Source: James B. Hyde

 

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This page offers background information on agriculture, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, nitrogen, and phosphorus. You will also find links to training opportunities, teaching resources, EPA webcasts, and opportunities to take action to reduce nutrient pollution.

The following links exit the site Exit

• Agriculture
  • Animal Feeding Operations
  • EPA Agricultural Topics Related to Water Resources
  • USDA-NRCS Water Quality
  • Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory
  • Cooperative Extension Offices
  • Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Practice Standards
  • 2008 Farm Bill Provisions (from Natural Resources Conservation Service)
  • EPA's National Agriculture Compliance Assistance Center
  • Water Quality Information Center at the National Agricultural Library
  • Conservation Technology Information Center
  • North Carolina State University Water Quality Group
  • Natural Resources Conservation Service Photo Gallery
  • National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (Formerly CSREES)
  • USDA-NRCS Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative
• Harmful Algal Blooms
  • Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
• Hypoxia
  • Ecological Society of America: Hypoxia Fact Sheet (PDF) (4 pp, 714K)
  • US Geological Survey: Hypoxia Information
  • The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force
  • Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008
  • Annual Operating Plans
  • Annual Reports
  • Additional Hypoxia Resources
• Research on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution
  • Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP)
  • Large Lakes and Rivers Forecasting Research Branch
  • US Geological Survey, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program: Nutrients
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research: Hypoxia and Nutrient Pollution
  • National Atmospheric Deposition Program (wet deposition)
  • National Atmospheric Deposition Program
  • Nitrogen Pollution: From the Sources of the Sea
• Training Opportunities
  • EPA Watershed Academy
  • EPA Water Quality Standards Academy
  • USDA-CSREES National Water Program Knowledge Center Learning Modules
  • Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship (LPDES) Curriculum
• Wastewater Treatment
  • Water Environment Research Foundation's Nutrients Knowledge Area
  • Municipal Nutrient Removal Technologies Reference Document (September 2008)
    • Volume 1 (PDF) (268 pp, 4.1MB)
    • Volume 2 (PDF) (181 pp, 9.9MB)
  • Nutrient Control Design Manual (August 2010) (PDF) (369 pp, 10MB)
  • Nutrient Control Design Manual: State of Technology Review Report (January 2009) (PDF) (104 pp, 3.2MB)
  • Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Webinar Series: Treatment Technologies, System Design, and Management Strategies
• EPA Webcasts

  The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force Action Plan calls for the reduction of excessive nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico. As part of this overall effort, states are developing Nutrient Reduction Strategies. The individual state strategies need to outline how states will reduce nutrient impairments within their jurisdiction, improve the quality of life for citizens, and contribute to reducing the size of the hypoxia zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Each state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy needs to answer four basic questions:

  1. What nutrient load reductions are achievable?
  2. How will these reductions be achieved?
  3. What are the implementation schedule and corresponding milestones for this effort?
  4. What is the value to each stakeholder of these reduction efforts?

   

  The state strategies are to cover all major sources within the states.

  Agriculture has been identified as the largest source of nutrients impacting the Gulf. The diversity of agriculture throughout the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins and the range of agricultural intensity between states requires that each state develop a state-specific plan to address agriculture.

  These webcasts are an extension of a June 2011 workshop intended to help states in the basins develop the agricultural component for their State Nutrient Reduction Strategies. 

  • Wetlands Supplement: Incorporating Wetlands into Watershed Planning, August 21, 2013
    Wetlands Nutrients Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 33MB) | Wetlands Nutrients Webinar Print Version
  • Analyzing NRCS Ag-BMP Effects on Water Quality-A Process for Matching Practices to the Problems, July 24, 2013
    NRCS Nutrients Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 33MB) | NRCS Nutrients Webinar Print Version
  • Using Interactive GIS to Plan Nutrient Reductions and Track Implementation and Interactive GLRI Watershed Remediation Tracking System, June 5, 2013
    Interactive Nutrients Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 59MB) | Interactive Nutrients Webinar Print Version
  • Nutrient Trading in the MRB: Possibilities for Improving Gulf Water Quality & Ideas for State Nutrient Reduction Strategies, May 29, 2013
    Nutrient Trading Nutrients Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 83MB) | Nutrient Trading Nutrients Webinar Print Version
  • What Drives Successful Nutrient Reduction Efforts? And How Can Land Grant Universities Support Them?, May 1, 2013
    Successