.4 Conclusion 84
References 85
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
• " <• Ui iitmary
The states and federal agencies that comprise the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed
Nutrient Task Force (Hypoxia Task Force or HTF) continue to work collaboratively to
implement the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008 (2008 Action Plan). Since the release of the plan,
each HTF state has developed a nutrient reduction strategy through stakeholder participation that
serves as a road map for implementing nutrient reductions in its state; these strategies serve as
the cornerstone for reaching the HTF goals. The federal members of the HTF issued a unified
federal strategy in September 2013 to guide assistance to states and continued science support.
(Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force 2013b). In furtherance of its
goals, the HTF is also expanding partnerships with organizations with similar goals. In May
2014, the HTF entered into an agreement with 12 land grant universities (LGUs) to reduce gaps
in research and outreach/extension needs in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB).
Although achieving measureable water quality improvements takes time and extreme weather
events pose challenges, the report highlights specific examples of progress achieved by the HTF
and its members. The report also discusses strategies for meeting the HTF's goals and key
lessons the HTF has learned, which include the importance of: planning and targeting at a
watershed scale; identifying the critical pollutants, their sources, and means of transport; using
appropriate models to plan and evaluate implementation; using appropriate monitoring designs to
evaluate conservation outcomes; understanding farmers' attitudes toward conservation practices
and working with them through appropriate messengers to offer financial and technical
assistance; and sustaining engagement with the agricultural community following adoption of
conservation systems. The report describes significant actions that will allow the HTF to move
towards accomplishing its goals.
As new research and information have become available and systems of conservation practices
are implemented on vulnerable lands across this large basin, the HTF has gained a better
understanding of the complexities of this large-scale problem and the efforts and time that will
be needed to achieve its goals. In February 2015, the HTF announced that it would retain its goal
of reducing the areal extent of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 km2, but that
it will take until 2035 to do so. The HTF agreed on an interim target of a 20 percent nutrient load
reduction by the year 2025 as a milestone toward achieving the final goal in 2035. The Task
Force also agreed to adopt quantitative measures to track progress in reducing point and nonpoint
source inputs. To accelerate the reduction of nutrient pollution, the Task Force will:
• Target vulnerable lands and quantify nutrient load reductions achieved from federal
programs such as the USDA RCPP, USDA MRBI, USFWS Mississippi River Habitat
Initiative and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, and EPA Water Pollution Control
Program Grants and the Nonpoint Source Management Program.
• Implement state nutrient reduction strategies, including targeting vulnerable lands and
quantifying nutrient reductions.
• Expand and build new partnerships and alliances with universities, agriculture, cities and
communities, and others.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
The Hypoxia Task Force looks forward to using its Biennial Reports to Congress to report on
continued progress toward reducing nutrient loads to the northern Gulf of Mexico, summarize
lessons learned in implementing nutrient reduction strategies, and describe any adjustments to its
strategies for reducing Gulf hypoxia.
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• .«ii i inrv.'.i ii/.i
This report describes the progress made through activities directed by the Mississippi River/Gulf
of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force (Hypoxia Task Force or HTF) and carried out or
funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other state and federal partners
toward attainment of the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008 (2008 Action Plan). The
report is organized into the following sections in accordance with the Harmful Algal Bloom and
Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2014 (HABHRCA):
• Environmental, economic, and social impacts: Part 1 discusses the environmental,
economic, and social impacts of Gulf of Mexico hypoxia and harmful algal blooms
(HABs).
• Assessment of the progress made toward nutrient load reductions, the response of
the hypoxic zone, and water quality throughout the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River
Basin (MARB): Part 2 provides information about the size of the hypoxic zone (also
referred to as the "dead zone") since 1985 and sources of nutrient loading in the MARB.
Part 3 describes the progress of state nutrient reduction strategy development and
implementation and highlights successful state projects. Part 3 also describes federal
agency programs that support state implementation of nutrient reduction strategies.
• Evaluation of lessons learned: Part 4 covers lessons learned by presenting broader HTF
successes.
• Recommendations of appropriate actions to continue to implement or, if necessary,
revise the strategy set forth in the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008: Part 5 focuses on
recent HTF efforts to track the environmental results of state strategy implementation as
the HTF continues to implement the 2008 Action Plan.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
1.1 2014 HABHRCA Amendments
HABHRCA 2014 directs the EPA Administrator, through the HTF, to submit a progress report
beginning no later than 12 months after the law's enactment, and biennially thereafter, to the
appropriate congressional committees and the President (see the excerpt of HABHRCA below).
This document is the HTF's initial report to Congress.
HABHRCA 2014: LANGUAGE REGARDING THE HTF
PUBLIC LAW 113-124—JUNE 30, 2014
Public Law 113-124
113th Congress
An Act
To amend the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of
1998, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act
of 2014."
SEC. 7. NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO HYPOXIA.
Section 604 is amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 604. NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO HYPOXIA.
"(a) INITIAL PROGRESS REPORTS. —Beginning not later than 12 months after the date of
enactment of the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2014, and
biennially thereafter, the Administrator, through the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed
Nutrient Task Force, shall submit a progress report to the appropriate congressional committees and the
President that describes the progress made by activities directed by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico
Watershed Nutrient Task Force and carried out or funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and
other State and Federal partners toward attainment of the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008.
"(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required under this section shall —
"(1) assess the progress made toward nutrient load reductions, the response of the hypoxic
zone and water quality throughout the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, and the economic
and social effects;
"(2) evaluate lessons learned; and
"(3) recommend appropriate actions to continue to implement or, if necessary, revise the
strategy set forth in the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008."
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1.2 The Nature of the Hypoxia Problem: Environmental,
Economic, and Social Impacts
Every summer, a large hypoxic zone forms in the Gulf of
Mexico. This zone, where the amount of dissolved oxygen
is too low for many aquatic species to survive, is fueled
primarily by excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus)
from the MARB and is also affected by temperature and
salinity stratification (layering) of waters in the Gulf that
prevents mixing. Human activities are the leading cause of
increased amounts of nutrients delivered to the Gulf.
These activities include (1) historical landscape changes
in the drainage basin, consisting primarily of loss of
freshwater wetlands caused by artificial drainage to
convert wetlands into productive agricultural lands, which
diminishes the capacity of the river basin to remove
nutrients; (2) channelization and impoundment of the
Mississippi River throughout the basin and the delta and
the loss of coastal wetlands; and (3) changes in the
hydrologic regime of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya
Rivers and the timing of fresh water inputs that are critical
to stratification, which can cause hypoxia under the right
conditions (e.g., excess nutrients). The diversion of a large
amount of fresh water from the Mississippi River through
the Atchafalaya River has profoundly modified the spatial
distribution of freshwater inputs, nutrient loadings, and stratification on the Louisiana-Texas
continental shelf (Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force 2008).
Fresh water from the MARB is warmer and less dense than the ocean water and contributes to
the formation of an upper, less saline surface layer. This stratification of the water column
restricts the mixing of oxygen-rich surface water with oxygen-poor deep water. Furthermore, the
excessive nutrient loads trigger an overgrowth of algae that rapidly consumes oxygen as it
decomposes. This decomposition in bottom waters, coupled with water column stratification,
results in hypoxia. The nitrogen and phosphorus loads come mainly from sources upstream of
the Gulf. Sources of nitrogen include agriculture (both row crop agriculture and animal feeding
operations), atmospheric deposition, urban runoff, and point sources such as wastewater
treatment plants. Sources of phosphorus include agriculture, urban runoff, wastewater treatment
plants, stream channel erosion, and natural soil deposits.
Low dissolved oxygen in the Gulf is a serious environmental concern that can affect valuable
fisheries and disrupt sensitive ecosystems. Mobile animals, such as adult fish, can typically
survive hypoxic events by moving to areas of higher oxygen, but this displacement pushes them
into less optimal habitats, often along the edge of the hypoxic zone (Craig 2012; Craig and
Bosman 2012). One study estimates that the hypoxic zone has resulted in about a 25 percent
habitat loss for brown shrimp along the Louisiana coast, west of the Mississippi delta (Craig et
5
Hypoxia is a term used to describe waters
that have very low dissolved oxygen and
thus are stressful to habitats and living
resources in lakes, estuaries, and coastal
waters. Hypoxic waters have dissolved
oxygen concentrations of less than 2-3
ppm. Hypoxia can be caused by a variety
of factors, including excess nutrients,
primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, and
waterbody stratification due to saline or
temperature gradients.
Eutrophication occurs when waterbodies
are over-enriched with nutrients beyond
natural levels, causing significant
increases in primary production, or
growth of algae. In the same way that
nitrogen and phosphorus fertilize crops,
they also fertilize plants in the aquatic
systems. The spring delivery of nutrients
initiates a seasonal progression of
biological processes that ultimately leads
to the depletion of oxygen in the bottom
water. (Gulfhypoxia.net)
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
al. 2005). Exposure to hypoxia can cause severe health effects to aquatic life, such as reduced
growth and reproduction. Atlantic croaker, a species considered hypoxia-tolerant, exhibits
sublethal physiological symptoms, including reproductive impairment, when exposed to low
oxygen. Studies have isolated and established a biomarker that appears in Atlantic croaker when
exposed to hypoxia. The biomarker has been seen in other species (e.g., shrimp) as well,
indicating that the sublethal physiological impacts of hypoxia are likely not limited to fish
(Thomas et al. 2007; Murphy et al. 2009; Thomas and Rahman 2009, 2010; Kodama et al.
2012a, 2012b). Additional information regarding the environmental impacts of the hypoxic zone
in the Gulf of Mexico can be found under Action 5 of the HTF 2013 Reassessment (Mississippi
River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force 2013a).
In addition to hypoxia, nutrient pollution has other impacts. High levels of nutrients in drinking
water—nitrate in particular—and elevated levels of by-products from the reaction of disinfection
agents with organic material (e.g., algae from nutrient excess) have been linked with increased
disease risks, illnesses, and even death (State-EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group 2009). The
economic costs of treating nutrient-enriched drinking water are considerable; one USDA study
estimates that the cost to all public and private sources of removing nitrate from U.S. drinking
water supplies—not just drinking water supplies in HTF states—is over $4.8 billion per year
(Ribaudo et al. 2011). Efforts to control Gulf Hypoxia can have the corollary benefit of reducing
drinking water concerns and other more localized impacts of nutrient excess in communities
located in the MARB.
In Ohio, Grand Lake St. Marys, which feeds the Wabash River and flows to the Ohio River
before joining the Mississippi River, is a striking example of the environmental and economic
impacts of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. Grand Lake St. Marys covers more than 13,000
acres and is Ohio's largest inland waterbody. In 2009, nutrient loading from farm runoff, failing
septic systems, and lawn fertilizers triggered unprecedented blooms of toxic algae, leading to the
death of fish, birds, and dogs, as well as illnesses in at least seven people (State-EPA Nutrient
Innovations Task Group 2009). Since then, Grand Lake St. Marys State Park revenues have
declined by more than $250,000 a year. Water-based recreation has shrunk to a small percentage
of what it once was. Several marinas and boat dealers have closed and other small businesses
around the lake have either closed or experienced substantial reduction in revenues estimated at
$35-45 million in 2010 (Davenport and Drake 2011). Resources from local, state, and federal
agencies including EPA and USDA have been marshalled to restore the lake, but costs are steep.
In the past four years, nearly 40 projects totaling over $25 million have funded a variety of
management actions, including monitoring, alum treatment, dredging, aeration, wetland
treatment systems, habitat improvement, and agricultural conservation practices. These
investments have produced documentable results such as decreased sediment loadings and
improved dissolved oxygen and water circulation (Ohio EPA 2013). The city of Celina, which
draws its drinking water from Grand Lake St. Marys, has spent $7.2 million in capital costs for a
new granular activated carbon (GAC) facility and spends $340,000 per year on GAC filter media
to address trihalomethanes (THMs) and algae concerns (Michael Eggert, Ohio EPA, personal
communication, November 9, 2012).
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Much work remains to be done to better quantify the socioeconomic costs and benefits of
nutrient reduction at the MARB scale. Anderson et al. (2000) estimated the potential annual
impacts of HABs nationally on public health, fisheries, recreation and tourism, and monitoring
and management. The authors note that their results are underestimates due to additional
unquantified categories of impacts, but estimated that:
• Shellfish and ciguatera fish poisoning resulted in $33.9-81.6 million in public health
expenditures.
• Wild harvest and aquaculture losses associated with shellfish poisoning, ciguatera, and
brown tides resulted in $18.5-24.9 million in commercial fishing losses.
• Tourism industries in North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington lost up to $29.3 million.
• Monitoring and management programs (such as routine shellfish toxin monitoring) in just
12 states cost $2.0-2.1 million.
Dodds et al. (2009) also developed national-level estimates of the impacts of nutrient pollution.
They compared nutrient concentrations for EPA ecoregions to reference conditions to identify
areas potentially impacted by nutrient pollution, then estimated annual impacts to recreation, real
estate, spending on threatened and endangered species recovery, and drinking water. The results
for each sector were:
• $189-589 million in fishing expenditure losses and $182-567 million in boating
expenditure losses (based on lake area closures and expenditures).
• $0.3-2.8 billion in property value losses (depending on the assumed land availability).
• $44 million in spending to develop conservation plans for 60 species impacted by
eutrophi cation.
• $813 million in expenditures on bottled water due to taste and odor issues in public water
supplies attributable to eutrophi cation.
Estimates of the costs of controlling hypoxia vary. One recent study published by the National
Academy of Sciences indicates that if agricultural conservation investments could be targeted to
the most cost-effective locations, a combined federal, state, local and private investment of $2.7
billion per year could effectively reduce the size of the hypoxic zone (Rabotyagov et al. 2014). A
number of qualifications apply to this estimate. Notably, it only considers conservation practices
installed on agricultural lands in production, specifically overland flow practices, edge-of-field
practices, and improvements in irrigation efficiency. It does not consider innovative approaches
to preventing nutrient runoff that have the potential to further reduce costs, such as agricultural
drainage water management and bioreactors, saturated buffers, cover crops, use of easements for
wetlands restoration/creation, streambank conservation, and/or advances in technologies such a
urease inhibitors or slow release fertilizers.
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Once loading reductions are achieved, the reduction in the hypoxic zone would likely take at
least another five years to fully respond depending on the timing of the reductions and the natural
interannual variability (Greene et al. 2009). These lag times occur for a number of reasons.
Phosphorus often attaches to sediment or is incorporated into organic particulate matter.
Sediment and attached pollutants can take years to move downstream as particles are repeatedly
deposited, resuspended, and redeposited within the drainage network by episodic high flow
storm events. Thus, substantial lag times could occur between reductions of sediment and P
delivery into the streams and measurement of those reductions at the watershed outlet. Upland
conservation actions that reduce phosphorus within or at the edge of a field may be masked by
streambank or bed erosion of phosphorus laden sediment for years to come (Tomer and Locke
2011). For phosphorous that is dissolved in solution in the water, hydraulic residence time (the
length of time it takes for water to flush through the lake or reservoir) has a great impact on how
long it takes to measure an improvement.
Eutrophic state and "internal loading" (or cycling
of phosphorous stored in aquatic sediments by
biological organisms) can also influence lag
time. Internal loading from legacy pollutants can
become a significant source of phosphorus, one
that is not addressed by management measures
on the land.
Nitrogen typically travels in dissolved form and,
because of this fact, may infiltrate along with
water into subsurface drainage or groundwater
systems. In many places, water moving through
subsurface drainage or groundwater aquifers
eventually rejoins surface water, either through
tile outlets or as base flow in a stream. These
water flows can carry nitrogen from the fields to
the stream, but there is a time lag for nitrogen to
reach the water body. Groundwater flows much
more slowly than surface water—perhaps 10,000
times or more slowly in some cases—so nitrogen
in groundwater may move only a few hundred
feet per year (Tomer and Burkart 2003).
1.3 The Hypoxia Task Force
The HTF is a federal/state partnership established in 1997 to work collaboratively on reducing
excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the MARB and to reduce the size of the hypoxic zone in the
Gulf of Mexico. Members of the HTF include five federal agencies and 12 states bordering the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The National Tribal Water Council represents tribal interests on the
HTF. EPA is the HTF federal co-chair; the position of state co-chair, established in 2010, rotates
among the state members. Iowa is the current state co-chair. Senior staff, who meet as the
Coordinating Committee, support HTF members.
Members of the Hypoxia Task Force
• Arkansas Natural Resources Commission
• Illinois Department of Agriculture
• Indiana State Department of Agriculture
• Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
• Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection
• Louisiana Governor's Office of Coastal Activities
• Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
• Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
• Missouri Department of Natural Resources
• Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
• Tennessee Department of Agriculture
• Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• U.S. Department of Agriculture: Natural Resources and
Environment
• U.S. Department of Agriculture: Research, Education, and
Economics
• U.S. Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
• U.S. Department of the Interior: U.S. Geological Survey
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• National Tribal Water Council
Additional Entities Participating on the HTF's Coordinating
Committee:
• Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO)
• Lower Mississippi River Sub-Basin Committee
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Each HTF member state is represented by an official from its agriculture, pollution control, or
natural resources agency and is encouraged to work with all relevant state agencies to achieve
HTF goals. The membership structure enables the HTF to provide a forum for state water
quality, natural resources, and agricultural agencies; tribes; and federal agencies to partner on
local, state, and regional nutrient reduction efforts, encouraging a holistic approach that takes
into account both upstream sources and downstream impacts.
1.3.1 2001 Action Plan
In 2001, the HTF delivered an action plan to Congress. That plan, entitled Action Plan for
Reducing and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (2001 Action Plan), described
a national strategy to reduce the frequency, duration, size, and degree of the oxygen depletion of
the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed
Nutrient Task Force 2001). Key aspects of the strategy were: (1) a goal to reduce the areal extent
of the dead zone to less than 5,000 km2 by 2015; and (2) a commitment to reduce nitrogen
discharges to the Gulf, with multistate sub-basin committees responsible for developing nutrient
reduction strategies. Interestingly, phosphorus was not viewed as a cause of hypoxia at that time.
1.3.2 2006-2007 Science Advisory Board Evaluation
In 2006, EPA asked its Science Advisory Board (SAB) to evaluate the most recent science on the
Gulf hypoxic zone, as well as potential options for reducing the size of the zone. The SAB's
report (USEPA 2007) reaffirmed that the hypoxic area in the Gulf is caused primarily by nutrient
loads from the MARB, and indicated that significant reductions in both nitrogen and phosphorus
are needed. The report states that in order to achieve the coastal goal for the size of the hypoxic
zone and improve water quality in the MARB, a dual nutrient strategy targeting at least a 45
percent reduction in both riverine total nitrogen load and in riverine total phosphorus load is
needed.
1.3.3 2008 Action Plan
After a reassessment of the 2001 Action Plan, the HTF released the 2008 Action Plan. The
revised plan calls for each state to develop reduction strategies that address both nitrogen and
phosphorus. Key action items include: (1) promoting effective conservation practices to manage
rural runoff; (2) using existing regulatory controls to reduce point source discharges of nitrogen
and phosphorus; (3) tracking progress; (4) reducing existing scientific uncertainties; and (5)
promoting effective communication to increase awareness of Gulf hypoxia. The 2008 Action
Plan also reaffirms the 2001 Action Plan quantitative coastal goal (Mississippi River/Gulf of
Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force 2008):
"Subject to the availability of additional resources, we strive to reduce or make
significant progress toward reducing the five-year running average areal extent of the
Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 square kilometers by the year 2015."
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1.3.4 2013 Reassessment
The 2008 Action Plan calls for a reassessment, in five years, of the HTF approach to addressing
excess nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the MARB and reducing the size of the Gulf hypoxic
zone. The 2013 Reassessment reaffirms the HTF's commitment to implementing the 2008
Action Plan and provides a snapshot of progress to date (Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico
Watershed Nutrient Task Force 2013a).
1.3.5 2015 Revised Goal Framework
In February 2015, the HTF announced that it would retain the original goal of reducing the areal
extent of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 km2 and extend the time of
attainment from 2015 to 2035. The HTF also for the first time agreed on an interim target of a 20
percent nutrient load reduction by the year 2025 as a milestone toward reducing the hypoxic
zone to less than 5,000 km2 by the year 2035. Given the size of the MARB and the Gulf, the
many actions that need to be funded and implemented, the reservoir of excess nutrients in soils
and groundwater, and the impacts of climate change (e.g., more intense and frequent rain storms
leading to more nutrient runoff and warmer waters which are not able to hold as much dissolved
oxygen), the HTF recognized that it will take additional time to meet the water quality goals in
those large bodies of water. The HTF committed to accelerated and new actions including
concerted state efforts to implement their nutrient reduction strategies, targeting vulnerable lands
and quantifying the nutrient load reductions from federal programs such as the USD A RCPP,
USDA MRBI, USFWS Mississippi River Habitat Initiative and Landscape Conservation
Cooperatives, and EPA Water Pollution Control Program Grants and Nonpoint Source
Management Program, adopting quantitative measures to track interim progress, strengthening
water quality monitoring efforts, and expanding and building new HTF partnerships and
alliances. The revised goal statement reads as follows:
"We strive to reduce the five-year running average areal extent of the Gulf of Mexico
hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 square kilometers by the year 2035. Reaching this final
goal will require a significant commitment of resources to greatly accelerate
implementation of actions to reduce nutrient loading from all major sources of nitrogen
and phosphorus in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB). An Interim Target
of a 20% reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus loading by 2025 (relative to the 1980-
1996 average MARB loading to the Gulf) is a milestone for immediate planning and
implementation actions, while continuing to develop future action strategies to achieve
the final goal through 2035. Federal agencies, States, Tribes and other partners will work
collaboratively to plan and implement specific, practical and cost-effective actions to
achieve both the Interim Target and the updated Coastal Goal."
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Part 2: Understanding the Hypoxic Zone and Sources of Nutrients
in the MARB
2.1 Understanding the Extent and Nature of the Hypoxic Zone
The areal extent of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico is measured every summer.
Monitoring supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and
EPA, and conducted by Drs. Nancy Rabalais (Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium -
http://www.lumcon.edu/) and Eugene Turner (Louisiana State University), documented that the
midsummer areal extent of the 2014 hypoxic zone was 13,080 km2 (NOAA 2014), or about the
size of Connecticut. That size is close to the long-term average (13,751 km2) as well as the
average over the last five years (14,353 km2). It is still much larger than the HTF coastal goal of
5,000 km2, indicating that nutrients from the Mississippi River watershed are continuing to affect
the nation's coastal resources and habitats in the Gulf. The observed dead zone area fell within
the predicted June forecast range of 12,000 to 14,785 km2 (NOAA and USGS 2014), confirming
the accuracy of NOAA-sponsored forecast models. Figure 1 shows the size of the hypoxic zone
from 1985 to 2014.
Area of Northern Gulf of Mexico Mid-summer Bottom Water
Hypoxia 1985-2014
{dissolved oxygen < 2.0 mg/L)
— 25,000
B
U
E
*2 20,000
tl
h.
to
3
is ,ooo
10,000
X
0
a
>
1
5,000
(Long-term average)
(Moving 5-year average
Task Force Goal
/
i
\
Figure 1. Size of the hypoxic zone from 1S85 through 2014. Droughts (d) occurred in 1988, 2000, and
2012, resulting in less fresh water and fewer nutrients reaching the Gulf. Years when hypoxia area was
lower than expected from nutrient loading levels included 2003, 2005, and 2006, when hurricanes (h)
occurred just prior to the cruises that mapped oxygen conditions, and in 2009, when strong southwesterly
wind-driven circulation (c) changes reduced hypoxia areal extent by pushing water masses to the east.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
An important factor driving the NOAA hypoxic zone forecast model predictions is the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) May nutrient load data from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River basin.
NOAA-supported researchers use the USGS May nutrient loads to estimate the size of the Gulf
dead zone (USGS 2014b). The 2011-2014 five year moving average of May nitrate flux is
similar to the 1980-1996 baseline period (see Figure 2).
250,000
200,000
150,000
c
o
I-
o
%
E 100,000
50,000
Figure 2. The amount of nitrate transported to the Gulf from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River in May is
used by NOAA supported researchers to estimate the size of the hypoxic zone. The 2011-2014 five year
moving average is similar to the 1980-1996 baseline period.
The HABHRCA-authorized Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems and Hypoxia Assessment
Program (NGOMEX) has supported development of the forecast models used in these multi-
model ensembles (three models in 2014 and four models planned for the 2015 forecast). The
models are used to quantify the link between MARB nutrients and the size of the hypoxic zone
and provide guidance to the Task Force on nutrient reduction levels required to meet the coastal
goal. NGOMEX has also supported Dr. Rabalais' mapping of the dead zone since the
HABHRCA program started in 2000, extending the long-term monitoring data set to 30 years
(from 1985 to 2014).
NOAA has invested more than $38 million to sponsor research advancing science to support
management of the dead zone, spanning from the Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Productivity
(NECOP) program (1990-1999) to the HABHRCA-mandated NGOMEX program (2000 to the
present) and the more recent Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed Program. These investments
have developed the scientific foundation for long-term monitoring, and modeling of the causes
and impacts of hypoxia.
May Nitrate Flux
asellne Average 198C
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
2.1.1 Assessing the Dead Zone
NOAA's hypoxia and nutrient pollution research
provides monitoring capabilities, biogeochemical
processing results, and predictive modeling tools
that enable coastal resource managers to make
informed, proactive, and scientifically-based
decisions to mitigate the impact of hypoxia on
aquatic ecosystems. Conducted under HABHRCA
and in response to needs identified by the HTF,
NOAA's efforts are leading to the development of
an operational hypoxia monitoring and forecasting
system for the Gulf of Mexico and providing an
annual measurement of the size of the dead zone—
a key metric of the HTF—each summer. Over the
past five years, NOAA, in partnership with the
Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) and EPA, has
convened annual Gulf hypoxia research
coordination workshops to advance monitoring
and modeling needs critical to managing hypoxia.
2.1.2 Operational Hypoxia Monitoring
NOAA Accomplishments
NOAA has been instrumental in fostering
knowledge about the hypoxic zone and
continuing to advance the science to improve
that understanding. Examples of NOAA's
hypoxia-related accomplishments include the
following:
• Conducting annual monitoring of the size
of the hypoxic zone, which allows the HTF
to track the metric that determines
whether the HTF is making progress
toward meeting its goal of reducing the
size of the zone.
• Working to improve monitoring and
understanding through the use of new
technologies such as gliders.
• Developing modeling approaches to better
support the HTF's management needs.
One of the outputs from the 2013 NOAA/NGI Hypoxia Coordination Workshop was the Glider
Implementation Plan for Hypoxia Monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico (Howden et al. 2014). The
plan supports the dispatch of autonomous underwater vehicles for enhanced monitoring of
seasonal hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The HTF has repeatedly emphasized the need
for improved hypoxic zone monitoring to better characterize the spatial and temporal relationship
to Mississippi River nutrient loading. The plan is tiered according to available funds with three
priorities: (1) four hypoxia glider cross-shelf transects that extend both east and west of the
Mississippi River Delta; (2) expanded coverage spatially and temporally; and (3) sensors for
determining the effects of hypoxia on living marine resources.
NOAA and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System have recently announced a fiscal year
(FY) 2015 NGOMEX federal funding opportunity (FFO) that is a HABHRCA-authorized
program to support pilot research to test the application of gliders to Gulf hypoxic zone
monitoring for integration into an operational monitoring program. Note that glider monitoring
of the dead zone is intended to augment, not replace, the midsummer ship-based survey that
provides the long-term HTF metric (areal extent) used to assess progress toward mitigating
hypoxia. Operational shipboard monitoring of the hypoxic zone remains a critical requirement
along with fixed, continuously recording sensors, since gliders can be expected only to
supplement the full range of measurements that are possible at this time only from a vessel with
a scientific crew.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
2.1.3 Operational Hypoxia Scenario Forecast Modeling.
Another output from the 2013 NOAA/NGI workshop is a white paper, Modeling Approaches for
Scenario Forecasts of Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia (Aikman et al. 2014), which assesses the state of
scenario forecast models that target hypoxic zone dynamics and evaluate modeling approaches
that most effectively meet the HTF management directive to mitigate hypoxia. The paper was
written by a technical expert panel whose objective was to assess existing models based on their
(1) ability to address key management questions; (2) infrastructure, data, and remaining research
needs; and (3) readiness for transition to operation.
The models discussed in the paper include both empirical and deterministic models. The panel
concluded that several empirically-based models were ready for transition to operational use for
informing living resource and water quality managers of the nutrient reduction goals needed to
mitigate hypoxia. The panel also found that the deterministic modeling efforts were not fully
ready to be considered for use in an operational environment. They emphasized the need for
continued refinement of the deterministic modeling efforts, with the ultimate goal of developing
an ensemble (multiple-model) modeling approach. This approach would be used to inform the
HTF of required nutrient reduction goals, both in the short term and under longer climate change
scenarios. The paper also provides detailed information on the model types (Aikman et al. 2014).
NOAA's Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed Program is continuing to provide considerable
support to transition these complex models to an operational status under NOAA's Ecological
Forecast Roadmap Initiative.
2.1.4 Ecological Modeling of the Impacts of Hypoxia.
The Fifth Annual NOAA/NGI Hypoxia Research Coordination Workshop continued its tradition
of advancing the science that informs fisheries and resource managers about the ecological and
socioeconomic effects of Gulf hypoxia. The workshop also provided a forum to assess and
predict the potential effects of large-scale Mississippi River diversions. Large-scale ecosystem
restoration efforts, such as river diversions and hypoxia mitigation, affect fisheries and their
habitat. The ability to assess and predict those effects is important in ensuring that restoration
management is informed by the best available science and that decision makers have the latest
information on advances in understanding ecosystem responses (i.e., adaptive management).
The workshop gave federal, state, nongovernmental organization (NGO), and academic
managers and researchers an opportunity to chart a course for adaptive management in the Gulf:
http://www.ncddc.noaa.gov/activities/healthv-oceans/giilf-hypoxia-stakeholders/workshop-
2014/. Attendees emphasized the need to include the human element in assessing ecosystem
effects by integrating social and economic sciences into ecosystem modeling. A white paper
from the workshop proceedings will provide guidance for adaptive management of fisheries
responses to hypoxia and diversions.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
2.2 Monitoring and Modeling Water Quality and Nutrient Loading
in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin
2.2.1 Nutrient Monitoring and Trends
The hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico is one of the
largest in the world and its size is related to the flux of nutrients
from the Mississippi River Basin (Turner et al. 2006). Nutrient
flux from the Mississippi River Basin is strongly influenced by
changes in streamflow, which in turn is influenced by changes in
precipitation and runoff (Donner et al. 2007, Goolsby et al. 2001,
Mclsaac et al. 2001). USGS tracks annual nutrient loads at about
40 stations throughout the MARB, which can be viewed at:
http://toxics.usgs.gov/hvpoxia/mississippi/flux ests/index.html
(USGS 2014c). Many of the large river sites have been monitored
for more than 30 years, providing a long-term measurement of
how nutrient loads are changing over time in response to climate,
land-use changes, and nutrient-reduction actions.
The 2007 Mississippi River Basin Science Advisory Board
Panel recommended a dual nutrient reduction strategy
targeting a 45 percent reduction in total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads flowing into the
Gulf of Mexico to reduce the hypoxic zone to a five year running average of 5,000 km2. The
baseline period for the load comparison is 1980-1996. The total nitrogen five year moving
average for 2011-2014 was about 18 percent below the baseline period (Figure 3).The total
phosphorus five year moving average for 2011-2014 was about 15 percent above the baseline
period (Figure 4).
2,500,000
2,000,000
t/i 1,500,000
c
£
u
g 1,000,000
500,000
0
Figure 3. Annual total nitrogen loads in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River basin transported to the Gulf of
Mexico from 1980-2014.
USGS Accomplishments
USGS has made significant
contributions to monitoring and
modeling in the MARB. Examples of
hypoxia-related accomplishments
include the following:
• Real-time monitoring of nitrate
levels in over 40 small streams
and large rivers to reduce
uncertainty in nutrient load
estimates.
• Developing models (e.g.,
SPARROW) to determine the
sources and areas contributing the
largest amounts of nutrients to
the Gulf of Mexico.
Annual Total Nitrogen Flux
(Baseline Average 1980-96)
\Dil2
-
(45%
.TP""
n Target)
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
250,000
200,000
» 150,000
£
a
E 100,000
50,000
0
Figure 4. Annual total phosphorus loads in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River basin transported to the
Gulf of Mexico from 1980-2014
USGS is using advanced optical sensor technology to accurately track nitrate levels in real-time
at more than 40 small streams and rivers throughout the Mississippi River Basin (USGS 2014a).
Hourly information on nitrate levels improves the accuracy of, and reduces the uncertainty in,
estimating nitrate loads to the Gulf of Mexico, especially during drought and flood years. Those
data can also be used to detect changes in nitrate levels related to nutrient reduction actions.
Figure 5 provides an example of real-time data. Nitrate levels at the Mississippi River Baton
Rouge site peaked close to 2.0 mg/L in 2012, but were near or exceeded 3.0 mg/L in 2013 and
2014.
Annual Total Phosphorus Flux
{Baseline Avei
4
e 1980-96)
ll
{4596 Reduction Target
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x cq cO QO CO cc x
cn m Ol CTi ITl CT CTl
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
2012 2013 2014
Figure 5. Real-time USGS nitrate data provides new insights into the seasonal patterns and
peak concentrations. The data shown here from the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge can
be found at this link: http://waterdata.usas.gov/nwis/uv9site no=073740QQ. There are
currently over 40 real-time nitrate sensors located in the Mississippi River Basin.
(link: http://waterwatch.usqs.qov/wqwatch/?pcode=0063Q)
Nitrate trends were determined at eight long-term USGS monitoring sites in the Mississippi
River Basin—including four major tributaries (i.e., the Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri rivers)
and four locations along the Mississippi River—using a methodology that adjusts for year-to-
year variability in streamflow conditions (Murphy et al. 2013). Flow-normalized nitrate
concentrations at the Mississippi River outlet to the Gulf of Mexico increased 12 percent from
2000 to 2010.
Consistent increases in flow-normalized nitrate concentrations occurred between 2000 and 2010
in the Upper Mississippi River (29 percent) and the Missouri River (43 percent). Nitrate
concentrations in the Ohio River are the lowest among the eight Mississippi River Basin sites
and have remained relatively stable over the past 30 years.
Nitrate levels in the Illinois River decreased by 21 percent between 2000 and 2010, marking the
first time substantial, multiyear decreases in nitrate had been observed in the Mississippi River
Basin since 1980. Nitrate levels during the same period decreased by about 10 percent in the
Iowa River. Reliable information on trends in contributing factors (e.g., fertilizer use, livestock
waste, agricultural management practices, urban inputs, wastewater treatment improvements) is
needed to better understand the correlation of those factors, independently and collectively, to
increases or decreases in nitrate levels in streams and rivers throughout the Mississippi River
Basin.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
2.2.2 Sources of Nutrients
2.2.2.1 MARB-Scale Assessment of Nutrient Sources
The USGS spatially referenced regression on watershed attributes (SPARROW) model
(Robertson and Saad 2013) provides a consistent basinwide approach to understanding how
rivers receive and transport nutrients from urban, agricultural, and natural sources to the Gulf of
Mexico. Figure 6 provides a graphic showing estimated sources of total nitrogen and total
phosphorus to the Gulf of Mexico. At the basin scale, agricultural inputs (i.e., manure, fertilizer,
and legume crops) were the largest total nitrogen source (60 percent of the total), with farm
fertilizers contributing 41 percent of that amount. Atmospheric deposition, which may include
volatilized losses from natural, urban, and agricultural sources, contributed 26 percent; urban
sources contributed about 14 percent (7 percent from urban areas and 7 percent from wastewater
treatment plants).
Agricultural inputs (manure and fertilizers) were also the largest total phosphorus source:
49 percent of the total, with 27 percent from chemical fertilizers and 22 percent from manure.
Urban sources contributed 29 percent: 16 percent from urban areas and 13 percent from
wastewater treatment plants. Background sources of phosphorus included erosion of channels
and banks of large streams where phosphorus was previously deposited from other upstream
sources (14 percent), deeply weathered loess soils (5 percent), and forests (3 percent).
Total Nitrogen Wastewater
Treatment Plants-
7%
Urban Areas
7%
Total Phosphorus
Atmospheric
Deposition
26%
Wastewater
Treatment Plant:
13%
Forests and Deeply Weathered
Wetlands Loess
3%
Instream Channels
14%
Fertilizers (Farm)N
41%
Manure (Confined)
10%
Fixation and Other
- Legume Sources
9%
Urban Areas
Manure (Total)
Fertilizers (Farm)
27%
Figure 6. USGS SPARROW model estimates of sources of total nitrogen and total phosphorus
transported from Mississippi River Basin to Gulf of Mexico (Robertson and Saad 2013)
The sources of nutrients transported to local water bodies in each of the 12 HTF states draining
to the Mississippi River can vary significantly. The nutrient reduction strategies developed by
each of the HTF states provide comprehensive assessments of nutrient sources at the state scale
and describe suites of actions to be taken to reduce nutrients (see "State-Scale Assessment of
Nutrient Sources" in next section).
Maps of nitrogen and phosphorus yields, loads, and watershed rankings with nutrient source
information for a state, a large river basin, or the entire Mississippi River Basin can be accessed
using the USGS SPARROW mapper:
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
http://wim.usgs.gov/sparrowMARB/sparrowMARBmapper.html (USGS 2002a). The USGS
SPARROW decision support system (http://cida.usgs.gov/sparrow/map.isp?model=37) provides
similar types of maps, but it can also be used to simulate nutrient reduction scenarios basinwide
or to target multiple-nutrient reductions in selected areas of the watershed and evaluate the effect
the reductions would have on nutrient inputs at the outlet of the Mississippi River (USGS
2002b). Figure 7 shows which watersheds are delivering the highest nutrient yields to the Gulf of
Mexico, based on USGS SPARROW model estimates.
ONTARIO
MICHIGAN
Toronto
Rbchesterc
Grand Detroit
Rapids p
(rarlotte,
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SOUTH
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Jacksonville
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Houston
,San
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Chihuahua
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Total Nitrogen
Yield Delivered
to Gulf of Mexico
^USGS
science lor a cfirtinpiig wewfeT
SPARROW Mapper
Mississippi Basin 2002 Nutrient Models
UnkB
Winnipeg
USGS SPARROW MAPPER
Figure 7. The online SPARROW mapper can map nutrient yields, loads, and
sources for a state, large river basin, or the entire Mississippi River watershed
2.2.2.2 State-Scale Assessment of Nutrient Sources
State assessments of nutrient sources in the nutrient-reduction strategies provide a finer scale
resolution of information identifying the major sources of nutrients to streams, rivers, lakes, and
reservoirs. The state assessments contain multiple innovative approaches to enhance the
understanding of how nutrients are transported to streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. State
assessments may differ from basinwide assessment estimates because they may use different
input data and modeling assumptions.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
2.2.2.3 Examples of State Assessments of Nutrient Sources
Illinois
In Illinois, extensive analyses conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois estimated
that point sources and agricultural nonpoint sources each contributed 48 percent of the total
phosphorus reaching the Mississippi River from that state. Agriculture was the source of 80
percent of the nitrate-nitrogen; point sources contributed about 18 percent. Urban runoff
contributed 4 percent of the total phosphorus and 2 percent of the nitrate-nitrogen. The tile-
drained areas of central and northern Illinois are the largest source of nitrate. Sloping, erosive
soils in western and southern Illinois are the largest contributor of nonpoint total phosphorus.
Iowa
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), Iowa Department of
Natural Resources (Iowa DNR), and Iowa State University (ISU) developed a science and
technology-based framework to assess and reduce nutrients to Iowa waters and the Gulf of
Mexico (Iowa State University 2015). On an annual basis, the largest percentage of nutrient
loads in Iowa come from nonpoint sources (See Table 1). Wastewater treatment facilities
contribute a relatively small percentage of the total annual nutrient load to Iowa rivers and
streams when compared to nonpoint sources. However, the impacts of nutrient discharges by
wastewater treatment facilities on water quality in small streams during low streamflow
conditions can be significant. Artificial drainage (tile drains) and natural subsurface drainage
facilitate the vast majority of nitrogen transport to streams in Iowa. In tile-drained landscapes, an
estimated 17 percent nitrate yield was from surface runoff and 83 percent was from subsurface
flow. The sources of phosphorus include agricultural nonpoint source runoff and streambank
erosion.
Table 1. Estimated Sources of Nutrient Loads to Streams in Iowa
Source of Nutrient Loads
Nitrogen
(Percent)
Phosphorus
(Percent)
Point sources
7
21
Nonpoint sources
93
79
Minnesota
As part of Minnesota's nutrient reduction strategy, the state conducted a comprehensive science
assessment that incorporated nutrient conditions, trends, sources, and pathways. The nutrient
source assessment was based on multiple Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) studies
and engaged numerous local, state, and federal partners. During an average precipitation year,
cropland sources contribute an estimated 78 percent of the nitrogen load to the Mississippi River
in Minnesota. Cropland nitrogen reaches surface waters through two dominant pathways: tile-
line transport; and leaching to groundwater and subsequent flow to surface waters. The primary
sources of phosphorus transported to streams are cropland runoff, permitted wastewater, and
stream bank erosion (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 2014b). Figure 8 provides more
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
information about nutrient sources from Minnesota to the Mississippi River (Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency 2014b).
Mississippi River
Nutrient source
P
N
Cropland runoff
35%
5%
Atmosphericb
8%
6%
NPDES permitted wastewater discharges1
18%
9%
Streambank erosion
17%
-
Urban runoff
7%
1%
Nonagricultural rural runoffd
4%
-
Individual sewage treatment systems
5%
2%
Agricultural tile drainage
3%
43%
Feedlot runoff
2%
0%
Roadway deicing
1%
--
Cropland groundwater"
--
31%
Forest
--
4%
Notes: P = phosphorus; N = nitrogen
a. Source percentages do not represent what is delivered to the basin outlets.
b. Atmospheric deposition is to lakes and rivers.
c. Nutrient loads in the Lake Superior Basin are lower than other basins in the state and therefore wastewater is a larger portion of the
overall sources. Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (Duluth area) accounts for more than 50 percent of the wastewater
phosphorus load in the basin.
d. Includes natural land cover types (forests, grasslands, and shrublands) and developed land uses that are outside the boundaries of
Incorporated urban areas.
e. Refers to nitrogen leaching into groundwater from cropland land uses.
Scale: Low High
Figure 8. Sources of phosphorus and nitrogen in Minnesota that contribute to nutrient loading in
Mississippi River Basin (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 2014b).
2.2.3 Mississippi River Basin Monitoring Collaborative
Numerous reports have highlighted the challenges of identifying the water quality benefits of
conservation practices on private land. They also stress the need for continued efforts to integrate
monitoring and modeling studies to move conservation science and policy forward in
cooperation and partnership with interested landowners and other stakeholders. Expanded stream
monitoring and improved accounting of nutrient inputs and management actions are essential to
tracking progress in reducing nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin and informing
future water-quality models.
In 2012, the HTF established the Mississippi River Basin Monitoring Collaborative to identify
streams with long-term monitoring and streamflow records that can be used to evaluate progress
toward reducing the amounts of nutrients transported to local streams and ultimately to the Gulf
of Mexico. This long-term monitoring network, which USGS helps lead, provides a foundation
for evaluating the effectiveness of conservation practices and other nutrient reduction efforts
included in the HTF states' nutrient reduction strategies. The Task Force Monitoring
Collaborative has compiled more than 670,000 nutrient data records collected by 48 agencies
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
throughout the HTF area states since 2000. Initial assessments of the data have focused on sites
with both long-term water quality and streamflow monitoring. There are 134 sites with more
than 20 years of monthly water quality data and approximately 240 sites with 10 to 19 years of
monitoring data. Bimonthly and quarterly monitoring frequencies are also being assessed.
The Water Quality Portal is a cooperative service sponsored by USGS, EPA, and the National
Water Quality Monitoring Council that integrates publicly available water quality data from the
USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), the EPA STOrage and RETrieval
(STORET) Data Warehouse, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Sustaining
The Earth's Watersheds - Agricultural Research Database System (STEWARDS). It includes
data collected by over 400 state, federal, tribal, and local agencies. Incorporating long term
monitoring data into the portal will increase the visibility of this critical network, which is
needed to assist in assessing the progress being made in reducing nutrients to local waters, the
MARB, and ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico. Water quality data collected by numerous states and
agencies on the Task Force are currently available through the Water Quality Portal, but not all
water quality information being collected is currently available in the Portal. Once the long term
monitoring network is identified, the goal will be to have all the water quality information for
these sites available through the Water Quality Portal (NWQMC 2015). The portal can be
accessed by going to http://www.waterqualitydata.iis.
2.2.4 EPA Water Quality Monitoring
EPA conducts National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) that provide statistically based
estimates of the condition of water resources at national and broad ecoregion scales. NARS is
currently assessing the nation's waterbodies on a five year rotating basis, with one of four
waterbody types (rivers and streams, lakes, wetlands, and coastal waters) assessed each year. The
national surveys are a stratified probability-based design that randomly selects sample locations
so that condition estimates can be extrapolated beyond the sample locations. As a result, these
surveys can be used to track trends in the condition of the nation's waters, including water
quality and biological condition, over time. These assessments are conducted in partnership
between the EPA and the states, along with other federal partners, and utilize standard methods
across the nation to ensure data compatibility.
In 2008-2009, NARS conducted the nation's first National Rivers and Streams Assessment
(USEPA 2009). EPA and its partners sampled a total of 1,925 sites during the assessment, 945 of
which are located within the Mississippi River Basin. The sites selected for future national rivers
and streams surveys will be a mixture of newly identified random sites, along with a subset of
probabilistic repeat sites to increase the power of the trend analysis over time. Due to the great
number of sites located within the Mississippi River Basin, an assessment of condition can be
made at both the basin and sub-basin scales. Below are some results for nutrient concentration at
both scales.
Nutrient concentrations at the basin scale ranged widely throughout the basin, with phosphorus
and nitrogen ranging from 0.7 to 11,654 |ig/L and 1 to 48,016 |ig/L, respectively. Approximately
55 percent of stream miles in the Mississippi River Basin had phosphorus concentrations
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
between 10 to 100 |ig/L, while 35 percent of river and stream miles had phosphorus
concentrations between 100 to 1,000 |ig/L (Figure 9). Approximately 50 percent of river and
stream miles in the basin had nitrogen concentrations ranging from 100 to 1,000 |ig/L, while
approximately 38 percent had nitrogen concentrations between 1,000 to 10,000 |ig/L (Figure 9).
Phosphorus concentrations within the sub-basins varied greatly, with the Upper and Lower
Mississippi Sub-basins having a great amount of river and stream miles with phosphorus
concentrations in the range of 100 to 1,000 |ig/L (Figure 10). These two sub-basins also had the
greatest percentage of river and stream miles greater than 1000 |ig/L, compared to the other three
sub-basins. The Missouri Sub-basin had similar percentages of rivers and streams in both the
10 to 100 |ig/L and 100 to 1000 |ig/L concentration ranges, whereas the Ohio-Tennessee and the
Arkansas-White-Red Sub-basins had the greatest percentage of rivers and streams within the
10 to 100 |ig/L concentration range.
>10000
1000- 10000
Figure 9. Nutrient Concentration Categories as Percent River and Stream Miles within the Mississippi
Basin
As with phosphorus concentrations, nitrogen concentrations varied within the sub-basins, with
the Upper Mississippi Sub-basin having the greatest percentage of river and stream miles within
the range of 1000 to 10000 |ig/L (Figure 11). The other four sub-basins had the greatest
percentage of river and stream miles within the 100 to 1000 |ig/L range; however, the Missouri
Sub-basin had very similar percentages of river and stream miles in the 100 to 1000 |ig/L and
1000 to 10000 |ig/L nitrogen concentration ranges.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
Upper Mississippi Sub-Basin
U)
~,
w
Q)
O)
C
(0
a:
o
o
Q.
w
o
> 1000
100 -1000
10-100
Lower Mississippi Sub-Basin
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Missouri Sub-Basin
> 1000
100 -1000
10 -100
10 20 30 40 50 60
Arkansas-White-Red Sub-Basin
> 1000
100 -1000
10 -100
20 40 60 80
Percent of Stream Miles
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Ohio-Tennessee Sub-Basin
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percent of Stream Miles
Figure 10. Phosphorus Concentration Categories as Percent River and Stream Miles within the
Mississippi Sub-Basins
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
Upper Mississippi Sub-Basin
>10000
1000 -10000
100 -1000
Lower Mississippi Sub-Basin
20 40 60 80
Missouri Sub-Basin
>10000
1000 -10000
100 - 1000
< 100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Ohio-Tennessee Sub-Basin
10 20 30 40 50 60
Arkansas-White-Red Sub-Basin
20 40 60 80
Percent of Stream Miles
> 10000
1000 -10000
100 -1000
< 100
20 40 60 80
Percent of Stream Miles
Figure 11. Nitrogen Concentration Categories as Percent River and Stream Miles within the Mississippi
Sub-Basins
Data collected during the national surveys create a baseline from which trends can be assessed.
These surveys are a useful tool to help assess changes in water quality and biological condition
due to changes in land use practices throughout the Mississippi River Basin. Additionally, in
conjunction with targeted monitoring, these surveys can help increase our ability to measure
change at both local and regional scales throughout the basin. In addition to the data presented in
this document, the national surveys are collecting a wide range of data that includes additional
water quality parameters, physical habitat measures, and biological indicators. These surveys are
a valuable piece in the larger effort to monitor condition and change throughout the Basin.
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2.2.5 Conservation Effects Assessment Project
2.2.5.1 Cropland Assessments
Since 2003, USD A has worked cooperatively
through the Conservation Effects Assessment
Project (CEAP) to better understand watershed
dynamics and the effectiveness of conservation
systems on agricultural land in the MARB. CEAP
is a multiagency effort to measure the
environmental effects of conservation practices
and programs and to develop the science base for
managing the agricultural landscape for
environmental quality (Duriancik et al. 2008,
Maresch et al. 2008). Project findings help guide
USD A conservation policy and program
development and help conservationists, farmers,
and ranchers make more informed conservation
decisions.
USD A CEAP cropland assessments of the five
major basins in the Mississippi River drainage
combined the USD A Agricultural
Policy/Environmental extender (APEX) field-
scale model with the Hydrologic Unit Model for
the U.S. and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool
(HUMUS/SWAT) watershed models to estimate the basinwide environmental impacts of
conservation practices. The model scenarios demonstrate the benefits of current conservation
practices and estimate the nutrient and sediment loss reductions that could be achieved if
appropriate additional conservation practices were applied to undertreated acres (Arnold et al.
1998; Neitsch et al. 2002; Williams et al. 2008; USDA 2011, 2012a, 2012b, 2013a, 2013b;).
CEAP researchers from the USDA ARS and academic institutions estimate that the conservation
practices on cropland, as reported in the 2003-2006 CEAP surveys, have reduced nitrogen and
phosphorus loading to the Gulf of Mexico by 18 percent and 20 percent, respectively, compared
to a no-practice scenario. CEAP cropland assessments have also shown that certain areas within
the Mississippi River Basin contribute more nutrient loading to both the Gulf of Mexico and
local waters, underscoring the importance of targeting conservation practice implementation to
provide the greatest environmental benefit per U.S. dollar spent (White et al. 2014).
In 2014, USDA and USGS entered into a memorandum of understanding regarding the sharing
of data sets from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Per the
agreement, NRCS will share CEAP survey data and model estimates and assist with aggregate
treatment potential and associated cost estimates at the same level of aggregation and statistical
reliability that NRCS has used in its published basinwide reports. This will allow USGS to
incorporate Natural Resources Inventory (NRI)/CEAP modeling data and estimate the impacts of
conservation practice implementation data collected through the CEAP croplands effort into its
USDA Tools to Better Target Conservation
• Since 2010, CEAP Cropland Assessments
have been completed for all five sub-basins
of the MARB. These assessments estimate
the environmental effects of conservation
programs and provide valuable information
for policymakers and conservation planners
to more effectively allocate conservation
dollars and assistance. For details, see
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/
detail/national/technical/nra/ceap/?cid=nrc
s!43.
• CEAP watershed studies provide insights
into the tools necessary to improve water
quality at the watershed scale. Key findings
of 10 years of these studies were published
in the September 2014 issue of Journal of
Soil and Water and are being used to
implement water quality-focused
conservation initiatives.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
surface water quality modeling (SPARROW). The results of that effort, which includes an initial
pilot project in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, will allow USDA and other agencies to more
accurately target conservation systems to address local and regional nutrient loading.
2.2.5.2 Watershed Assessments
As part of the CEAP studies, NRCS has partnered with USDA's Agricultural Research Service
(ARS), the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and universities across the
country to fund a network of small watershed assessment studies. Collectively, the CEAP
Watershed Assessment studies evaluate the effects of cropland and pastureland conservation
practices on spatial and temporal trends in water quality using water quality monitoring and
complementary modeling. Although a variety of conservation practices can and have been shown
to improve water quality (cf., The Conservation Effects Assessment Project Special Issue (2008)
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 63(6); Osmond et al. 2012; Lizotte et al. 2014),
responses in stream or river water quality to the implementation of conservation practices can be
difficult to demonstrate for several reasons (Tomer and Locke 2011; Osmond et al. 2012). Even
watershed projects with well-designed, fully implemented conservation practices and effective
water quality monitoring efforts might not be able to measure change if the monitoring period
and sampling frequency are not sufficient to address the lag time between treatment and response
(Meals et al. 2010).
Factors that can combine to obscure the effects of conservation on water quality include
historical ("legacy") loads in the natural systems, shifts in climate, changes in land use, lags in
water quality responses, and lack of monitoring information (Tomer and Locke 2011; Tomer et
al. 2014). For example, phosphorus, which readily attaches to sediment, can be controlled by
multiple conservation practices that prevent erosion of sediment from agricultural fields.
Unfortunately, sediment and phosphorus that have previously been eroded from fields without
conservation might already have been deposited along downstream streams and rivers. Kuhnle et
al. (2008) found that 78 percent of the total sediment load in the Goodwin Creek Experimental
Watershed in Mississippi originated from channel sources. Simon and Klimetz (2008) noted that
the source of sediment erosion has shifted from fields to uplands in CEAP watersheds in Iowa,
New York, and Oklahoma in addition to Mississippi. Where this legacy accumulation occurs, it
can add substantial phosphorus load to a river system (Brooks et al. 2010). While current upland
conservation practices helped reduce present-day phosphorus loads and limit additional
contributions, in some cases, large reductions in in-stream loads due to legacy sources remain to
be addressed with in-stream and restoration strategies (Wilson et al. 2014).
Results from both ARS (Richardson et al. 2008 plus accompanying special issue papers; Tomer
and Locke 2011; Tomer et al. 2014) and NIFA (Osmond et al. 2012) CEAP watershed studies
have identified a number of lessons learned, which USDA is working to integrate into its
watershed-based programming and landscape conservation initiatives. These lessons include: the
importance of planning at a watershed scale; identifying the critical pollutants, their sources, and
means of transport; using appropriate models to plan and evaluate implementation; using
appropriate monitoring designs to evaluate conservation outcomes; identifying farmers' attitudes
toward conservation practices and working with them by offering appropriate financial and
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technical assistance; and sustaining assistance and agricultural community engagement after
practice adoption. ARS and NRCS continue to collaborate on CEAP Watershed Assessments in
the 13 ARS Benchmark Watersheds.
2.2.6 USDA Edge-of-Field Water Quality Monitoring
Since 2008, NRCS has provided assistance for 38 edge-of-field water quality monitoring
contracts with private landowners in eight MARB states for evaluating the effectiveness of
conservation practices at the field scale. The objectives of edge-of-field monitoring are to: (1)
assess the efficacy of selected priority conservation systems; (2) calibrate models used to predict
edge-of-field nutrient and sediment reductions; and (3) inform adaptive management decisions.
In FY 2013, USDA revised the edge-of-field practice standard, creating two new edge-of-field
water quality monitoring conservation activity standards. Using those NRCS technical standards
and a rigorous evaluation of landowner applications to participate, only the most promising
sites—those that are scientifically sound and include strong partner support—will be selected for
funding to implement edge-of-field water quality monitoring.
Of the $13 million available in the NRCS's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
in FY 2013 and FY 2014 nationwide to support the targeted implementation of the new water
quality monitoring standards, more than $2 million has been targeted for use in the NRCS
Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative's (MRBI) small watersheds (information
on MRBI can be found in section 3.2.3).
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• .«ii - ....\»sing the Progress Made to** v iri« >n .• id
"i!!¦ .1,11 o11." •ii'1: * ' -h-r ;if lir 11hm"ii"»^11«i .i !h»- M '-.I J
3.1 Progress and Accomplishments of HTF States and Tribes
As of January 2015, all HTF states have draft or complete nutrient reduction strategies. It is
important to note that those strategies are living documents that provide a roadmap for the many
actions that stakeholders will need to take to reduce nutrients from point and nonpoint sources in
the MARB. The strategies were developed by multiple agencies and stakeholders within each
state and have resulted in greater awareness of the need for nutrient reductions in the Mississippi
River Basin and, in some cases, development and implementation of new programs. Links to all
HTF state nutrient reduction strategies are on the HTF website at
http://water.epa.eov/tvpe/watersheds/named/msbasin/nutrient strategies, cfm.
Also included in this section are examples of Clean Water Act (CWA) section 319 success
stories from HTF states, which are posted at http://water.epa.eov/polwaste/nps/success319/. The
examples show the types of watershed projects funded with section 319 funds given to the states
by EPA to reduce nutrient pollution from nonpoint sources in the MARB. In most of the success
stories, project sponsors leverage multiple sources of funding (e.g., EPA CWA section 319
funds, USD A funds, state/local funds, funds from NGOs, and other funds) and landowners share
the costs of installing best management practices (BMPs).
In addition to the summaries of progress in this section, MARB-specific success stories from
past HTF reports (e.g., annual reports) are available on the HTF's website at
http://water.epa.eov/tvpe/watersheds/nam.ed/msbasin/success stories.cfm.
3.1.1 Arkansas
Initiated by the 2014 Arkansas Water Plan update and Arkansas's participation on the HTF, the
Arkansas Nutrient Reduction Strategy (ANRS) is a strategic framework that outlines both
regulatory and voluntary opportunities to improve overall aquatic health and viability in
Arkansas waters for recreational, economic, environmental, and human health benefits (Arkansas
Natural Resources Commission 2014). The ANRS is not a regulatory document and does not
supersede existing water laws governing water quality issues in Arkansas. Rather, it focuses on
outreach and grassroots implementation of nutrient reduction activities. Arkansas has invested
significant effort to address point and nonpoint source nutrient loading through state, federal, and
private partnerships. Partnerships with local, county, state, and federal agencies as well as
nonprofit, academic, and for-profit private sector entities are essential and necessary for (1)
mobilization and coordination of available resources; (2) interpretation and implementation of
water management policies; (3) long-term support at the national, state, and local levels; and (4)
advancement of science-based technologies, methods, and new nutrient reduction techniques.
The ANRS can be accessed at:
http://arkansaswaterplan.ore/state%20niitrient%20reduction%20strateev.html.
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HTF 2015 Report to Congress
The strategic framework promotes iterative and collaborative processes that are adaptive to
changing conditions and adhere to the following guiding principles:
• Strengthening existing programs.
• Promoting voluntary, incentive-based, cost-effective nutrient reduction measures.
• Incorporating adaptive management and flexible strategic planning.
• Leveraging available financial and technical resources.
• Pursuing market-based opportunities and solutions.
An integrated approach, as defined in this strategic framework, represents a "sustained multi-
discipline, multi-sector effort to reduce point and nonpoint nutrient loading and improve water
quality through publicly supported strategies." These efforts require consistent cooperation and
communication on the "ground level" and represent a "from the bottom up" versus "from the top
down" approach to nutrient reduction. Arkansas's soil and water conservation districts are on the
ground level, that is, active in local communities and pioneering the implementation of
innovative practices. These grassroots connections are essential to working with private, state,
and federal entities to improve water quality through public policy, public outreach and
education, research, project implementation, and water quality monitoring in priority watersheds.
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Arkansas Highlights
Illinois River Watershed. The Illinois River watershed, located in northwest Arkansas, has been the focus
of multi-year efforts to reduce nutrient (phosphorus) loadings from nonpoint and point sources.
Coordinated efforts in the Illinois River watershed have consisted of legal, regulatory, and voluntary
reduction activities that have proved effective in nutrient reduction and water quality improvement.
City, county, state, federal, and private industry partnerships have been formed to address nutrient
management issues "on-the-ground" in local communities and have resulted in positive changes to
existing policies and legal mechanisms available to support nutrient reduction. A few highlights of
reduction efforts in the Illinois River watershed include:
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) nutrient limits for wastewater
dischargers
• Increased water quality monitoring and reporting
• Registration of all poultry and livestock production operations, on-farm nutrient management
planning, certification of nutrient management planners and applicators
• Increased funding for USDA conservation and state nonpoint programs
• Research and study of new nutrient markets and market-based solutions
• Development of watershed phosphorus nutrient index
• Creation of proactive non-profit watershed groups and stakeholder involvement
The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) and its partners successfully addressed surface
erosion from agricultural activities through cost-effective targeting of CWA section 319 funds. The 2014
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) water quality assessment has shown that
exceedances of the turbidity standard for all flows (17 nephelometric turbidity units [NTU]) had declined
to 18 percent in the 5-year period leading up to 2014. Therefore, ADEQ removed the turbidity
impairment for the 2.5-mile segment of the Illinois River from its 2014 impaired waters list.
St. Francis River Watershed. In 2009 the Cross County Conservation District (CCCD), using CWA section
319 funds provided by the ANRC, began offering financial and technical assistance to help landowners
implement water control structure BMPs called drop pipes. The BMPs prevent sediment from leaving
agricultural fields by controlling the rate, velocity, and volume of field runoff. Many landowners took
advantage of this opportunity; they installed 108 water control structures along with 10,120 feet of
water transfer pipeline. In 2004 the CCCD used CWA section 319 funds to purchase a no-till drill that
could be used by landowners with small agricultural operations. No-tilling allows for planting seed into
the previous year's crop residue without any tillage. The crop residue protects the soil and lessens the
opportunity for erosion. From 2004 through 2009, landowners used the drill to reduce erosion on more
than 5,400 acres. In 2010 the Poinsett County Conservation District (PCCD) followed CCCD's lead and
began providing financial and technical assistance to landowners to help implement water control
structure BMPs. The PCCD implementation project, also supported by CWA section 319 funds from the
ANRC, resulted in the addition of 287 water control structures on 63 different farms.
As a result of the practices implemented in the watershed, the 2014 ADEQ water quality assessment has
shown that exceedances of the turbidity standard for all flows (100 NTU) declined to 23 percent in St.
Francis River reaches 008 and 009. Therefore, ADEQ removed both reaches from Arkansas's 2014 CWA
section 303(d) list for turbidity impairment.
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3.1.2 Illinois
The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy is based on an assessment of available science and
uses the input of Illinois stakeholders (Illinois EPA 2014). The document was developed in
consultation with a nutrient reduction policy workgroup (composed of wastewater agencies,
agricultural groups, environmental groups, academia, and government agencies), and it went
through a 60-day public comment period. Illinois identified reduction goals to address hypoxia:
45 percent reduction in nitrate-nitrogen and total phosphorus; interim milestones of 15 percent
reduction in nitrate-nitrogen, and 25 percent reduction in total phosphorus by 2025. Much of the
strategy relies on voluntary action, but regulatory limits on some point sources are also included
in the Illinois approach. The state also identified actions to address the impact of nutrients on
local water quality, as well as their contribution to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia, for each of the main
sources of nutrients—point sources, agricultural nonpoint sources, and urban stormwater. The
Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy can be accessed at:
http://www.epa.illinois.gov/topics/water-qiialitv/watershed-manaeement/excess-niitrients/index.
The following excerpts from the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy highlight some key
activities already being implemented.
3.1.2.1 The Nutrient Research & Education Council
In 2012, a group of agricultural organizations, state agencies, and environmental groups
successfully worked with the Illinois General Assembly to enact changes to the Illinois Fertilizer
Act (505 ILCS 80) to create the Nutrient Research & Education Council (NREC). NREC is a
public-private partnership that ensures a sustainable source of funding for nutrient research and
education programs. The council is made up of nine voting members from the agricultural sector
and four nonvoting members, including representatives from environmental groups, Illinois
EPA, and academia. The partnership between NREC and the Illinois Department of Agriculture
ensures that a $0.75/ton assessment on all bulk fertilizer sold in Illinois is allocated to research
and educational programs focused on nutrient use and water quality.
NREC funded two water quality research projects in 2013, including an agronomic and
environmental assessment of cover crops and phosphorus runoff potential in fields with minimal
slope. These ongoing projects have totaled $320,048. In 2014, NREC provided over $2.55
million to 14 projects, including educational and outreach programs as well as several research
projects addressing the need to reduce nutrient losses from agricultural sources and evaluating
the effectiveness of various nutrient management practices in improving water quality. Details
on all NREC projects can be found at: http://www.illinoisNREC.ore.
3.1.2.2 Keep It for the Crop
The Council on Best Management Practices established the Keep It for the Crop (KIC) program
in January 2012. KIC currently works in eight watersheds designated by Illinois EPA as being
impaired due to nitrate-nitrogen, total phosphorus, or both: Lake Springfield, Lake Evergreen,
Lake Bloomington, Lake Vermilion, Salt Fork Vermilion River, Vermilion River-Illinois Basin,
Lake Decatur, and Lake Mauvaise Terre. KIC engages agricultural retailers and their farmer
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customers in systematically managing nutrients throughout the growing season rather than as a
single-nutrient application. This approach helps to reduce the likelihood of nutrient losses from
surface or subsurface movement and can improve yields by keeping nutrients available for crop
uptake. KIC uses the following programs and tools to better educate farmers on the nitrogen
cycle, nutrient uptake, and optimum nitrate-nitrogen rates for individual fields:
• Nitrogen management systems
• N-WATCH®
• On-farm nitrogen rate trials
• N-Calc (Maximum Return to Nitrogen calculator)
These tools are components of the four R's of nutrient stewardship: right source, right rate, right
time, and right place. The 4R program is a nationally recognized nutrient framework developed
by the International Plant Nutrition Institute. It can be customized to different cropping systems,
soil types, and climatic conditions. KIC also coordinates the on-farm nitrate-nitrogen rate trials,
N-WATCH soil samples, and observations of crop response with the University of Illinois's
Department of Crop Sciences to ensure proper analysis of the results and dissemination of the
findings through the University's extension service publications. KIC receives financial support
from NREC for its education, outreach, and research-based components.
3.1.2.3 Point Source NPDES Permit Limits
As a result of state-enacted laws, Illinois Pollution Control Board standards, and other actions,
36 percent of major municipal dischargers in Illinois currently have total phosphorus limits in
their NPDES permits. These dischargers represent 70 percent of the regulated discharge
statewide from major municipal sources. A smaller number of major municipal dischargers have
nitrate-nitrogen goals (10 milligrams per liter [mg/L]).
The implementation of a 1 mg/L total phosphorus limit in the NPDES permits of major
municipal dischargers in the highest loading watersheds, which is already in progress, will
address the bulk of the point source total phosphorus reductions needed to reach the HTF coastal
goal. Loading of total phosphorus will be reduced by 3.1 million pounds (or approximately 33
percent of the point source reduction goal) once the limits have been fully implemented at the
state's Calumet, Stickney, and O'Brien wastewater treatment plants.
Major municipal dischargers in the Fox River, Des Plaines River, and DuPage River/Salt Creek
watersheds will also achieve significant reductions in total phosphorus loading. The reductions
are expected in the next 3-10 years (perhaps longer in the DuPage/Salt Creek watershed).
Limiting total phosphorus in the NPDES permits of major municipal dischargers in other
watersheds in the Illinois River Basin will complete the reduction needed to meet the point
source component of the HTF coastal goal.
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Illinois Highlights
Governor Bond Lake. Governor Bond Lake suffered from excessive algal growth and turbidity, causing
Illinois to add the lake to its 1998 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters. The impairments were
caused by suspended solids, nutrients, and other nonpoint source pollutants from within the lake (from
legacy bottom sediments) and from the lake's watershed. Project partners implemented BMPs such as
stormwater wetland basins and shoreline protection and stabilization practices. As a result, levels of
nutrients and suspended solids decreased, allowing Illinois to remove the lake from its 2006 303(d) list
of impaired waters for those pollutants. (The waterbody, however, remains impaired by a high
concentration of manganese from an unknown source.)
Illinois EPA administered $523,542 in section 319 funding for this project. Conservation 2000 and the
Illinois Clean Lakes Program provided $383,339 in matching funds and technical and administrative
assistance. The Illinois EPA Nonpoint Source Unit and Clean Lakes Unit and the city of Greenville helped
review, develop, and install the completed BMPs. The city of Greenville contracted with several
environmental engineering firms to create design specifications and oversee construction.
Dutchman Creek. Uncontrolled runoff from non-irrigated crop production had impaired the aquatic life
designated use of Dutchman Creek, causing Illinois EPA to add the creek to the 1998 CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters for nutrients and siltation. Stakeholders implemented a successful EPA-
funded outreach and education program in the Dutchman Creek watershed that promoted no-till
agricultural practices and prompted landowners to convert more than 400 acres of environmentally
sensitive land back into forest. These changes improved water quality and restored the creek's aquatic
life use, allowing Illinois to remove the creek from its 2008 303(d) list of impaired waters.
The Shawnee Resource Conservation and Development Area administered the two Cache River
forestation projects. Excluding administration costs, a total of $26,799 in section 319 funds and $28,615
in state and local funds was spent in the Dutchman Creek watershed to implement the 424.6 acres of
tree planting. The Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation District administered the county's no-
till drill project. Countywide, the project used $13,176 in CWA section 319 funds and $8,784 in state
and local funds for education and to purchase a drill for operators' use. The district has continued the
program and now has four no-till drills available for producers to rent.
Charleston Side Channel Reservoir. Erosion from agriculture and other land-based activities resulted in
elevated levels of manganese, sediment, and phosphorus in the Charleston Side Channel Reservoir
(CSCR). The pollutants contributed to excess algal growth. Illinois EPA added the CSCR to the state's
CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters beginning in 1998 for a variety of pollutants, including
phosphorus, sediment, and manganese (added in 2004). To reduce erosion and manage nutrients,
project partners installed shoreline stabilization structures and other BMPs. Manganese levels dropped,
prompting Illinois EPA to remove the reservoir from the 2008 CWA section 303(d) list for manganese.
Partners installed BMPs on city property and privately owned land in the two watersheds. All the
practices were designed to control erosion and reduce sediment delivery to the lake and river and, in
turn, reduce the amount of nutrients being transported by the sediment to the lake.
The BMPs installed in the CSCR watershed reduced the pollutant load by an estimated 1,627 tons of
sediment per year, 1,371 pounds of phosphorus per year, and 2,738 pounds of nitrogen per year. EPA
provided $194,449 in CWA section 319 funding to Illinois EPA to support implementation of BMPs that
reduced sediment and nutrient loads, including streambank and lakeshore stabilization and installation
of an in-lake sediment detention basin. The city of Charleston, Coles County Soil and Water
Conservation District, Illinois Department of Agriculture, and Eastern Illinois University also used CWA
section 319 funding to install BMPs.
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3.1.3 Indiana
Indiana's state nutrient reduction strategy was developed under the leadership of the Indiana
State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) and Indiana Department of Environmental Management
(IDEM), with guidance on watershed prioritization coming from the entire Indiana Conservation
Partnership (ICP), a group of eight Indiana agencies and organizations who share a common goal
of promoting conservation. Indiana's state nutrient reduction strategy can be accessed at
http://www.in.gov/isda/2991.htm and more information on the Indiana Conservation Partnership
can be found at http://icp.iaswcd.org/. (Indiana State Department of Agriculture and Indiana
Department of Environmental Management 2014). The strategy will serve as a means of:
• Identifying water quality challenges and concerns in Indiana.
• Tracking the impact of conservation across the state.
• Cataloging available funding and programs across the state that stand to improve water
quality.
• Reporting and accountability to conservation partners, federal agencies, and the public.
• Prioritizing 8-digit and 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC8 and HUC12) watersheds
within Indiana.
While watershed ranking and prioritization processes are still under development within the
strategy, a major component of prioritization, tracking of reductions and setting goals will hinge
on the wide adoption of the EPA's Region 5 Nutrient Load Reduction model, assessing the
impact of assisted and voluntary conservation in Indiana. Other factors influencing the selection
of priority watersheds within the state nutrient reduction strategy will include, but are not
limited to:
• Indiana's major drainage basins (priority watershed[s] in each basin)
• Water use and associated challenges within basins
• Presence of state, local, and federal resources (funding, staff, and conservation programs,
and their respective coverage)
• Monitoring programs and data (i.e., IDEM rotating basin assessments and fixed station
monitoring, USGS National Water Quality Assessment [NAWQA])
Indiana's nutrient reduction strategy has undergone several review and comment cycles with
EPA and will be completed in 2015 with the completion of a watershed prioritization process
approved by the ICP.
3.1.3.1 Nonpoint Sources
The ICP is using EPA's Region 5 Nutrient Load Reduction model to determine the impact of
voluntary and assisted conservation efforts statewide. The entire partnership, consisting of six
state and federal agencies, Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and
Purdue University's extension service, has adopted the model to consolidate and run
conservation practice data from several programs including:
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• State-level conservation projects, such as those funded by Clean Water Indiana and CWA
section 319
• Local conservation efforts by soil and water conservation districts
• Farm Bill practices across the state
Data from the practices, totaling well over 18,000 just for 2013, are run through the Region 5
Nutrient Load Reduction model to estimate annual amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and
sediment kept from Indiana's waters. Indiana's adoption of the EPA model on such a large scale
enables the ICP to comprehensively set reduction goals across the state.
Load reductions estimated by the model for Indiana in 2013 were published in January 2015 with
watershed maps (for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment) and quarterly updated estimates from
the model will be published annually moving forward. The estimates, paired with monitoring by
state and federal partner agencies, as well as continued assessment of Indiana's CWA 303(d) list
of impaired waters, will inform watershed prioritization and conservation resource management
for the ICP's efforts and Indiana's nutrient reduction strategy.
3.1.3.2 Point Sources
IDEM has limited NPDES permits for major municipal dischargers to reducing allowable
phosphorus concentrations to 1 part per million (ppm).
IDEM is also partnering with USGS to estimate the total phosphorus loads leaving the State of
Indiana from point sources. The assessment will contribute to a better understanding of nutrient
sources and loading in Indiana as the state's nutrient reduction strategy is implemented.
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Indiana Highlights
School Branch Watershed Monitoring Project. The School Branch watershed covers roughly 8.4 square
miles and feeds into Eagle Creek Reservoir, a source of drinking water for Indianapolis. Its land use
consists of an agriculture-to-urban development ratio of about 3:2 (about 60 percent row crops and 40
percent suburban residences). The project goal is to measure the impact of good agricultural practices
on the landscape, comparing water quality above the participating farm in the watershed with water
quality below the farm in the watershed. Conservation practices include riparian and grass buffers, a
nutrient-removal bioreactor, a strict no-till tillage system, and use of cover crops. Some monitoring is
already underway, but the rest of the project is set to start up in late 2015. Monitoring will include:
• Edge-of-field sensors measuring nitrate-nitrite leaving agricultural tiles on a participating farm
(sampling now underway).
• A USGS Sentry Gauge (to be installed summer 2015) monitoring water leaving the farm, measuring
nitrate, phosphorus, sediment, and temperature, as well as a gauge at the bottom of the watershed.
• Isotope sampling by USGS to determine sources of nitrogen loading in the watersheds.
• Indiana Geological Survey's monitoring wells for groundwater and soil moisture probes measuring soil
moisture and temperature on the farm, to accompany Sentry Gauge (to be installed summer 2015).
• Monthly fixed-station monitoring by IDEM (ongoing).
• Biweekly fixed-station water quality monitoring by Marion County Health Department (ongoing).
Jenkins Ditch. Agricultural activities related to crop cultivation and hydrological modification
contributed nonpoint source pollution to Jenkins Ditch, causing the waterbody to fail to support its
aquatic life designated use. As a result, in 2006 IDEM added Jenkins Ditch (a 2.13-mile segment) to
Indiana's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters for poor fish community biological integrity.
Stakeholders implemented BMPs in the watershed and conducted education and outreach activities to
raise community awareness, resulting in improved water quality. The waterbody now supports its
aquatic life designated use. As a result, IDEM removed Jenkins Ditch from Indiana's list of impaired
waters in 2012.
Among the many partners involved in these activities were the Clinton, Howard, Tipton, and
Tippecanoe County Soil and Water Conservation Districts; the Greater Wabash River Resource
Conservation and Development Council; Purdue Cooperative Extension; Hoosier Riverwatch; and NRCS.
Partners used $729,000 in CWA section 319 funds to implement restoration projects throughout the
watershed. Another $462,000 in CWA section 319 matching funds supported the work of a variety of
project partners.
INfield Advantage (formerly Indiana On Farm Network). The Indiana State Department of Agriculture,
Division of Soil Conservation received a $450,000 competitive USDA grant in 2010 to establish the On
Farm Network (OFN) in Indiana over three years. The grant was matched with checkoff funds and
support from the IN Corn Marketing Council and IN Soybean Alliance. The project has exceeded original
grant goals. The project's objective was to engage three watersheds within the Indiana portion of the
Mississippi River Basin. Each watershed's goal was to enroll 40 to 50 fields with 10 to 15 farmers on
average. In 2014, the Indiana On-Farm Network® was more than five times larger than expected and
includes 22 groups in 19 watersheds within the Mississippi River Basin. On average, each watershed has
12 or 13 growers engaged and more than 34 fields enrolled. During the project, over 142,000 acres
have been evaluated with the On-Farm Network's"tools and 264 growers have been introduced to the
participatory learning process. In 2015, Indiana On-Farm Network will be rebranded as INfield
Advantage.
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3.1.4 Iowa
3.1.4.1 Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy
The Iowa nutrient reduction strategy is a science- and technology-based approach to assess and
reduce nutrients delivered to Iowa waterways and the Gulf of Mexico (Iowa State University
2015). The strategy outlines primarily voluntary efforts to reduce nutrients in surface water from
both point sources (e.g., wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities) and nonpoint
sources (e.g., farm fields and urban areas) in a scientific, reasonable, and cost-effective manner.
As a part of the point source efforts, which are described in more detail below, all major
municipal and industrial facilities, and minor industrial facilities that treat process wastewater
using biological treatment will be required to evaluate the economic and technical feasibility for
reducing nutrient discharges.
The development of the strategy reflects more than two years of work led by Iowa Department of
Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and
Iowa State University (ISU). The scientific assessment to evaluate and model the effects of
practices was developed through the efforts of 23 individuals representing five agencies or
organizations, including scientists from IDALS, Iowa DNR, ISU, USDA ARS, and USDA
NRCS. The Iowa nutrient reduction strategy can be accessed at
http://www.nutrientstrateev.iastate.edu/.
Iowa has devoted significant resources to addressing Gulf hypoxia, which are reflected both by
their leadership role on the HTF as the State co-chair (served by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture
Bill Northey) and by their efforts to effectively target limited resources to advance water quality
and soil conservation efforts in the state. In developing its strategy, Iowa has followed the
recommended framework provided by EPA in 2011 and was the second state to complete a
statewide nutrient reduction strategy.
The strategy is just the beginning. Operational plans are being developed and work is underway.
It is a dynamic document that will evolve over time and is a key step towards improving Iowa's
water quality.
3.1.4.2 Nonpoint Sources
The Iowa nutrient reduction strategy was completed in spring 2013 and, thanks to strong support
from the Iowa governor and legislature, IDALS received $22.4 million targeted to
implementation efforts around the nonpoint source section of the strategy. This effort, called the
Water Quality Initiative (WQI), is administered through IDALS, the coauthor and nonpoint
source lead of the Iowa nutrient reduction strategy. The four main components of Iowa's WQI
are outreach/education, statewide practice implementation, targeted demonstration watershed
projects, and tracking/accountability. The WQI seeks to harness the collective ability of both
private and public resources and organizations to rally around the nutrient reduction strategy and
deliver a clear and consistent message to the agricultural community to reduce nutrient loss and
improve water quality. In the WQI's first year, IDALS partnered with Iowa farmers on a dollar-
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for-dollar match and implemented over 95,000 acres of cover crops. This effort prevented the
loss of over 800,000 pounds of nitrate and 22,500 pounds of phosphorus from Iowa waters.
IDALS also established 13 targeted demonstration watershed projects through the WQI. The
projects are locally led initiatives located in individual or small groups of HUC12s within
priority HUC8 watersheds as designated by the Water Resources Coordinating Council
(WRCC). The collection of these projects are coordinating activities with over 70 individual
partners to leverage resources and expand the audience of the Iowa nutrient reduction
strategy. The projects represent over $6 million in IDALS funding combined with an additional
$10.3 million in partner and landowner contributions. This effort will promote increased
awareness and adoption of available practices and technologies. Successful projects will serve as
local and regional hubs for demonstrating practices and providing practice information to
farmers, peer networks, and local communities.
The WQI is also coordinating tracking and accountability measures of the Iowa nutrient
reduction strategy. Through the Measures subcommittee of the WRCC, the development of a
logic model type framework will be employed to collect and report on progress made through the
strategy. The logic model looks at a variety of parameters to assess a reasonable chronological
order that can be applied to cumulative efforts being conducted throughout the state involving
multiple groups and individuals. The subcommittee will assess the pertinent information
currently available and make suggestions for areas that need to be augmented or possibly created
if they do not exist. When completed, the logic model will act as a dashboard for advancing the
strategy and will allow more responsiveness and feedback in investing resources and
programming. The subcommittee continues to work on developing recommendations on the
information to be collected as part of the logic model, where to access the information from
existing resources, and what resources are not yet available and should be developed.
In addition to the projects detailed in this report, IDALS has put into motion new initiatives that
will leverage partner resources and increase the adoption of conservation practices in the
state. The initiatives include a focus on edge-of-field practices, streamside and in-field buffers,
and demonstrating urban nonpoint source practices. The funding requested for the WQI would
allow the department to continue and expand its work to address the quality of Iowa's streams
and water resources in a scientific, reasonable, and cost-effective manner.
3.1.4.3 Point Sources
One of the goals of the point source component was to issue, within the first year of the strategy,
20 NPDES permits that included a feasibility study requirement and weekly influent and effluent
monitoring for facilities listed in the nutrient reduction strategy. As of May 31, 2014, 21 permits
had been issued with the feasibility study requirement included. There are currently 147 facilities
included in the strategy. The intent is to reissue approximately 20 permits per year that include
the feasibility study requirement; the expectation is that after seven years all major facilities'
permits will have been reissued with the feasibility study requirement included.
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3.1.4.4 Targeted Implementation Efforts
In addition to the WQI, the Iowa Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was
developed specifically in response to water quality efforts related to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia and
the Iowa nutrient reduction strategy.
The Iowa CREP was initiated in 2001 and developed based on wetlands research conducted at
ISU that showed tremendous potential for targeted wetland restoration to remove large amounts
of nitrates via natural denitrification processes that occur in wetlands. Building off of this
research, the program was designed to target wetland restoration at the locations in the landscape
where they can remove the largest amounts of nitrate. Targeted landscapes in Iowa include areas
of heavy agricultural intensity coupled with the existence of artificial drainage tile that serves to
facilitate transport of nitrates to the wetland restoration where they can be removed. This
targeting ensures that the wetlands are positioned to provide maximum effectiveness, which
equates to a 40-70 percent removal rate for nitrates delivered to the wetlands. CREP wetlands
are an integral component of the Iowa nutrient reduction strategy as an edge-of-field practice
with the capacity to provide large reductions in the amount of nitrogen exported to surface
waters. To date, 72 wetland areas have been completed with another 24 under development. The
wetlands completed to date provide an annual nitrogen reduction capacity of over 1 million lbs at
a cost of just $0.26/lb of nitrogen removed, highlighting both the capacity and cost-effectiveness
of the wetlands.
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Iowa Highlights
Clear Creek. Runoff from agricultural areas and waste from leaking septic systems sent pollution to
Clear Creek, preventing the stream from meeting several of Iowa's water quality standards. As a result,
the Iowa DNR added a 7-mile segment of Clear Creek to the state's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired
waters in 2004. Watershed partners implemented agricultural BMPs and coordinated construction of a
wastewater treatment facility to replace leaking septic systems. The DNR estimates that landowners
reduced phosphorus delivery by 10,081 pounds per year. In 2009, DNR staff conducted a field check,
finding that Clear Creek showed improved water quality conditions with no evidence of untreated or
poorly treated wastewater in the stream. The DNR determined that Clear Creek no longer exceeds
Iowa's narrative water quality standards and now fully supports its general uses. As a result, DNR
removed the 7-mile segment of Clear Creek from the state's list of impaired waters in 2010.
Several funding sources supported the installation of practices to control soil erosion and phosphorus
delivery: the EPA CWA section 319 program ($250,000), IDALS-Division of Soil Conservation's Water
Protection Fund ($196,560), NRCS EQIP ($166,775), USDA Conservation Reserve Program ($60,940),
and Iowa Financial Incentive Program ($75,000). Landowners contributed another $182,460 toward
implementation of practices in the project.
Iowa CREP Wetlands. The Iowa CREP is a joint effort of IDALS and USDA's Farm Service Agency, in
cooperation with local soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs). The goal of the program is to
reduce nitrogen loads and the movement of other agricultural chemicals from croplands to streams
and rivers by targeting wetland restorations to "sweet spots" on the landscape that provide the
greatest water quality benefits. CREP wetlands are positioned to receive tile drainage by gravity flow,
which enables natural wetland processes to remove nitrates and herbicides from the water before it
enters streams and rivers.
Research and monitoring has demonstrated that these strategically sited and designed CREP wetlands
remove 40 to 70 percent of nitrates and over 90 percent of herbicides from cropland drainage waters.
The highly targeted nature of this program has led to 72 wetlands currently restored and another 24
under development. During their lifetimes, the wetlands are expected to remove more than 100,000
tons of nitrogen from 121,650 acres of cropland. In 2013, the number of restored wetlands reached an
annual capacity of removing over 1 million lbs of nitrogen. The 96 targeted restorations total more than
888 acres of wetlands and 3,100 acres of surrounding buffers planted to native prairie vegetation.
Even with the impressive results so far, Iowa continues to explore and develop new technologies to
optimize wetland performance by incorporating additional considerations for habitat, hydraulic
efficiency, and temporary flood storage benefits. CREP wetlands are already providing high-quality
wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities in addition to water quality benefits. The high-quality
buffers, in conjunction with the shallow wetland habitats, have proven to be a tremendous boon to a
multitude of wildlife species commonly found in these areas. The areas have shown that targeting
wetland restoration for water quality benefits does not come at the expense of mutual habitat and
recreational benefits.
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3.1.5 Kentucky
Kentucky continues to work with stakeholders to develop and implement the state's nutrient
reduction strategy. The Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW) is working to finalize the draft
strategy, which can be accessed at http://water.kv.gov/Documents/NRS%20draft%203-20.pdf
(Kentucky Division of Water 2014). Other pertinent information is available on the Kentucky
Nutrient Reduction Strategy Web page at http://water.kv.gov/paees/mitrientstrateev.aspx.The
strategy has been developed in conjunction with input from stakeholders representing a broad
perspective of interests: agriculture, industry, environmental advocacy, municipalities,
conservation organizations, and federal and state partners. The strategy encompasses reduction
from both point and nonpoint sources, as well as a variety of regulatory and cooperative
approaches.
In 2014, the KDOW formed a Wastewater Advisory Council in cooperation with the Kentucky-
Tennessee Water Environment Association to provide a forum for discussing the various issues
related to wastewater, including infrastructure funding and regulatory impacts. The Wastewater
Advisory Council is working with KDOW to develop a modern approach to reducing nutrient
loads in wastewater effluent by identifying new, affordable technologies available to reduce
nutrient levels during treatment and by providing enhanced technical assistance to wastewater
treatment plants to implement nutrient reduction operational strategies. In light of the evolving
technical landscape for removing nutrients in wastewater, KDOW is revisiting its approach to
permitting nutrient effluent limits at wastewater treatment plants. The agency is also working
with stakeholder groups formed for drinking water and municipal separate storm sewer system
(MS4) concerns.
The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection also worked with partner agencies to
monitor and issue advisories of HABs and to develop fact sheets for the public and drinking
water facilities about how HABs form, their potential recreational impacts, and ways to prevent
them. KDOW is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the University of
Cincinnati, and other federal and state agency partners to develop an improved predictive model
using remote sensing satellite data. This model will refine current models used to predict the
trophic state of waters and the occurrence of HABs. KDOW is also using other remote sensing
techniques, including purchasing a drone, to remotely collect data that can be used to assess
waters for HABs and trophic state.
KDOW is beginning efforts to develop numeric nutrient criteria for lakes and reservoirs, in
addition to similar efforts for wadeable streams. The division is working with EPA and Tetra
Tech, Inc., to evaluate its historic lakes data by conducting a gap analysis regarding data
necessary to advance this effort. The division will use feedback from this analysis to help guide
its monitoring strategy this year and in years to come.
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Kentucky continues to work with the Kentucky Agriculture Water Quality Authority to
implement practices on agricultural lands. In the past few years, this legislatively assembled
group has developed and revised numerous nutrient reduction practices, including adopting the
NRCS Standard Practice Code 590 as a BMP, as well as developing and adopting a Kentucky-
specific nutrient management planning practice for farms. The Kentucky Nutrient Management
Planning tool was developed by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and
Environment (CAFE) and enables producers to develop a nutrient management plan for their
own farm by stepping through a variety of worksheets. Information on the program is available
at http://www2.ca.uky.edu/age/pu df. The tool also has an Excel workbook
available so many of the calculations are done automatically. Education and outreach about the
existing Agriculture Water Quality Act and the new nutrient management requirements continue
throughout the state, including targeted training and outreach to dairy and beef operations. The
training for producers and county extension agents was conducted by the University of Kentucky
CAFE.
The USDA-NRCS State Conservationist for Kentucky also recently announced that the
Kentucky Department of Natural Resources, Division of Conservation and the University of
Kentucky CAFE have been awarded a Regional Conservation Partnership Program grant to
improve Kentucky's water quality. The funds will be used to help educate producers and
implement BMPs on their farms that reduce runoff and protect water quality.
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Kentucky Highlights
Fleming Creek. Pollutants in agricultural runoff impaired water quality in Kentucky's Fleming Creek
and many of its tributaries. The KDOW added numerous watershed segments to Kentucky's CWA
section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 1994 because of pathogens or nutrients and organic
enrichment/low dissolved oxygen. Using approximately $3.6 million in state and federal financial
support, watershed partners implemented numerous restoration activities, including targeted
agricultural BMPs. Although much of the watershed still does not fully support its primary contact
recreation use, habitat and biological monitoring indicate that a 4.8-mile segment of Fleming Creek
now fully supports its designated use of warm water aquatic habitat. As a result, KDOW removed the
segment from Kentucky's 2006 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
Project partners include agricultural producers, Fleming County Conservation District Board of
Supervisors, Fleming County Conservation District, Kentucky Division of Conservation, KDOW,
Redwing Ecological Services, Inc., the University of Kentucky's Cooperative Extensive Service and
Department of Agronomy, and the Community Farm Alliance.
Federal financial assistance provided through CWA section 319 supported targeted BMP efforts in
the watershed. Between 1991 and 2007, watershed partners spent more than $1.6 million and
contributed more than $970,000 in nonfederal match contributions. The Kentucky Soil Erosion and
Water Quality Cost Share Program provided cost-share assistance to landowners to install
agricultural BMPs worth $2,134,884 in the watershed. The state cost-share program provided
$1,408,288; landowners provided another $726,595 in cash payments or in-kind labor.
Several USDA programs, including the Agricultural Conservation Program, Water Quality Special
Project, EQIP, and Conservation Reserve Program supported landowners' efforts to install
agricultural BMPs. Since 1992, more than $1.2 million in federal financial support from USDA has
been targeted to the Fleming Creek watershed for implementing agricultural BMPs.
3.1.6 Louisiana
The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA), Louisiana Department
of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF), Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ),
and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR) have collaboratively developed the
Louisiana nutrient management strategy for the purpose of managing nitrogen and phosphorus to
protect, improve, and restore water quality in Louisiana's inland and coastal waters (Louisiana
DEQ 2015). Implementation of the strategy focuses on six key areas: (1) river diversions, (2)
nonpoint source management, (3) point source management, (4) incentives, (5) leveraging
opportunities, and (6) new science-based technologies/applications. This interagency committee
continues to work collaboratively to implement and monitor the progress of the nutrient strategy.
The Louisiana nutrient management strategy can be accessed at
http ://www. deq .loui siana. gov/ portal/DIV ISIQNS/W aterPermits/W aterQuality Standards Assessm
ent/Nutri emtMam agem ent Strategy. aspx.
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Watershed implementation plans (WIPs) have been developed and implemented for more than
50 sub-segments in Louisiana. An analysis of nutrient data collected through LDEQ's Ambient
Water Quality Monitoring Network indicates that water quality is improving in many of the
watersheds where a WIP has been developed and implemented through the CWA section 319
program. In 15 sub-segments in the Ouachita River Basin in northeast Louisiana, with WIPs
developed and implemented, 11 sub-segments (73 percent) show decreasing nitrate-nitrite trends,
13 sub-segments (87 percent) show decreasing total Kjeldahl nitrogen trends, and 12 sub-
segments (80 percent) show decreasing total phosphorus trends. These water quality
improvements suggest that nutrient management measures at the sub-segment scale have been
effective at reducing nutrient levels in local waterways.
The LDAF created the Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Nutrient Management Task Force in
2012 to study topics related to agricultural nutrient issues and evaluate the impact of the issues
on the state's agricultural industries. The task force is an excellent example of producers,
industry, universities, and state government working together to address nutrient concerns, and it
will continue to do so in a manner that is consistent with sound science and practical application.
LDEQ is implementing ongoing nutrient management activities related to point sources through
the Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (LDPES) permit program. LDEQ has
made progress in implementation of nitrogen and phosphorus monitoring in some permits based
on Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) determination and in wetland assimilation projects.
Nutrient monitoring is being implemented in new and renewed individual and general sanitary
discharge permits in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin as indicated by recent TMDLs. Ongoing
nutrient monitoring also occurs at point source wetland assimilation projects in Louisiana.
Further, LDEQ's Compliance Monitoring Strategy performs routine inspections as well as
targeted watershed based inspections to identify unpermitted dischargers to be added to the
LPDES program. LDEQ is working to enhance approaches for managing nutrients in point
sources in Louisiana that will further the progress of addressing nutrients through direct support
of implementation of the Louisiana nutrient management strategy.
LDEQ also administers the Louisiana Environmental Leadership Program (ELP), which provides
the point source community an opportunity for voluntary stewardship. While the ELP promotes
and supports stewardship for many aspects of pollution prevention and reduction, voluntary
efforts related to nutrient management have received special attention in recent years. Industries
such as BASF, ExxonMobil, Marathon, Mosaic, and Nalco have been recipients of ELP awards
for their voluntary nutrient management and reduction efforts. Louisiana cities including
Carencro, Denham Springs, and Ruston have also received leadership awards for nutrient
management efforts. These Louisiana companies and cities serve as leaders in their respective
groups and models for ways to achieve voluntary nutrient reductions.
The Louisiana Water Synergy Project, managed by the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable
Development, provides a forum for business leaders with infrastructure investments in southern
Louisiana, state and local leaders, academic institutions, and NGOs to take collective actions to
help protect wetlands and improve water quality in the region. The project has been underway
since May 2012. The 21 participating companies represent a wide range of industrial sectors,
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including oil and gas, chemicals, manufacturing, beverages, and services. The Water Synergy
Project funded an inventory of nutrient releases to the Mississippi River by point sources within
the Mississippi River Industrial Corridor (MRIC) in Louisiana, which was an update to a report
issued under the ELP in 2000. Results of the 2014 inventory further support results from the
2000 report that nutrient releases from industrial and municipal point sources to the MRIC
continue to have minimal, or essentially no, impact on nutrient levels in the river as indicated by
ambient water quality data collected by LDEQ (Knecht 2000; Providence Engineering and
Environmental Group LLC. 2014). Nutrient levels entering the MRIC at St. Francisville,
Louisiana, the northern border of the MRIC, are essentially the same as the levels at Belle
Chasse, Louisiana, south of New Orleans. As substantiated by the data and information compiled
and evaluated for the inventory, point source dischargers in the Louisiana MRIC continue to
contribute a negligible percentage of the overall nutrient load to the Mississippi River. During
the period 2008-2013, there was considerable industrial expansion in Louisiana based on capital
expenditure data from the manufacturing sector. Inventory data shows that industry has
continued to control nitrogen releases to the river during this period.
Water Synergy Project members are planning to develop a Water Quality Trading (WQT)
program as a market-based, voluntary approach for improving water quality in Louisiana. An
effective WQT program could lead to greater nutrient reductions in the Lower Mississippi River
Basin and the Gulf of Mexico more quickly and at a lower overall cost than a traditional
regulatory approach. In addition, water quality trading could also provide some point sources and
agriculture businesses with the opportunity to generate revenues, and offer local regulators more
policy options for improving water quality. The desired outcome of the project is to implement a
WQT program and demonstrate that water quality trading is a cost-effective approach to
reducing nutrients and improving water quality. Project participants are now identifying funding
sources for a WQT program feasibility study/market analysis that will include review of tools
and templates and lessons learned from WQT programs in other states; proposed program
design, implementation strategies, and key performance indicators; establishing iterative
feedback loops with LDEQ and EPA Region 6; and conducting initial outreach to stakeholders
(e.g., communities, industry, agriculture, environmental groups).
The CPRA continues to work with The Water Institute of the Gulf, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and NOAA on improving the science surrounding river diversions and nutrient
assimilation. In addition to the development of Delft3D models to predict the receiving basin
response to diversions, CPRA is also designing and implementing a new System Wide
Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) to ensure that relevant water quality data are
collected both prior to and following the construction and operation of new river diversion
projects. Louisiana's strategy continues to be informed by ongoing work from Louisiana's
Coastal Master Plan to model the effects of river-borne nutrients on coastal wetlands that receive
diverted Mississippi River water.
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Louisiana Highlights
Lake St. Joseph Special Project. Lake St. Joseph is a 1,580-acre oxbow lake located in the Ouachita
Basin in Louisiana and is located in a region that is largely agricultural. A CWA section 319 project
approved for the Tensas-Concordia Soil and Water Conservation District aims to improve water quality
in the lake with a suite of incentive-based BMPs focused on the lake's impairments. Ninety-three
percent (or 14 out of 15) of the agricultural producers in the 17,835-acre watershed are now
implementing one or more of those practices. The Louisiana State University AgCenter, a cooperating
agency in the project, is responsible for monitoring the lake and analyzing the data collected in the
project. At this time, one year of data has been collected post-initial implementation of the BMPs.
Nonpoint Source Pollutant Reduction in Tensas River Watershed Using a Vegetative Filter Strip-
Retention Pond System. The goal of this project was to determine whether a vegetated filter strip-
retention pond system would reduce nutrient runoff to the Tensas River watershed as part of an effort
to restore the waterbody to the point at which it would support its CWA designated uses. The data
suggest that the filter strips are capturing the sediment, to which the phosphorus binds; however, the
filter strips have not affected any of the nitrogen parameters.
The project demonstrates the effectiveness of filter strips for sediment trapping in northeast Louisiana.
In terms of nutrient reduction, the strips are best suited for nutrients that are attached to soil particles
or the colloidal organic fraction.
Winter Wheat Filter Strip for In-field Ditches to Reduce Nutrient and Sediment Runoff— A New Best
Management Practice. This USDA Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) project aims to demonstrate
the performance and effectiveness of conservation buffers (e.g., filter strips, vegetative barriers,
contour buffer strips) by assessing the situational effectiveness of the component practice and design
parameters (including appropriate width and plant materials).
In fall 2014, three treatments were being demonstrated: (1) no planted filter strip; (2) a 40-foot wheat
filter strip, planted directly over the center of the in-field ditch; and (3) an Elbon rye filter strip planted
directly over the in-field drainage ditch. The treatments are in three blocks, according to a randomized
complete block design, across the field for a total of nine ditches. Water sampling will begin at the
Feekes 2 growth stage and continue until the wheat is chemically burned down 3-4 weeks before
planting in the spring of 2015. Nine ISCO water samplers will be placed in the middle of the in-field
ditches to collect water from runoff events to evaluate the nutrient and sediment loss reduction
attributable to this new BMP.
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3.1.7 Minnesota
The Minnesota nutrient reduction strategy is accessible at
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/nutrientreduction. This collaboratively developed strategy was
established on a strong foundation of extensive scientific data and analysis. A study of nitrogen
sources and pathways is available at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/d9r86k9; for phosphorus
sources, see http ://www. pea, state.mn.us/i srifaa. Development of the state's nutrient reduction
strategy was supported by a year-long public conversation regarding the problems of and
solutions for nutrient loss into waters of the state. Mindful of Minnesota's critical strategic
location as the headwaters for three different continental basins, the strategy sets goals and action
targets for the nitrogen and phosphorus reduction needed to provide a path to healthy waters in
Minnesota, as well as to meet the state's fair share of the loading reductions needed for
downstream waters. Those waters include Lake Winnipeg and the Gulf of Mexico. In the case of
nitrogen loss to waters, the strategy includes a milestone target and schedule pegged to the level
of progress needed to stay on track to meet Minnesota's reduction goals. A companion nutrient
planning portal provides rapid nutrient assessment information and planning tools for each of
Minnesota's HUC8 watersheds; it is available at http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/mnnutrients/.
Nutrient-related water quality and drinking water standards are an important part of the water
quality policy framework in Minnesota and nationally (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
2015). Both lake and river eutrophication standards in Minnesota include phosphorus, but they
do not include nitrogen. Eutrophi cation standards were promulgated for lakes in 2008, and the
river eutrophi cation standards were approved by USEPA in January 2015. Nitrate standards to
protect aquatic life in Minnesota surface waters are anticipated in the next few years. Phosphorus
loading is often directly related to total suspended solids in rivers, especially during moderate-to-
high flow events. Minnesota's turbidity standard was replaced with a total suspended solids
(TSS) standard in January 2015.
An evaluation of monitoring data indicates that meeting in-state lake and river eutrophi cation
standards will likely result in meeting the major basin goals for phosphorus reduction. For
example, Lake Pepin, a riverine lake on the Mississippi River, requires a greater phosphorus load
reduction, at this point in time, than reductions needed to meet the Gulf of Mexico hypoxia goal.
Downstream nitrogen load reductions need to address Minnesota's share of nitrogen to the Gulf
of Mexico and Lake Winnipeg, which exceeds the cumulative nitrogen reductions needed for
meeting current drinking water standards in Minnesota. Future nitrate standards to protect
aquatic life will also necessitate nitrate reductions in some waters of the state, but the effect of
those standards on downstream loading will not be known until they are established.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the state's efforts is the documented reduction of
phosphorus loading. Minnesota has been able to show a reduction of 33 percent of phosphorus
loading as compared to loads prior to 2000 in the Mississippi River just below the Twin Cities of
Minneapolis and St. Paul. Municipal wastewater facilities in particular have led the way on this
milestone reduction by reducing 64 percent of their loading over that period. Total phosphorus
loads discharged by the 588 NPDES-permitted wastewater sources in Minnesota's portion of the
Lake Pepin watershed have decreased from 1,591 metric tons per year in 2000 to 353 metric tons
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per year in 2013—an overall reduction of 1,239 metric tons per year or 78 percent from all point
sources (see Figure 12). Over the last decade (2004-2013), effluent total phosphorus loads have
been reduced by 538 metric tons per year, or 60 percent. Documentation has improved as well
during the period. The percentage of observed loads (i.e., monitored effluent loads) to estimated
loads (i.e., loads calculated from monitored flows and estimated effluent concentrations) has
increased from 82 percent observed/18 percent estimated in 2000 to 92 percent observed/8
percent estimated in 2013. In addition, Minnesota is phasing in a permit requirement that all
wastewater treatment facilities monitor their discharges of nitrogen so that the need for future
effluent limits can be accurately determined.
r
Annual Phosphorus Loads in the Lake Pepin Watershed
1,800,000
„ 1,600,000
3
o 1,400,000
Q.
o 1,200,000
£ 1,000,000
j? 800,000
o
j= 600,000
n
§> 400,000
* 200,000
0
¦ Municipal-Observed ¦ Municipal - Estimated ¦ Industrial - Observed ¦ Industrial • Estimated
V J
Figure 12. Geographic Distribution and TP Loads Discharged by Wastewater Point Sources
in the Mississippi River Watershed tributary to Lake Pepin. (Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency 2014a)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
NPDES Wastewater Facility
in the Lake Pepin Watershed
50
i
Miles
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Continuing to make progress meeting the significant reduction levels needed will require a
federal-state-private partnership. Minnesota citizens bring a 25-year Clean Water Legacy
funding commitment to the table to fulfill the state's role in that partnership. For the fiscal years
2016-2017, the funding is expected to provide the following resources for clean water efforts:
Total State Agency Clean Water Fund Budget $221,598,000
Minnesota has initiated a statewide comprehensive water quality monitoring and watershed
assessment program, along with locally led planning and implementation programs to create the
capacity to support a significant watershed restoration and protection program in the 81 HUC8
watersheds in Minnesota. Through this watershed-based organizational infrastructure and stable
resource base, with strategic direction and prioritization provided in Minnesota's nutrient
reduction strategy, the state is well positioned to partner with federal agencies, local units of
government, and NGOs to rapidly transition to implementing nutrient loss reduction.
FY 2016-2017 by Category
Monitoring and Assessment
Watershed Restoration/Protection Strategies
Groundwater/Drinking Water
Nonpoint Source Implementation
Applied Research and Tool Development
Point Source Implementation
$ 24,680,000
$ 25,080,000
$ 34,020,000
$109,018,000
$ 8,400,000
$ 20,400,000
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Minnesota Highlights
Sauk River Chain of Lakes. The Sauk River Chain of Lakes is an interconnected system of 14 bay-like lakes
fed by the Sauk River in Central Minnesota. The Sauk River Chain of Lakes is impaired by phosphorus and
total suspended solids due to row cropping and livestock operations, as well as discharges from on-site
septic systems. Agricultural BMPs, stormwater BMPs, shore land BMPs and upgrades to septic systems
and municipal wastewater treatment facilities throughout the Sauk River Chain of Lakes watershed have
reduced total phosphorus concentrations to 176 micrograms per liter (ng/L), nearly achieving the
regional goal of 100-150 ng/L and representing a 48 percent decrease in total phosphorus loading.
Project costs since 1999 are estimated at $30.2 million. CWA section 319 provided $1,200,000 in funding
to assist farmers with installing agricultural BMPs, erosion control measures, municipal stormwater
BMPs, shore land BMPs and to provide a septic system maintenance education program. Other funding
sources included NRCS' EQIP/MRBI ($18,482,624), the Minnesota state cost-share program ($267,717),
MPCA Clean Water Partnership funds ($1,034,250), DNR Habitat ($334,403) BWSR CWF (427,412), CRP
($5,762,400) and the CWA State Revolving Fund ($3.9 million in loans).
Minneapolis Chain of Lakes. The Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, located 2.5 miles southwest of downtown
Minneapolis, Minnesota, receives urban runoff delivering high levels of phosphorus and sediment from
its fully developed 7,000-acre watershed. By implementing a widespread public education campaign,
sediment control measures, and other practices throughout the watershed, the Minneapolis Chain of
Lakes Clean Water Partnership achieved significant in-stream reductions in sediment and phosphorus,
which has helped to keep most of the lakes off the state's CWA 303(d) list and has also brought a listed
stream close to meeting water quality standards.
Most of the initiative was locally funded by the Minneapolis Park Recreation Board ($1.5 million),
Minnehaha Creek Watershed District ($6.1 million), City of Minneapolis ($2.6 million), City of St. Louis
Park ($663,000), and Hennepin County. MPCA provided critical diagnostic and seed money ($1.2 million).
CWA section 319 funds totaled $255,000 and were used to fund kickoff efforts for the education
campaign, a demonstration project on Lake Calhoun showing the effects of alum treatments, and
research on the interaction between alum and milfoil (an invasive species).
Heron Lake Watershed. Runoff from agricultural and urban areas contributed phosphorus and sediment
to water bodies in Minnesota's Heron Lake watershed. Because three of the watershed lakes failed to
meet Minnesota's water quality standards, MPCA added them to the CWA section 303(d) list of impaired
waters—North Heron and South Heron lakes in 2002 and Fulda Lake in 2008. Implementing BMPs and
conducting public outreach in the watershed have led to significant water quality improvements.
From 2007 to 2011, the Heron Lake Watershed District provided cost-share to encourage landowners in
the Fulda Lakes subwatershed to implement conservation tillage, critical area plantings, and shoreline
restoration projects to reduce water pollution. Landowners implemented conservation tillage on 5,828.5
acres. Watershed partners completed three shoreline restoration projects, ranging from a simple filter
strip to a complex restoration involving a complete bank stabilization using all bioengineered practices.
The district held a walking tour to showcase the shoreline restorations. According to the Minnesota
Board of Water and Soil Resources' eLINK system, implementing these practices prevented 1,251 pounds
per year of phosphorus and 1,312 tons per year of sediment from leaving the land surface.
Restoration work in the Heron Lake watershed was supported by $114,043 in CWA section 319 funding.
The district served as the project sponsor and lead agency, providing $59,880 in cash match and $37,325
through in-kind match.
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3.1.8 Mississippi
As an active member of the HTF, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
(MDEQ) initiated a proactive, collaborative approach in 2009 to reduce nutrient loadings to
Mississippi's surface waters, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. This multiprogram,
multiagency, and multi-stakeholder approach has created significant leveraging opportunities.
Mississippi has developed nutrient reduction strategies, first for the delta (2009) and
subsequently for the upland (2011) and coastal (2011) regions. Those three regional strategies
have been integrated into a statewide strategy, Mississippi's Strategies to Reduce Nutrients and
Associated Pollutants (Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality 2012). This integration
allows consistent, compatible, and coordinated watershed management plans to be developed
and implemented across the state while addressing the distinct regional differences that exist for
nutrient sources. The strategy establishes a road map to reduce nutrient loadings from nonpoint
and point sources, whether in a predominantly agricultural environment, areas of higher
municipal and industrial uses, or coastal environments. Information on Mississippi's nutrient
reduction activities and strategies can be accessed on the MDEQ website:
http://www.deq.state.ms.us/mdeq.nsf/page/W! tsin Management Approach?OpenDocument.
As the first HTF state to attempt a regional nutrient reduction strategy, MDEQ's delta nutrient
reduction strategy development process was primarily based on the interactions of three different
teams: a visioning team, a planning team, and individual strategy work groups. The strategies
will be implemented through watershed implementation teams. The strategy development
process began with a visioning exercise including key partners and stakeholders to ensure a
consistent approach, promote leveraging of resources, and foster stakeholder buy-in. A planning
team, composed of multiple governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, members of
academia, and agricultural producers, provided the direction for this effort. Eleven work groups
formulated the details for 11 strategic elements: (1) stakeholder awareness, outreach, and
education; (2) watershed characterization; (3) current status and historical trends; (4) analytical
tools; (5) water management; (6) input management; (7) best management practices; (8) point
source treatment; (9) monitoring; (10) economic incentives and funding sources; and (11)
information management. The same overall process was applied to develop nutrient reduction
strategies for both the uplands region and the coastal region of the state.
To combat the problem of nutrient pollution, Mississippi is implementing a collaborative,
leveraged approach to reduce nutrients. The approach involves increased coordination of MDEQ
programs including Basin Management, Nonpoint Source, TMDLs, Water Quality Monitoring,
Water Quality Assessment, Water Quality Standards, and NPDES Permitting. The focus of the
collaborative, leveraged approach will be on the development of numeric nutrient criteria,
improvement of nutrient TMDLs, and development and implementation of nutrient reduction
strategies across the state. This approach leverages resources and outputs from over two dozen
state and federal agencies, NGOs, and academic institutions to ensure the highest level of
technical input and broadest range of support possible.
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Mississippi Highlights
Leveraging Resources to Implement Nutrient Reduction Strategies. Implementation of nutrient
reduction strategies in the Mississippi Delta is an example of the state's leveraging approach. To date,
MDEQ has applied $7.07 million in 319 funds towards reducing nutrients as part of the nonpoint source
projects listed below. The CWA section 319 funds have led to over $100 million in other federal, state,
and private funds, which have been applied towards implementation of these projects. Some partners
contributing towards these efforts include NRCS, EPA, the Corps, USGS, Mississippi Department of
Marine Resources, Mississippi Soil and Water Commission, farmers, and private corporations.
Reducing Nutrients from Nonpoint Sources in the Delta. MDEQ is currently implementing components
of the Mississippi Delta Nutrient Reduction Strategies in multiple watersheds within the delta region
including Harris Bayou, Porter Bayou, Coldwater River, and Bee Lake. To date, numerous BMPs have
been installed in the treatment areas within those watersheds. Installed BMPs include tail-water
recovery systems; on-farm storage reservoirs; land-formed, low-grade weirs; water control structures;
two-stage ditches; grass waterways; and cover crops. Nutrient data collection is ongoing for these
projects and include both "pre-BMP" and "post-BMP" data. The data will help MDEQ document the
water quality improvements obtained through conservation measures.
Reducing Nutrients from Point Sources. To date, Mississippi has developed over 300 TMDLs for
nutrients across the state. Many of them call for significant reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus.
Nonpoint sources will be addressed through projects similar to those discussed above. In many cases,
TMDL studies indicate that a reduction in point source loading is also necessary to achieve the goals of
the TMDL. Through combined efforts of the MDEQ TMDL and NPDES programs, over 280 NPDES
facilities are now required to monitor for total nitrogen and total phosphorus. Of this number, over 120
of the facilities have received permit limits requiring total phosphorus and/or total nitrogen reductions.
Nutrient Reduction Strategy and Data Compendium. During the process of developing the Mississippi
Delta Nutrient Reduction Strategies, MDEQ and its partners identified the need for a data
compendium. Consequently, MDEQ, in partnership with USGS and the Corps, developed a geographic
information system (GlS)-based data compendium to improve interagency communication and
coordination concerning water quality/quantity data collection. A GIS toolkit provides access to the
existing water quality and quantity data collected by the three agencies. A user can choose sites for
inquiry, query databases, generate reports complete with maps, and much more. The mapping
application allows users to obtain map-based information concerning water quality and quantity. The
compendium helps to (1) foster increased access and use of the existing data; (2) identify gaps and/or
overlaps in data collection; (3) promote collaboration and coordination of monitoring activities; and (4)
improve water resource management.
The Mississippi Water Resources Data Compendium is available on the MDEQ website at
http://www.deq.state.ms.us/mdeq.nsf/page/WMB MississippiWaterResourcesDataCompendium?Ope
nDocument.
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3.1.9 Missouri
Missouri's nutrient reduction strategy was developed through the Missouri Department of
Natural Resources' (MDNRs) existing partnerships with a broad array of interested agricultural,
community, environmental, and educational entities as well as with state and federal agency
counterparts (Missouri DNR 2014). Experts were engaged throughout the development of the
strategy, including subject matter experts from agricultural, industrial, and water quality groups.
Past successes on nutrient-related issues were used to guide development of the individual
actions while additional actions were included for development and implementation over the first
five year period of this strategy. The strategy uses the most reliable scientific data available as a
guide. Data from USGS, USD A, and MDNR provide the basis for determining past and current
loadings and for framing discussions at the watershed level. The Missouri nutrient reduction
strategy can be accessed at http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/wpp/mnrsc/index.htm.
Missouri's parks, soils, and water sales tax has been in place for 30 years. One-half of the tax is
used to address nonpoint source pollution from agricultural sources. As a result of the funding,
$635 million has been put into structural and management-based soil and water conservation
practices. This work has resulted in 175 million tons of soil kept on the fields for productive
use—a 48 percent reduction in soil loss with an attendant reduction in phosphorus loading to
Missouri streams. The program recently expanded its list of practices to more fully address water
quality improvement, and it expects to widen its monitoring of practices to determine the
efficacy of the new practices. The Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT) is a new Web-based program
using the USDA APEX model; it will be used to measure success in reducing nutrient and
sediment loads from farm fields where conservation practices have been implemented. The
NRCS MRBI projects in Missouri feature edge-of-field monitoring, and they are obtaining
valuable information about the effectiveness of NRCS conservation practices in reducing
nutrient- and sediment-laden runoff.
In 2010, MDNR established new stream water quality monitoring stations in six priority HUC12
watersheds in the Lower Grand Basin of north-central Missouri through a contract with USGS.
Mean total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations and watershed loading rates collected
during the project at existing long-term stream water quality monitoring stations will be
compared with the long-term mean total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations and
watershed loading rates calculated from 1990 to 2011. Similar historical assessments will also be
completed for all available sediment and nutrient parameters, and the data will be compared with
other water quality monitoring data to evaluate changes in stream water quality after
conservation practices have been implemented.
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Missouri Highlight
Fellows Lake. Point source and nonpoint source pollution from agricultural and suburban land sources
affected water quality in Fellows Lake, prompting MDNR to add the lake to Missouri's 1994 CWA
section 303(d) list of impaired waters for mercury and nutrients. The Watershed Committee of the
Ozarks (WCO) launched outreach and education activities, worked with landowners to implement
BMPs, and conducted water quality monitoring. Water quality improved, and MDNR removed Fellows
Lake from the state's 2004/2006 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
The WCO has managed several CWA section 319-funded projects in the watershed and surrounding
areas, including one for $276,500 that supported the main project responsible for restoring Fellows
Lake. It has received technical assistance through partnerships with NRCS, soil and water conservation
districts, and the Missouri Department of Conservation Professionals. It continues to work to improve
water quality in the watershed and reduce nonpoint source pollution.
3.1.10 Ohio
3.1.10.1 Nutrient Management Initiatives
Ohio is aggressively tackling water quality issues, particularly HABs. A multifaceted, multiyear
approach to reduce discharges and runoff of nutrients is vital to protect public health, the
environment, and valuable water resources. Ohio's approach uses both broad and targeted
projects and partnerships at the local, state, national, and international levels.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), coordinating with the Ohio
Department of Agriculture (ODA) and Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR),
developed the Ohio Nutrient Reduction Strategy, a comprehensive plan to manage point and
nonpoint sources of nutrients and reduce their impact on Ohio's surface waters (Ohio EPA
2015). The strategy recommends regulatory initiatives and voluntary practices that can reduce
nutrients throughout the state. The state developed the strategy with input from more than 100
research scientists, agribusiness leaders, and environmentalists on how Ohio can partner with the
agricultural community to promote nutrient stewardship statewide. The Ohio nutrient reduction
strategy can be accessed at http://epa.ohio.gov/dsw/wqs/NutrientRediiction.aspx.
3.1.10.2 On-the-Ground Practices
ODNR, ODA, and Ohio EPA have worked collaboratively to improve the health of Grand Lake
St. Marys and its watershed. With the assistance of numerous local, state, and federal partners,
Ohio has implemented multiple practices, including constructed wetland and treatment train
installation, improved aeration efforts, alum treatments, and the installation of more than 700
conservation practices in the watershed.
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3.1.10.3 Strategies, Research, Partnerships, and Legislative Updates
• In 2013, Ohio EPA asked for public comments from various stakeholder groups regarding
the development of nutrient water quality standards. A nutrient technical advisory group
was formed and is advising Ohio EPA as it moves forward with the next steps in drafting
administrative rules. The rules will describe methods to identify waters impaired by nutrients
and then take restorative actions, including TMDLs.
• In 2014, Governor John Kasich signed into law Senate Bill 150, an update of Ohio's
regulatory structure specifically geared to improving water quality. The bill requires
fertilizer applicators to undergo education and certification by ODA, encourages producers
to adopt nutrient management plans, allows ODA to better track the sales and distribution
of fertilizer throughout the state, and provides ODNR the authority to repurpose existing
funding for additional BMP installation.
• Ohio EPA has offered $150 million in no-interest loans for improvements to local drinking
water and wastewater treatment facilities, and $1 million for local water systems for
testing equipment and training, and testing support from Ohio EPA's lab for any system
that requests it. In addition, Ohio EPA received $1,548,800 in Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative funding to help improve water quality in the western basin of Lake Erie and
combat HABs by expanding Maumee River tributary monitoring to measure the success of
agricultural conservation practices.
3.1.10.4 Monitoring
Ohio EPA, ODNR, and the Ohio Department of Health have developed protocols for monitoring
public waters where HABs exist or are suspected. Ohio is one of the first states to establish
protocols for issuing advisories when algal toxins are present at or above threshold levels,
including finished drinking water. Ohio EPA is working closely with EPA to revise the
thresholds before the 2015 HAB season. For more information, visit
http ://www. ohioal gaeinfo. com.
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Ohio Highlights
Olentangy River. Lowhead dam structures, failing home septic systems, and increased agricultural and
urban stormwater runoff had degraded water quality in Ohio's Olentangy River. Failing home sewage
treatment system units contributed nutrients to the river, and high-volume stormwater flows
contributed silt and sediment. As a result, in 2002, Ohio EPA added a watershed-based unit of the river
to the state's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters for failure to meet the water quality standards
associated with the unit's designated warm-water habitat aquatic life use. Because of work completed
through the Olentangy River Restoration Project, approximately three miles of the Olentangy River now
fully attain the designated warmwater habitat aquatic life use. Although additional monitoring is
required, Ohio EPA expects to remove flow alteration as a cause of impairment in the watershed-based
unit of the Olentangy River on the state's 2014 list of impaired waters.
Key partners included the City of Delaware; Delaware County General Health District; Preservation
Parks; Ohio's Scenic Rivers; Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT); ODNR, Division of Soil and
Water Resources; and Ohio EPA. EPA, Ohio EPA, the City of Delaware, and ODOT provided project
funding. The city received a $105,000 CWA section 104(b)(3) grant to help support dam removals.
Approximately $6.3 million was provided through Ohio EPA's Water Resources Restoration Program for
land and conservation easement acquisition. The health district received approximately $110,000 in
CWA section 319 funding to support home sewage treatment system inspections and replacements. In
addition, $70,000 in Ohio EPA Surface Water Improvement funds was awarded to the city of Delaware
for additional dam removal work. All monitoring was completed by staff from Ohio EPA's Ecological
Assessment Unit.
4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification. The 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification program is a
voluntary program launched in March 2014 to encourage agricultural retailers, service providers, and
other certified professionals to adopt proven best practices through the 4Rs. The program is governed
and guided by the Nutrient Stewardship Council, a diverse set of stakeholders from business,
government, university, and nongovernmental sectors with a common goal of maintaining agricultural
productivity while also improving water quality. The program is administered by the Ohio AgriBusiness
Association (http://4rcertified.org/). To date, the program's focus has been in northern Ohio due to
concerns about deteriorating water quality in Lake Erie and Grand Lake St. Marys. There are currently
64 retailers signed up for the program, including several with retail locations in Michigan, Indiana, and
the Ohio River Basin. Participating retailers must comply with up to 43 specific business and operational
performance criteria established by the Nutrient Stewardship Council and audited by an independent
third party. Three retailers involved with piloting the program have achieved certified status. The
interest and enthusiasm generated by the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification in its first year is very
positive and sustaining the program should promote long-term improvements in soil health and water
quality.
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3.1.11 Tennessee
Tennessee has a draft nutrient framework and is working with EPA Region 4 to refine it. The
draft framework can be accessed at http://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/environmemt/
attachments/tennessee-draft-nutrient-reduction-framewoik Ol i -J"! ^ j_>»S.J
Supported in part by a grant from EPA, Tennessee will be scheduling meetings to solicit
feedback from point and nonpoint source stakeholders in 2015 and intends to revise its
framework using stakeholder input. With the EPA grant support, Tennessee is also funding
watershed modeling, using SWAT to determine the effects of installing conservation practices in
a watershed in terms of nutrient flux. Tennessee believes the most effective means to address
agricultural nutrient management is through a farmer-led approach. Tennessee's framework will
be posted on the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation website, to coincide
with its posting on the HTF website.
Tennessee has local and state programs that provide staff and cost-share grants to incentivize the
installation of conservation practices that affect nutrient impacts. These programs, along with
partnerships with federal agencies, have resulted in documented success stories of water quality
improvement (Osmond et al. 2012).
Reducing nutrient flux is a challenge that the agricultural community has been addressing for
many years. In 2012, based on USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service data, 75 percent of
major commodity crops raised in Tennessee were grown using no-till and another 15 percent
were grown using another form of conservation tillage, meaning that nearly 90 percent of major
commodity crops raised in Tennessee are in a system designed to conserve soil and, thereby,
reduce nutrient losses.
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Tennessee Highlights
Blue Spring Creek. Runoff from livestock operations and unrestricted grazing was contributing high
levels of sediment and nutrients to Blue Spring Creek in Coffee County, Tennessee. Education and the
introduction of BMPs, including fencing, water facilities for cattle, and waste management systems,
have helped to eliminate existing water quality problems, allowing the creek to be removed from
Tennessee's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
This project received support from NRCS and the Coffee County Soil Conservation District, which
designed and approved the animal waste management systems. The project costs totaled $110,219,
including funding through the Agricultural Resources Conservation Fund (ARCF) and $8,733 of CWA
section 319 funding, which was used to cover the costs of exclusion fencing, alternative water facilities,
and pasture seeding.
Fall Creek. Polluted runoff from pasture grazing caused nutrients and sediment to enter into Fall Creek,
which led to the listing of an 11.4-mile segment of the creek as impaired in 2002 and 2004. Using CWA
section 319 funding, the Bedford County Soil Conservation District installed two major waste
management systems on tributaries to Fall Creek in 1999. This action resulted in water quality
improvements of the Fall Creek segment and its removal from the 2006 CWA 303(d) list of impaired
waters.
Fall Creek has benefited from a total of $13,861 provided through cost-share from CWA section 319
grant pool projects. In addition, $94,747 was provided by a Tennessee state ARCF grant and local
match.
West Sandy Creek. High nutrient concentrations from agricultural runoff, loss of biological integrity as a
result of siltation, and habitat loss from streamside alteration caused Tennessee to put a 15-mile
segment of West Sandy Creek on its CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 2002 and 2004.
Nutrient sources included agriculture use, bank and shoreline modification, and runoff from urbanized
areas. To help address the problems, the Henry County Soil Conservation District implemented 10
BMPs, including grade-stabilization structures, water/sediment control basins, terrace construction,
and hay and pasture plantings. The BMPs improved the water quality in the 15-mile segment, which
was removed from the 2006 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
The Henry County Soil Conservation District implemented the BMPs with $24,817 provided by the
Tennessee state ARCF through cost-share from CWA section 319 grant pool projects. In addition, local
matching funds contributed $13,170.
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3.1.12 Wisconsin
In December 2013, Wisconsin completed and submitted to EPA the Wisconsin Nutrient
Reduction Strategy. The strategy emphasizes the need to implement ongoing point source and
nonpoint source programs in targeted watersheds to most effectively build on the strategy-
estimated 23 percent phosphorus load reduction to date. Particular emphasis was placed
throughout the development process on strengthening coordination between federal, state, and
local agencies and the Wisconsin LGU system to maximize results for phosphorus control and
move ahead on nitrogen management. The strategy document and all annual updates are
available at http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/SurfaceWater/niitrientstrateev.html.
3.1.12.1 Phosphorus Water Quality Standards Criteria
In 2010, Wisconsin adopted phosphorus numeric water quality standards for rivers, streams,
lakes, reservoirs, and state portions of the Great Lakes. The water quality standards are a major
driver of nonpoint source and point source implementation projects statewide. They serve as one
of the water quality targets for watershed management projects and TMDL analyses and are the
basis for phosphorus water quality-based effluent limits for point sources.
3.1.12.2 Agricultural Nonpoint Source and Urban Stormwater Management Projects
Wisconsin's water quality improvement projects include the following:
• State and CWA section 319 funding was used in 45 agricultural watershed and critical
site projects in the Mississippi River Basin. Grant funding allocated in 2014 for
agricultural nonpoint source management totaled $9.1 million, with $8.2 million from
state agency grants. Additional grant information is available at
http://datep.wi.gov/iiploads/Environment/pdf/JointAllocationPlanFinal2015.pdf.
• An additional $9.1 million was allocated in 2014 statewide to county-level staff support,
with $9 million from state agency grants.
• Urban stormwater grants statewide included $1.2 million for construction activities and
$1.4 million for stormwater management planning.
• NRCS, in cooperation with state and local partners, implemented a variety of projects,
including the MRBI project in the Sixmile Creek watershed, the National Water Quality
Initiative (NWQI) Horse Creek-Horse Lake project, and the Driftless Area Landscape
Conservation Initiative in southwestern Wisconsin. In addition, NRCS offered a special
EQIP signup for cover crops.
• Progress also continued to be made in implementing the state's nonpoint source "quasi-
enforceable" performance standards and prohibitions, including the cropland phosphorus
index. Performance standards and prohibitions represent a uniform level of management
statewide and have been adopted for agricultural, urban, construction, and highway
sources. Greater levels of management may be needed to meet the management needs
identified in EPA-approved TMDL analyses or in watershed projects. For agricultural
sources, the performance standards and prohibitions are enforceable if state cost-sharing
is provided. Additional information is available at
http://dnr.wi.gOv/topic/n.on.point/A.gPerformanceStan.dards.htm.l.
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3.1.12.3 Point and Nonpoint Sources
With the development of state water quality trading and watershed adaptive management project
guidance, trades are being developed to comply with new phosphorus effluent limits for
municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. A number of watershed plans are also
being developed jointly between point source and nonpoint source partners. Legislation has been
passed to provide additional opportunities for point source compliance through nonpoint source
implementation projects.
3.1.12.4 University of Wisconsin Nitrogen Science Summit
The University of Wisconsin hosted the Nitrogen Science Summit in March 2014 to kick off an
increased emphasis on nitrogen management to complement phosphorus management already in
place. Research on nitrogen management practices will be a high priority in 2015 on university
research farms.
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Wisconsin Highlights
Eagle and Joos Valley Creeks Projects. Erosion from stream banks, pasturelands, and wooded grazing
lands had contributed to excess sediment and degraded habitat in Wisconsin's Waumandee Creek
watershed. As a result, segments of Eagle Creek and Joos Valley Creek (8.5 and 7.4 miles, respectively)
were added to the state's 1998 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters. Beginning in the mid-1990s,
project partners implemented agricultural BMPs to limit soil erosion and nutrient loading. Partners also
stabilized streambanks and waterways to restore fisheries habitat. Monitoring data showed that water
quality improved in Eagle and Joos Valley creeks as a result of these efforts, and the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) removed both water bodies from the state's list of impaired
waters in 2012.
The success of this project is the result of coordination between multiple nongovernmental and local,
state, and federal government partners. WDNR led watershed planning efforts prior to
implementation, committed $392,044 in state Priority Watershed Program funds for BMP
implementation, and supported monitoring and data evaluation in the watershed. Other funding for
BMP implementation included $52,313 in EPA CWA section 319 funds (supporting the installation of
riprap and barnyard runoff control systems) and grant funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS). The Buffalo County Land Conservation Department played a key role in coordinating with
local farmers to promote BMP implementation. The Fountain City and Alma Rod and Gun clubs helped
with fundraising to meet farmer cost-sharing requirements; they also helped to install in-stream habitat
structures and other stream restoration practices. USGS provided monitoring and data evaluation
support during the 17-year Waumandee Creek watershed study. USDA offered technical assistance for
BMP implementation and provided Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program funds to promote
voluntary land retirement, which helps agricultural producers to protect natural resources. The
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture provided technical assistance, and the University of Wisconsin
extension service led local education and outreach efforts throughout the watershed.
Pleasant Valley Watershed. Since 2009, farmers, conservation groups, and staff from a number of
federal, state, and local agencies, including LGUs, have been working on a research and demonstration
project in the Pleasant Valley Watershed in the Mississippi River Basin. The goal of the project is to test
whether it is possible to use science to target implementation efforts to improve water quality at the
lowest cost. For three years, implementation was targeted to a small number of farms representing less
than one-third of the watershed that were contributing the largest amount of sediment and
phosphorus. Conservation staff worked with the farms to identify and implement applicable
management practices.
The first year of post-implementation water quality monitoring found a 37 percent reduction in
phosphorus loading during storm events in comparison to baseline information and monitoring in a
paired watershed. With streambank stabilization, silt and muck on the stream beds were reduced and
cobble and stone beds were exposed. Biological assessments found improved conditions for fish and
aquatic insects. If these positive results continue, the streams in Pleasant Valley will be proposed for
removal from Wisconsin's impaired waters list. More information on this project can be found at
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/wisconsin/howwework/wi-
pecatonica-results-fact-sheet.pdf.
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3.1.13 Tribes
The National Tribal Water Council (NTWC) has actively supported tribal representation on the
HTF since 2008. Through an interagency task force composed of representatives from EPA,
USD A, and USGS, the NTWC has taken the lead on providing a broad-based tribal nutrient
strategy. The primary goal of the tribal nutrient strategy is to provide a road map of technical
assistance options open to tribes that wish to reduce nutrient loadings to their waters.
The NTWC representative to the HTF is from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI),
whose lands are in the Little Tennessee River Basin, which is part of the Ohio River Basin in
western North Carolina. The EBCI has applied to EPA for Treatment in a Similar Manner as a
State for its surface water quality jurisdiction. Simultaneously, the EBCI has been developing
water quality standards, which will commit the EBCI to a plan of action for numeric nutrient
criteria development. The criteria would be adopted as nutrient standards in EBCI's first
Triennial Water Quality Standards Review, which would help guide nutrient reduction to
Mississippi River waters.
In September 2014, the EBCI contracted with USGS to install and operate a gauging station on
the lower Oconaluftee River in North Carolina to collect a full suite of water quality monitoring
parameters. The data collected from the station will be incorporated into the MRBI to facilitate
water quality modeling by USGS.
3.2 Federal Assistance to HTF States and Tribes
3.2.1 EPA Grants and Programs
EPA is working cooperatively with states, tribes,
and other partners to reduce nitrogen and
phosphorus pollution, including protecting and
restoring surface waters already degraded by
nutrient pollution. This section details some key
EPA programs that reduce nutrient pollution:
• Nutrient Reduction Strategies—EPA is
working with states nationwide to help them
develop and implement strategies, frameworks,
and programs to reduce nutrient pollution. In
2012, EPA invested approximately $1.1 million
to help HTF states develop their nutrient
reduction strategies and implement
demonstration projects in priority watersheds.
All 12 HTF states now have draft or complete
strategies in place and are taking action to
reduce nutrient pollution.
EPA Accomplishments
EPA has provided continued assistance and
funding to HTF states and tribes to address
nutrient pollution. Examples of hypoxia-related
accomplishments include the following:
• Providing technical assistance for
developing state nutrient reduction
strategies.
• Providing training opportunities and
discussion forums for experts in the field,
such as NPDES permit writer training and
workshops with states to discuss
innovative approaches to water quality
standards for nutrients.
• Providing funding, such as CWA section
319 grants, to support efforts to reduce
nonpoint source pollution.
• CWA Section 106 Grants for State Water Quality Management Programs - Section 106
of the CWA authorizes EPA to provide federal assistance to states (including territories, the
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District of Columbia, and Indian Tribes) and interstate agencies to establish and implement
water pollution control programs. Prevention and control measures supported by EPA
include permitting, developing water quality standards and TMDLs, ambient water quality
monitoring, compliance assistance, advice and assistance to local agencies, and providing
training and public information. From 2009-2013, EPA provided $254 million in section 106
grant funding to HTF states to support their efforts to reduce nutrients and other types of
water pollution. See Table 2 below.
• Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Capitalization Grants - Since its inception,
EPA's CWSRF program has served as the largest water quality financing source, helping
communities across the country meet the goals of the CWA by improving water quality,
protecting aquatic wildlife, protecting and restoring drinking water sources, and preserving
our nation's waters for recreational use. In recent years, the CWSRF programs provided, on
average, more than $5 billion annually to fund water quality protection projects for
wastewater treatment, nonpoint source pollution control, and watershed and estuary
management. Over the last two and half decades, the CWSRF grants have provided over
$100 billion, funding more than 33,320 low-interest loans. States can choose to use the
assistance to help communities reduce nutrient pollution. From 2009-2013, EPA provided
$1.9 billion in CWSRF allotments to HTF states to support their efforts to reduce water
pollution, including nutrients. See Table 2 below.
• NPDES Permits for Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Discharges - Publicly owned
treatment works (POTWs) and industrial facilities in the MARB contribute nitrogen and
phosphorus pollution (see Figure 3 in section 2.2.2.1 for their estimated contributions). These
facilities are regulated by NPDES permits under the CWA that are generally issued by states,
with EPA oversight. The permits require compliance with national, technology-based
discharge standards or, where needed, more stringent limitations to meet state water quality
standards. As discussed in the state progress summaries, a number of HTF states are issuing
permits with specific numeric nutrient permit limits or monitoring requirements, or requiring
feasibility studies prior to treatment upgrades or trading programs. Although not all permits
may need numeric phosphorus and/or nitrogen limits, there is the potential for greater use of
permit limits to reduce nutrient pollution. EPA conducts training and workshops for NPDES
permit writers on controlling nutrient pollution.
• NPDES Permits for Stormwater Controls - Polluted stormwater discharges, a major cause
of water quality impairments, are regulated under the CWA section 402(p) National
Stormwater Protection Program. The program's focus is on discharges from municipal
separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), construction site stormwater discharges from sites of
one acre or larger, and 29 industrial sectors that discharge stormwater to an MS4 or to
surface water. The national stormwater program applies to medium and large MS4s that
serve incorporated communities in urbanized areas with populations of over 100,000, as well
as other "small" MS4s in urbanized areas and other small MS4s that have been specifically
designated by the NPDES permitting authority. MS4s are required to implement stormwater
management programs to eliminate nonstormwater discharges from MS4s, reduce pollutants
in MS4 discharges to the "maximum extent practicable", and comply with any water quality
or other pollutant control requirements in the permit.
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• Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) Regulations - NPDES permits are
required for CAFOs that discharge to waters of the United States. Some states regulate a
larger universe of animal confinement facilities under state law and may require that those
facilities develop and implement nutrient management plans and/or regulate the transport of
manure to limit nutrient runoff.
• Water Quality Criteria and Standards - Under the CWA, states adopt water quality
criteria and standards that define the water quality goals for a waterbody. "Narrative" criteria
(e.g., waters must be free from objectionable scums or deposits) or "response" criteria (e.g.,
dissolved oxygen) are widely used, but are not easily applied to reduce nutrient pollution.
Numeric nutrient criteria generally better provide the basis for assessment of impaired water
quality and help NPDES permit writers to more easily derive, as necessary, numeric limits
for point source dischargers. EPA continues to assist states with the development of numeric
nutrient criteria and has recently conducted technical workshops across the country to
communicate the state of the science and to help states, including HTF states, share best
practices and approaches they are using to develop numeric nutrient criteria.
• CWA Section 303(d) Listings and TMDLs - States monitor and assess their waters and
every two years, under section 303(d) of the CWA, develop lists of waters that do not meet
state water quality standards. Nationwide, states have listed more than 12,000 waters as
impaired by nutrient-related causes under CWA section 303(d). This number includes waters
listed for nutrients specifically as well as for nutrient indicator parameters of organic
enrichment, oxygen depletion, and algal growth (USEPA 2015). Under section 303(d), once
states list waters as impaired, they develop "pollution budgets" known as Total Maximum
Daily Loads, or TMDLs. A TMDL identifies the pollutant reductions needed from point and
nonpoint sources to meet water quality standards. Once approved, TMDL allocations are
generally implemented through NPDES permits for point sources and BMPs for nonpoint
sources. To date, more than 8,000 nutrient-related TMDLs, for more than 5,000 waters, have
been developed nationwide. Of those nutrient-related TMDLs, more than 2,100, for more
than 1,400 waters, have been developed in the HTF states, helping to guide HTF state efforts
to reduce nutrient pollution in their waters.
• Water Quality Trading - EPA supports states interested in using water quality trading,
sometimes referred to as "nutrient credit trading", as a means to achieve cost-effective
reductions in nutrient loading within a watershed. This approach often, but not always, relies
on a target load from a TMDL or water quality standard to serve as a baseline to generate
"credits" and identify how many pounds are available for trading in a particular watershed.
Water quality trading is often implemented through an NPDES permit to one or more of the
trading partners. All HTF states have expressed interest in water quality trading programs
and some states are already implementing trading projects. For example, Kentucky, Indiana,
and Ohio are participating in the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission
(ORSANCO)-Electric Power Research Institute Pilot Trading Project, which facilitates
pollution credit trading between farmers and industrial facilities to reduce fertilizer runoff
and nutrient point source discharges. More information on this project is available
at http://wqt.epri.com/pdf/30020Q1739 WQT-Program-Summ 14-03.pdf.
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• CWA Section 319 Nonpoint Source Program - EPA provides grants to states to implement
nonpoint source management programs under section 319 of the CWA. Recently, almost all
HTF states updated their nonpoint source management programs. Section 319 grant monies
support a wide variety of activities, including technical assistance, financial assistance,
education, training, technology transfer, demonstration projects, and monitoring to assess the
success of specific nonpoint source implementation projects. The program relies on
watershed plans as a primary tool to ensure grant monies are used as effectively as possible
to achieve water quality goals. The previous section highlighted nonpoint source success
stories in HTF states. From 2009 to 2013, EPA provided $255 million in section 319 grant
funding to HTF states to support their efforts to reduce water pollution, including nutrients.
See Table 2 below.
Table 2: EPA Financial Assistance to HTF States by Program (2009-2013)
Program
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Total
CWSRF
$182,898,500
$547,635,000
$396,894,000
$379,869,000
$358,843,000
$1,866,139,500
319 Grants
$57,275,000
$57,275,000
$49,750,000
$46,479,000
$44,055,000
$254,834,000
106 Grants
$47,333,300
$50,406,800
$52,299,800
$52,332,100
$49,634,600
$252,006,600
Total
$287,508,809
$655,318,810
$498,945,811
$478,682,112
$452,534,613
$2,372,980,100
Please note that these resources support a broad range of state activities to reduce nonpoint source
pollution, including but not limited to nutrients.
• National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) - EPA, states, tribes, and other partners are
conducting a series of surveys of the nation's aquatic resources. Often referred to as
"probability-based surveys", these studies provide nationally consistent and scientifically
defensible assessments of our nation's waters and can be used to track changes in condition
over time. Each survey uses standardized field and lab methods and is designed to yield
unbiased estimates of the condition of the whole water resource being studied (i.e., rivers and
streams, lakes, wetlands, or coastal waters) at a national scale and across broad, ecologically
similar regions. Some states supplement the surveys or conduct their own assessments at a
state scale. Section 2.2.4 describes findings from surveys on the extent of nutrient
concentrations in rivers and streams (2008 - 2009) in the Mississippi basin, including sub-
basins that are within the MARB.
Other NARS reports include data on nutrient concentrations and effects in the MARB,
including the 2004 survey of streams; the 2007 survey of lakes and reservoirs; the 2012
survey of lakes and reservoirs (report scheduled for release in 2015); and a 2013/14 survey of
rivers and streams (scheduled for release in 2015), which includes a specific focus on the
Mississippi River, and a first estimate of changes in the condition of streams since the 2004
streams surveys.
• Continued Commitment to Science -
¦ Between 2005 and 2008, EPA invested $500,000 towards USGS enhancements to the
SPARROW model that allow load estimates to be allocated to HUC8 watersheds based
on 1992 data and, more recently, 2002 data.
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In 2005-2008, EPA invested $1.5 million to reassess the scientific basis for Gulf
hypoxia, which included four science symposia held throughout the basin and an EPA
SAB panel and report.
EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducts research that supports state
and federal efforts to reduce Gulf hypoxia including:
- Working with scientists from academia and other federal agencies in NOAA's
Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed to develop an ensemble hypoxia model
forecasting and scenario system for the northern Gulf of Mexico (see
http://testbed.sura. org/).
- Developing a coupled Mississippi River Basin and northern Gulf of Mexico coastal
ocean ecosystem modeling framework for predicting how nutrient management
decisions and future climate scenarios will impact the size, frequency, and duration of
the hypoxic area.
- Conducting research and modeling to resolve quantitatively the extent of hypoxia that
may occur naturally in northern Gulf estuaries versus that which results from
anthropogenic nutrient loading.
- Working to quantitatively understand the effects of hypoxia on aquatic life,
particularly when exposure to hypoxia is variable. EPA ORD research in this area
aims to improve estimates of the total exposure of fauna to low oxygen conditions
and community and population level effects.
- Conducting research to examine the nexus between land-based nutrients and ocean
acidification. The interaction of hypoxia and low pH impacts aquatic life—including
the aquaculture industry.
EPA is promoting innovation toward cost-effective and practical solutions through
initiatives such as the nutrient sensor challenge (http://www.act-us.info/nutrients-
chattemee/Y The nutrient sensor challenge is a cooperative effort between federal
agencies, the Alliance for Coastal Technologies, and other partners to develop affordable,
accurate, and reliable nutrient sensors.
Additionally, EPA ORD recently approved funding, through its Science to Achieve
Results (STAR) grants program, for research that uses a "systems view" of nutrient
management to study new, sustainable ways to improve U.S. water quality. A systems
view relies on social, technical, and economic considerations to determine the success of
nutrient management strategies. The funded projects address three urgent research needs:
- New science to achieve sustainable and cost-effective public health and
environmental solutions in water management.
- Demonstration projects to support water management strategies with and beyond
current technology, including information at appropriate scales.
- Community involvement in the design, acceptance, and use of nutrient management
systems.
EPA awarded STAR grants totaling nearly $9 million (more than $12 million with
nonfederal cost-share funds included) to four universities across the country. These funds
will benefit HTF efforts to reduce nutrient pollution.
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3.2.2 EPA and USDA Collaboration
EPA and state water quality agencies are coordinating with USDA's NRCS to implement the
National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) with landowners in many small watersheds across the
country, including watersheds in HTF states. State agencies, supported by EPA's CWA section
319 grant funds, coordinate in voluntary, private land conservation investments and technical
assistance to landowners, and support state-led water quality monitoring. EPA and NRCS
initiated the NWQI in FY 2012, initially targeting 154 small (HUC12) watersheds in all 50 states
and Puerto Rico to improve water quality, particularly in waterbodies that are on the CWA
section 303(d) lists of impaired waters. Through NWQI, NRCS and its partners help producers
implement systems of conservation practices to reduce nutrient and sediment losses from their
farms, as well as address pathogens related to agricultural production. The systems include
practices to optimize nutrient inputs and to control and trap nutrient and manure runoff. Within
the 12 HTF states, about 50 NWQI projects have resulted in $27.7 million obligated for
conservation systems related to addressing nutrient and sediment runoff. State programs are
using EPA CWA section 319 or other funds to conduct water quality monitoring in selected
NWQI priority watersheds.
3.2.3 USDA Programs
USDA has been the lead federal agency on
developing, promoting, and evaluating voluntary
nutrient conservation practices on agricultural
lands in the MARB. The department has made
progress through a variety of actions, such as
creating several water quality-related landscape
conservation initiatives in the MARB to target
and implement conservation systems that avoid,
control, and trap nutrients. Other USDA actions
include quantifying the effectiveness of
conservation practices and using models to
predict impacts of those practices, as described in
previous sections of this report, as well as
delivering technical support to farmers and
ranchers in the MARB.
USDA's Conservation Investments Improve
Water Quality
Since 2010, USDA NRCS has funded 124
watershed-based projects in the MARB in areas
that have been high contributors of nitrogen
and phosphorus, more than doubling the
investment in water quality-related
conservation in the majority of those areas.
According to CEAP models, this targeted
approach to investing in conservation has
enhanced the per-acre benefit by 1.7 times for
sediment losses, 1.3 times for nitrogen losses,
and 1.4 times for phosphorus losses.
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3.2.3.1 Conservation Programs through NRCS
From FY 2009 to FY 2013, NRCS invested nearly $5 billion in voluntary conservation programs
in HTF states (Table 3). This investment includes Conservation Technical Assistance, which
provides technical assistance to farmers, communities, and tribes to develop and voluntarily
implement resource management plans that conserve, maintain, and improve natural resources.
Table 3. Total NRCS Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance to HTF States by Program (2009-2013)
Program
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Total
Conservation Technical
Assistance
(CTA)
$163,463,163
$170,288,870
$169,381,847
$151,518,609
$168,218,417
$822,870,906
Farmland Protection
Program
(FRPP)
$13,842,812
$10,966,260
$16,528,779
$20,590,143
$13,310,032
$75,238,026
Wildlife Habitat Incentives
Program (WHIP)
$13,408,098
$22,017,569
$12,422,474
$13,829,360
$10,360,671
$72,038,172
Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP)
$240,988,094
$279,239,683
$303,997,478
$367,939,054
$402,000,615
$1,594,164,924
Wetlands Reserve Program
(WRP)
$147,287,357
$203,186,503
$228,785,962
$255,910,523
$174,572,020
$1,009,742,365
Conservation Security
Program
(CSP)
$114,787,843
$92,865,866
$83,273,380
$81,134,906
-
$372,061,995
Grasslands Reserve Program
(GRP)
$730,925
$1,086,301
$1,600,238
$1,028,324
$677,092
$5,122,880
Conservation Stewardship
Program (CSpT)
$3,616,175
$134,488,502
$196,746,426
$263,245,727
$316,915,610
$915,012,440
Agri Water Enhancement
Program (AWEP)
$4,385,680
$5,901,159
$8,036,105
$7,372,859
$8,427,986
$34,123,789
Healthy Forests Reserve
Program
(HFRP)
$1,321,405
$2,440,651
$3,317,797
$2,863,197
$2,142,882
$12,085,932
Total
$703,831,552
$922,481,364
$1,024,090,486
$1,165,432,702
$1,096,625,325
$4,912,461,429
3.2.3.2 Landscape Conservation Initiatives
Beginning in the 2008 Farm Bill, NRCS developed several landscape conservation initiatives
that target voluntary conservation program funding to areas with critical natural resource
concerns (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/initiatives/). The
initiatives, which include three water quality-related initiatives that intersect with MARB, cross
geopolitical boundaries, take a science-based approach to addressing resource concerns on a
landscape scale, and rely on strong partnerships to enhance conservation system implementation.
The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), begun in 2009, targets
financial and technical assistance for conservation in high-priority, small watersheds in 13 states,
including the 12 HTF states. MRBI emphasizes a cost-effective conservation systems approach
with a focus on suites of conservation practices that optimize use of nutrients, control nutrient
runoff, and trap or filter nutrients before they run into surface water or leach into groundwater.
MRBI accelerates voluntary conservation efforts by overlaying targeted conservation assistance
on top of what is generally available through Farm Bill conservation programs. Compared to
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general program funding, targeted investments in MRBI have more than doubled the adoption of
critical water quality conservation practices, such as cover crops and nutrient management, in the
majority of MRBI project areas. Over its first five years, MRBI invested more than $380 million
in technical and financial assistance across 124 projects. In FY 2013, the demand for EQIP
financial assistance under MRBI was more than double the available funding at $123 million
across almost 3,500 farmer applications, and that demand continued to grow in FY 2014.
The effectiveness of MRBI's small watershed targeting and conservation systems approach was
modeled under NRCS CEAP in April 2013. For conservation systems under contract with
farmers through MRBI between FYs 2010 and 2012, when fully applied, it is projected that the
per-acre benefits of these systems will be 1.7 times greater for sediment reduction, 1.4 times
greater for phosphorus reduction, and 1.3 times greater for nitrogen reduction compared to a non-
targeted approach. MRBI has also shown the effectiveness of targeted landscape initiatives in
attracting strong partnerships. An average of five active partners, including conservation
districts, NGOs, other federal and state agencies, industry groups, and universities, supported
each of the 124 MRBI projects.
The targeted investment of NRCS program funding through the Wetlands Reserve Program
(WRP) resulted in the permanent protection and restoration of 30,000 acres of wetlands and
associated habitats throughout the MRBI area. Through WRP, NRCS purchases perpetual
easements from private landowners and restores wetlands that have been converted or degraded
for agricultural use. The agricultural lands on the former wetland areas continue to be subject to
frequent flooding or prolonged inundation and, as a result, are often marginal agricultural lands.
The restoration of the historic hydrology, native vegetative communities, and full suite of
wetland functions and values on these lands is highly successful and improves water quality,
along with wildlife habitat, in the targeted MRBI areas.
Other water quality initiatives in the MARB include the NWQI, which is described above, and
the Gulf of Mexico Initiative (GoMI). Through GoMI, NRCS and its partners work with
agricultural producers to improve ecosystem health and water quality, relieve overuse of water
resources, and prevent saltwater from entering the habitats of many threatened and endangered
species. The GoMI project area includes selected watersheds in the five Gulf States: Alabama,
Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. From FY 2012 through FY 2014, nearly $7 million
was obligated in voluntary contracts to provide agricultural producers with assistance in
accelerating the implementation of conservation systems.
3.2.3.3 Regional Conservation Partnership Program
The 2014 Agricultural Act (Farm Bill) expanded opportunities to leverage USD A resources with
those of key partners through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) (see
http://www.nrcs.usda.eov/wps/portal/nrcs/ main/national/programs/farmbill/rcpp/Y The RCPP
asks partners to submit project proposals to address local and regional resource concerns. A
portion of the MARB—the same 13 states that comprise NRCS' MRBI—was selected as one of
eight critical conservation areas (CCAs) under the RCPP. CCAs are intended to address regional
natural resource concerns that cross geopolitical boundaries, with a particular focus on water
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quality and quantity. With the first announcement of program funding for RCPP, the MARB
CCA received 62 out of 204 CCA project pre-proposals (approximately 30 percent),
underscoring the high demand for conservation and the strong partnerships in this area. In FY
2015, five projects were selected in the MARB CCAs, all related to reducing nutrient loading.
For example, the Iowa Targeted Demonstration Watersheds Partnership Project brings together
more than 70 partners to help implement Iowa's nutrient reduction strategy, with nine focus
watersheds that will receive additional conservation funding for practices that are most beneficial
in reducing nutrients.
3.2.3.4 Conservation Innovation Grants
Conservation Innovation Grants (CIGs) funded through EQIP can play a role in reducing
nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from agricultural production
(http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/cig/). These grants
are intended to stimulate development and
adoption of innovative conservation
approaches, while leveraging federal
investment in environmental enhancement and
protection. One such innovation is the
ecosystem markets projects, which NRCS has
funded through CIG since 2004. In 2012, 12
water quality trading projects were awarded
CIG funding, including four in MARB states.
Recently, the growing understanding of the
beneficial effects of healthy soils on water
quality and quantity have led to several CIGs
in the MARB focused on the adoption of soil
health practices and strengthening farmer
networks to boost widespread adoption of
these practices.
3.2.3.5 Refinement and Increased Adoption of Key Conservation Systems
Through both general program funding and landscape conservation initiatives, NRCS continues
to implement conservation systems and practices that have been updated based on the latest
science and research.
3.2.3.6 Soil Health
In 2012, NRCS launched its Unlock the Secrets in the Soil educational campaign, which seeks to
increase awareness and adoption of soil health management systems (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/
wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/). One of the major benefits of soil health is improved
water quality because of associated decreases in overland flow to surface waters, decreases in
Environmental Markets Offer Additional
Incentives for Water Quality Conservation
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),
with partial funding from an NRCS Conservation
Innovation Grant, has established the nation's
first interstate water quality trading program in
the Ohio River Basin, in which farmers can sell
nutrient credits to permitted dischargers. EPRI
facilitated the program's first pilot trades in
March 2014. Thirty farmers generated the
credits used in the pilot trades, and the
program's first credit auction is scheduled to
take place on April 16, 2015.
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soil erosion, increased nutrient retention, and a
reduced need for nutrient inputs. Other soil health
benefits include increased soil carbon storage
capacity, increased water retention and drought
tolerance, and reduced susceptibility to disease and
pests.
As a result of NRCS' soil health campaign, more
than 75 percent of NRCS field staff, as well as
400 conservation partners and 300 farmers, have
received soil health training. Resources on the
Internet have been widely used: one soil health
video has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
NRCS played a key role in organizing the first
National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil
Health, which was held in February 2014
(https://www.voutube.com/watch?v=8HYLCtftSOo).
The conference attracted approximately 6,000
participants in the central meeting location and in 220 remote sites across the country.
These educational efforts are resulting in increased adoption of soil health practices. For
example, the number of acres with planned or applied cover crops contracted through EQIP
nearly doubled in 2013, compared to 2009 (USDA 2014). The National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS) Census of Agriculture estimates that 10 million acres of cover crops were
planted in 2013 alone (with and without federal assistance). New tools, such as a soil testing
procedure being developed by USDA's ARS and NRCS that measures the amount of organic
nitrogen available to crops, will help producers refine their nutrient management strategies and
give them the confidence to adopt soil health management systems.
3.2.3.7 Nutrient Management
In December 2011, NRCS, in collaboration with universities and NGOs, released a revised
Conservation Practice Standard (CPS) for Nutrient Management, CPS 590. NRCS created CPS
590 to manage nutrients for plant production, minimize agricultural nonpoint source pollution,
protect air quality, and maintain or improve soil conditions. It is an important tool for NRCS
staff and others to help agricultural producers apply nutrients using the 4R principles—the right
amount, right source, right placement, and right timing. Since 2011, more than 2.3 million acres
of nutrient management have been planned or applied in HTF states.
3.2.3.8 Drainage Water Management
The National Ag Water Management (AGWAM) Team assists states in voluntary conservation
efforts to reduce nutrients leaving fields in intensively drained farmlands, with a focus on the
Upper Mississippi River Basin, as well as the Great Lakes Basin and the Red River Valley of the
North. The AGWAM Team, working in collaboration with partners, has a charge to increase the
voluntary adoption of agricultural drainage water management and associated practices, such as
2015, The International Year of Soils
As part of the International Year of Soils-
declared by the United Nations General
Assembly—USDA will partner with the Soil
Science Society of America and other
organizations to raise awareness of the vital
importance of healthy soils to protect natural
resources, mitigate against extreme weather
events, and increase food security across the
world. Healthy soils mean better water quality,
and 2015 marks a significant opportunity to
protect and improve one of the nation's
greatest resources. News, research, and events
related to soil health can be found at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/mai
n/soils/yos/.
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denitrifying bioreactors and vegetated subsurface drain outlets for conservation benefits.
Significant progress is being made, with the acres planned for drainage water management
increasing from just over 12,000 acres in FY 2013 to more than 42,000 acres in the first three
quarters of FY 2014. Application of drainage water management has increased from just over
4,300 acres in FY 2013 to more than 7,400 in the first three quarters of FY 2014.
3.2.3.9 Conservation Reserve Program
USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP),
which is a voluntary program for agricultural landowners. Landowners participating in CRP
convert highly erodible and environmentally sensitive cropland into conservation covers
including wetlands, buffers, grass and trees. FSA has quantified the reduction of sediment,
nitrogen, and phosphorus resulting from 17.0 to 22.7 million acres of former cropland enrolled in
CRP during 2009-2014. Between 2009 and 2014, CRP resulted in over 965 million tons of
sediment, over 2,500 million pounds of nitrogen, and over 530 million pounds of phosphorus
being retained in fields and not being available to enter waterways within the Mississippi River
Basin (see table 4).
CRP is a voluntary program that targets highly erodible and other fragile cropland for
conservation. Participants that enter a 10-15 year contract to place eligible cropland into long-
term conservation covers such as grass, trees, and wetlands receive annual rental payments, cost
share assistance, and in some cases additional incentive payments.
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) provides for federal - state
partnerships. States identify high-priority conservation issues and provide state resources. USDA
brings additional resources to supplement the CRP and together FSA and the state target these
resources to tackle the conservation concerns. In the MARB most states have entered into at least
one CREP agreement. Several of these agreements are featured in the state nutrient management
strategies.
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Table 4. Environmental Benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program 2013 Mississippi River Basin
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Land
Enrolled *
million
acres
22.7
21.0
20.7
19.4
17.6
17.0
In Buffers
million
acres
1.32
1.40
1.31
1.32
1.32
1.21
In Wetland
million
acres
1.22
1.29
1.35
1.32
1.18
1.07
Reductions (not leaving fielc
or intercepted by buffers)**
Sediment
million tons
164
159
165
163
158
158
Nitrogen
million lbs
431
431
446
439
423
423
Phosphorus
million lbs
89
89
91
90
86
86
* Acres of land enrolled in the Mississippi River Watershed
The nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment reduction are estimated by FSA using a model developed
by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri. The
model and results for the initial year are provided in a report (Estimating Water Quality, Air Quality,
and Soil Carbon Benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program) available at
http:/Av wwisa.usda.gov/Assets/USD A-FSA-Public/usdafiles/EPAS/PDF/606586 hr.pdf.
3.2.3.10 Research and Extension Programs through NIFA
USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) provides federal financial assistance
to states through competitive grants and capacity grants to work on topics relevant to nutrient
issues in the MARB. NIFA's competitive grants are available to universities, state governments,
industry, federal research laboratories, and non-governmental organizations. Below are a few
NIFA competitive programs that have specific research priorities relevant to HTF goals:
• Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational Program: Bioenergy,
Natural Resources, and Environment;
• AFRI Challenge Area, Water for Agriculture;
• National Integrated Water Quality Program;
• Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education;
• Regional Aquaculture Centers;
• Specialty Crop Research Initiative; and
• Small Business Innovation Research.
NIFA also provides financial assistance to our LGU partners through block or capacity grants to
work on agricultural issues that are of high priority to their states and regions. State Agricultural
Experiment Stations and Cooperative Extension use this funding to maintain research and
extension capacity in the agriculturally related sciences. Much of this funding is used in support
of locally-led state projects. Currently the states in the MARB use capacity funding to do high
priority research and extension related to HTF priorities such as fertilizer recommendations, soil
testing, nutrient management, fate and transport of nutrients, basic plant and animal nutrient
biology, agroecosystem hydrology, and nutrient use economics. Twenty-five percent of capacity
funding is required by law to be used for multistate research and extension projects. Below are a
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few multistate projects that have been funded with capacity funds that have research and
extension objectives that address issues of importance to the HTF:
• Framework for Nutrient Reduction Strategy Collaboration: the Role for Land Grant
Universities (SERA-46);
• Organization to Minimize Nutrient Loss from the Landscape (SERA-17);
• Drainage Design and Management Practices to Improve Water Quality (NCERA-217);
• Enhancing Nitrogen Utilization in Corn-Based Cropping systems to Increase Yield (NC-
1195);
• Southern Region Integrated Water Resources Coordinating Committee (SERA-43); and
• Catalysts for Water Resources Protection and Restoration: Applied Social Science
Research (NC-1190).
3.2.4 U.S. Department of the Interior Programs
3.2.4.1 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Over the past few years, the HTF has started working more closely with the USFWS and its
Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) programs. What started as informational exchanges
has developed into a more formal partnership. Now a USFWS representative joins a USGS
representative as Coordinating Committee members for the U.S. Department of the Interior on
the HTF.
In August 2014, seven LCCs convened a workshop in Memphis to develop a structured decision-
making process to best allocate wildlife management actions throughout the Mississippi River
Basin in a way that reduces the contribution of nutrients to Gulf hypoxia while simultaneously
benefiting terrestrial and aquatic wildlife populations and balancing agricultural interests. The
Mississippi River Basin/Gulf Hypoxia Landscape Conservation Design Implementation and
Model Refinement Workshop (http://www.tallgrassprairielcc.org/ research-proiects/mississippi-
river-basingulf-hypoxia-structured-decision-making-workshop-2014/\ led by the Eastern
Tallgrass Prairie and Big Rivers (ETPBR) LCC in partnership with six other LCCs
encompassing the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basins, brought decision makers and
on-the-ground technical experts together to assess policy and program-level decisions that could
support implementation of strategies that address Gulf hypoxia. This effort was designed to
complement the HTF, MRBI, and state nutrient reduction initiatives. There was an added
emphasis on considering the ecological and social values of wildlife habitat, establishing
corridors for wildlife adaptation to climate change, and enhancing organizational capacity to
promote adoption of these practices in the most effective configurations and locations.
USD A, a key partner to USFWS, has provided leadership in developing partnerships with private
industry, nonprofit organizations, and state and federal agencies, especially through Landscape
Conservation Initiatives and cooperative agreements. Partners often offer financial or in-kind
contributions for conservation implementation, allowing USDA's conservation dollars to go
further, or they can align conservation opportunities in critical areas. The 2014 Farm Bill
institutionalized the importance of partnerships through the RCPP.
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3.2.4.2 U.S. Geological Survey
USGS operates over 3,000 stream gages and conducts nutrient and wetland monitoring and
modeling assessments throughout the MARB, totaling about $62 million in 2010, through a
variety of federal and cooperative programs with numerous local, state, and federal agencies.
HTF states are using the USGS Cooperative Water Program (http://water.usgs.eov/coop/) to
increase support and action for mitigating Gulf hypoxia. This program brings together local,
state, and tribal water needs and decision making with USGS capabilities, involving partnerships
between USGS and more than 1,500 state, tribal, and local agencies. Some of these partnerships
focus on real-time monitoring of nitrate, long-term ambient water quality monitoring, and water
quality improvements and agricultural BMPs. In addition, the Corps /USGS Long-Term
Resource Monitoring Program (www.iimesc.usgs.gov/ltrmp.html). under the direction of the
Corps Environmental Management Program and in collaboration with USGS, partners with other
federal and state agencies in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin to support
decision makers by providing critical information needed to maintain the Upper Mississippi
River System as a viable, multiple-use, large river ecosystem.
The USGS National Wetlands Research Center (www.nwrc.usgs.gov/) engages in robust
alliances to develop and disseminate scientific information needed for understanding the ecology
and values of wetlands, and for managing or restoring wetlands and coastal habitats. This
program potentially yields significant benefits toward nutrient reduction and hypoxia mitigation
through its protection of wetlands.
3.2.5 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Programs
The Corps' primary civil works missions of navigation, flood risk management, and ecosystem
restoration provide enormous opportunities for partnership and collaboration with other federal
and state agencies, local communities, and NGOs across the MARB. Although not designed to
specifically address water quality, many Corps project features can provide significant water
quality improvement, particularly when accomplished in partnership with other agencies and
organizations at a watershed level.
The Steele Bayou Watershed (SBW) project, located in the Yazoo River Basin in Mississippi, is
an example of a successful Corps, federal, state, and private partnership. Streams and rivers in
the SBW have been altered through agricultural activities and flood risk management projects.
The result has been increases in sediment and nutrient loading. Poor stream health in the SBW
has been documented by several short-term studies, citing elevated concentrations of suspended
sediment and nutrients. The SBW is listed on the MDEQ's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired
waters with identified impairments of pesticides, organic enrichment, low dissolved oxygen,
nutrients, and siltation. Since the early 1990s, the Corps has been involved with flood risk
management and sediment reduction projects in the SBW. From 1995 to 2000, the Corps
installed eight low-head weirs to maintain minimum water depths in the channels and 67
sediment control structures to prevent sediment from filling the channels. In 2005, post-project
monitoring results of the sediment control structures indicated a large reduction of in-stream
TSS.
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Due to the significant reductions in TSS, the Corps identified over 100 additional sites where
sediment control and water management practices were needed and worked with MDEQ, Delta
Farmers Advocating Resource Management (F.A.R.M.), and local stakeholders to implement the
practices. To date, 30 smaller structures and 76 larger structures have been installed in addition
to the 67 previously installed. Edge-of-field monitoring on the structures was initiated in 2007 by
USGS. Concurrent with this effort, the Mississippi Soil & Water Conservation Commission,
NRCS, EPA, and Ducks Unlimited also worked with stakeholders within the watershed to install
numerous water management practices that included sediment control structures, land leveling,
containment dikes (pads), and overfall pipes. Over $15 million has been spent for sediment
structures in the SBW, without including investments by landowners for various conservation
practices.
The cumulative results from these efforts have been dramatic. A GIS model was developed by
the Corps that correlates incremental changes in water quality with the implementation of
sediment control and water management practices. The pre-implementation monitoring data
(1995) established baselines for TSS, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. Baseline land use
analysis estimated that 15 percent of the land area in the SBW had conservation practices already
installed. By 2010, 50 percent of the watershed was protected by some type of sediment control
structure or water management practices. Analysis of post-project monitoring data from the three
sub-watersheds within the SBW reveal a 42-60 percent reduction in TSS concentrations over 15
years, an 18-26 percent reduction in total nitrogen concentrations, and an 8-35 percent reduction
in total phosphorus concentrations. Correlation of the reductions to the areas of installed
sediment control and water management practices shows that for every one percent increase in
land area protected by the practices, there was a one percent reduction in TSS, total nitrogen, and
total phosphorus concentrations. The model shows that TSS reduction is tied to implementing the
practices in a half-mile buffer adjacent to a channel.
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Part 4: Keys to Success and Lessons Learned
4.1 Cooperative Development and Implementation of Nutrient
Reduction Strategies
State nutrient strategies are a key activity in the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008 and are critical
to making progress toward reducing Gulf hypoxia. In September 2010, the HTF agreed on the
basic elements to be included in each state's nutrient strategy. The first element is stakeholder
involvement. Outreach by the 12 HTF states to their stakeholders has significantly increased the
awareness of the potential for nitrogen and phosphorus pollution both locally and in the Gulf of
Mexico among the agriculture and wastewater sectors and a broad array of government
organizations and NGOs. This broad involvement has also led to a widening of support for
nutrient reduction efforts. One example is support from the Iowa farm community for additional
state funding for conservation practices.
State strategies and other HTF efforts are founded on the best available science. The 2008 Action
Plan was built around the 2008 recommendations of EPA's Science Advisory Board. Both
federal agencies and states have continued to develop and use science-based tools and
approaches. Federal agencies have developed tools for analyzing nutrient sources and cost-
effective solutions (see previous CEAP and SPARROW discussions), collected monitoring
information, and developed improved models to better analyze progress (e.g., USGS SPARROW
model, NOAA Gulf models). The states have used their LGUs to ground their strategies in the
best science. Building on the work of individual states with their LGUs, the HTF now has a
memorandum of agreement (MO A) with a group of LGUs in all 12 HTF states that will further
engage LGU research and extension programs as states implement their strategies.
HTF state strategies use a range of voluntary and regulatory approaches to improve local water
quality and reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico that reflect each state's unique circumstances
and needs. For example in Iowa, where artificial drainage (tile drains) and natural subsurface
drainage facilitate the vast majority of nitrogen transport to streams, the state has an initiative to
demonstrate practices that ameliorate water quality impacts from drainage. Other states have
developed programs to educate and certify the workforce that works with farmers on nutrient
applications. Illinois passed a Fertilizer Act with a $0.75/ton assessment on all bulk fertilizer sold
in the state to support research and education programs on nutrient use and water quality. In
Ohio, a state law now requires nutrient applicators to be certified through an educational
program on nutrients and water quality and the state agricultural retailer association offers a
voluntary educational program for the retailers. Indiana is issuing NPDES permits to its major
municipal dischargers with one part per million limits on phosphorus discharges. In Minnesota,
municipal wastewater facilities have reduced phosphorus loads by 68 percent since 2000 to
comply with the state's regulations for phosphorus discharges. State funding levels and sources
also vary. As states implement their strategies with support from federal agencies and in
collaboration with partners, and as HTF members track implementation progress and monitor
water quality, patterns may emerge regarding effective approaches that inform adaptive
management of state strategies and future Reports to Congress.
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HTF meetings and other HTF-sponsored fora helped states become familiar with the latest
science and learn about voluntary and regulatory approaches being adopted on a state-by-state
basis. The meetings also help states learn from each other's approaches to common strategy
elements like identifying priorities and adopting measures of progress.
The unified federal strategy has provided focused support for developing, refining, and
implementing state nutrient reduction strategies (Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed
Nutrient Task Force 2013b). Federal agencies are supporting state efforts with new science,
programs, and approaches that states can tailor to their particular needs associated with
implementing individual state strategies. The agencies have expanded outreach and education on
nutrient pollution issues and solutions, and focused on engaging partners with similar goals.
They also have provided technical assistance and funding support to states where possible.
4.2 Forging State and Basinwide Partnerships to Implement
Nutrient Reduction Strategies
Important work by the HTF lies ahead in implementing state nutrient reduction strategies,
tracking progress, and making adjustments as new information and science become available.
Critical to success is expanding partnerships and alliances to help carry out the ecosystem and
watershed restoration actions that will reduce nutrient loads. Five key sets of partners are being
targeted:
• Universities. LGUs in the Mississippi River Basin meet critical research needs and conduct
outreach to communities throughout the basin, particularly the agricultural community.
LGUs have partnered with individual states to help develop state nutrient strategies that
address the diversity of nutrient sources and the geographic, climatic, and hydrologic
variability of the MARB. In addition to individual state partnerships, the LGUs now have an
MOA with the HTF and are working collaboratively with the HTF to improve the
consistency of communications and collectively advance the technologies and knowledge
needed to reach HTF goals. The LGUs have received approval to formalize their group as a
USD A Southern Extension and Research Activity (SERA) group and receive funding from
the USDA's SERA program for their travel.
• Farmers and Agricultural Organizations. Farmers are recognized for their long tradition
of commitment to soil and water stewardship, and they have been a critical part of
developing and implementing state strategies in every state. Farm innovations and the
examples set by early adopters help accelerate progress and provide needed demonstration of
the effectiveness of systems of conservation practices. The members of the HTF will seek to
promote and stimulate markets for farmer-led actions that improve water quality and enhance
ecological benefits and services. Actions that reduce the loss of nutrients, while
simultaneously providing economic, agronomic, and soil health benefits, are particularly
beneficial as they support farm sustainability as well as protect and restore nearby and
downstream waters.
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• Businesses. The ability of business to create products and services to meet the needs of the
American people is unprecedented. Many businesses are actively working to reduce their
environmental impacts and have lessons to share that will enable other businesses to
implement similar actions. Industries that discharge significant amounts of nutrients can
provide leadership in identifying and piloting cost-effective process optimization or control
technologies. Firms are marketing nitrogen inhibitors and other products that can keep
nutrients in the soil and available to plants.
• Cities and Communities. Reducing Gulf hypoxia will require reductions from all sources of
nutrients and will benefit those who depend on the river for water, recreation, and many other
uses. Municipal wastewater agencies and the communities they serve will be relied upon to
improve the performance of sewage treatment facilities as a component of state nutrient
strategies. Groups like the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative can help build
connections with these cities that rely on the river and its tributaries.
• Other Nongovernmental Organizations. The HTF will strengthen partnerships with NGOs
working on initiatives to improve water quality and reduce nutrients in the MARB. The HTF
is now collaborating with the United Nations (UN) Global Compact business partnership,
CEO Water Mandate, on the Water Action Hub through the Pacific Institute, the UN's
representative partner. The Water Action Hub is the world's first online platform to unite
companies, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders on a range of critical water projects
in specific river basins around the world. The HTF will use the Water Action Hub as an
online platform to secure corporate and NGO support for projects implementing state nutrient
reduction strategies. The HTF has also worked with The Nature Conservancy on a variety of
their efforts, including the recent collaborative project, America's Watershed Initiative,
which is creating a "report card" to assess the social, economic, and environmental health of
key areas in the Mississippi River Basin.
4.3 Lessons Learned from USDA's Conservation Effects
Assessment Project (CEAP)
Since 2003, USD A has worked cooperatively through CEAP to better understand watershed
dynamics and the effectiveness of conservation systems on agricultural land in the MARB. This
multiagency effort and a number of lessons learned are described in detail in section 2.2.5 of this
report. For example, CEAP cropland assessments have shown that certain areas within the
Mississippi River Basin contribute more nutrient loading to both the Gulf of Mexico and local
waters, underscoring the importance of targeting conservation practice implementation to
provide the greatest environmental benefit per U.S. dollar spent (White et al. 2014).
Syntheses of results from the CEAP Watershed Assessment studies have identified a number of
lessons learned (Richardson et al. 2008; Tomer and Locke 2011; Osmond et al. 2012; Tomer et
al. 2014). NRCS is working to integrate these findings into its watershed-based programming
and landscape conservation initiatives. The lessons learned include: the importance of planning
at a watershed scale; identifying the critical pollutants and their sources and means of transport;
using appropriate models to plan and evaluate implementation; using appropriate monitoring
designs to evaluate conservation outcomes, determining farmers' attitudes toward conservation
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practices and working with them by offering appropriate financial and technical assistance; and
sustaining assistance and agricultural community engagement after practice adoption. CEAP
Watershed Assessments have also demonstrated that even with well-designed fully implemented
conservation practices and effective water quality monitoring efforts, if the monitoring period
and sampling frequency are not sufficient to address the lag between treatment and response,
watershed projects might not be able to measure changes in water quality due to the
implementation of conservation practices (e.g., Meals et al. 2010).
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5.1 Continue to Implement the 2008 Action Plan
The 2008 Action Plan called for reassessment of the Action Plan within five years and, in 2013,
the HTF published its reassessment. HTF members believe the 2008 Action Plan continues to
provide a strong framework for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus in the MARB and reducing
the size of the Gulf hypoxic zone. Its most important recommendations remain valid, and HTF
members remain committed to its implementation. The most effective approach to moving
forward is for the HTF to accelerate implementation of the actions contained in the 2008 Action
Plan while refining specific approaches as better science, new tools, and policy innovations
become available.
5.2 Revising the Coastal Goal and Committing to Accelerated and
New Actions to Reduce Nutrients
As described in Section 1.3.5, in February 2015 the HTF announced that it would retain the
original goal of reducing the areal extent of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone to less than 5,000
km2 and extend the time of attainment from 2015 to 2035.
To meet this updated goal, the HTF will focus on several areas:
• Implementing state nutrient reduction strategies to accelerate the reduction of nutrient
pollution.
• For the first time, adopting quantitative measures to track interim progress. Measures
are discussed in Section 5.3.
• Targeting vulnerable lands and quantifying the nutrient load reductions from federal
programs such as the USDA RCPP, USDA MRBI, USFWS Mississippi River Habitat
Initiative and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, and EPA Water Pollution Control
Program Grants and Nonpoint Source Management Program.
• Expanding and building new partnerships and alliances with universities, agriculture,
cities and communities, and others.
5.3 Tracking Environmental Results
5.3.1 Measuring Progress on Reducing Nutrient Loads
The HTF has agreed to develop and report on several common point source and nonpoint source
measures that all HTF states would use to measure progress toward the interim target:
• NPDES Permits—Monitoring: Number and percent of individual non-storm water permits
issued to "major" publicly owned treatment works (POTW) dischargers, with
monitoring-only requirements for nitrogen, phosphorus, or both.
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• NPDES Permits—Limits: Number and percentage of individual non-stormwater permits
issued to major POTW dischargers, with numeric discharge limits for nitrogen,
phosphorus, or both.
In addition, the HTF is exploring a potential measure that would track reductions in loads of
nitrogen and phosphorus from major POTWs. Some states will also use additional, state-specific
measures to track progress on reducing point source loads.
The Nonpoint Source Measures Workgroup continues to review and discuss available and
achievable common measures that all HTF states could use to track progress. While not yet
finalized, these measures will focus on the success of conservation and best management
practices in reducing nutrient loads, including estimates of amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus
reduced. Nonpoint source measures such as these are currently employed by several states and
by federal programs to track progress toward nutrient reduction goals; these various approaches
will be considered for use as a common measure by all HTF states. Some HTF states will also
use additional state-specific measures to track progress.
5.3.2 Conducting Long-Term Assessment of Environmental Conditions and
Trends
The National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA) is a statistically representative,
probability-based monitoring survey undertaken every 5 years by EPA and its state and federal
partners. The HTF plans to use data and analysis generated by NRSA surveys to report on the
ecological condition of rivers and streams in the MARB and its sub-basins, including nitrogen
and phosphorus concentrations. A draft of the first NRSA survey was released in 2013, and it is
based on samples collected in 2008 and 2009. In 2016, EPA will report on changes in nitrogen
and phosphorus concentrations in MARB streams and rivers at the basin and sub-basin levels,
based on data collected in 2013/2014. More information on NRSA and other national aquatic
resource surveys is available at this website:
http://water.epa.gov/tvpe/watersheds/monitoring/aquaticsurvev index.cfm.
The national NRCS/NASS NRI/CEAP cropland farmer survey will be administered for a second
time in calendar years 2015 and 2016. The survey is intended to update baseline data on
conservation implementation impacts and monitor conservation trends and progress since the
initial NRI/CEAP cropland farmer survey was conducted from 2003 to 2006.
5.3.3 Compiling Existing Site-Specific Monitoring from Many Sources
In 2012, the HTF established the Mississippi River Basin Monitoring Collaborative, which
USGS helps lead, to identify streams with long-term monitoring and streamflow records that can
be used to evaluate progress toward reducing the amounts of nutrients transported to local
streams and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico. This long-term monitoring network provides a
foundation for evaluating the effectiveness of conservation practices and other nutrient reduction
efforts included in the HTF states' nutrient reduction strategies in the Mississippi River Basin.
The long-term monitoring network data will be available through the Water Quality Portal:
http://www.waterqiialitvdata.us/.
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5.4 Conclusion
This first report to Congress required by the 2014 Amendments to HABHRCA describes the
history of and progress made by the HTF toward attainment of the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia
Action Plan 2008. The members of the HTF continue to work collaboratively to implement the
2008 Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan. All HTF states now have draft or complete strategies to reduce
nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the MARB, a key contributor to the dead zone, the large
area of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico. The HTF is committed to making strong progress on
implementation of these strategies and other actions outlined in the 2008 Action Plan.
Recognizing the enormity of the work to be done, the HTF has revised the deadline for achieving
its goal of reducing the areal extent of the dead zone, while adopting an interim milestone and
measures to track progress made to reduce point and nonpoint sources of nitrogen and
phosphorus pollution.
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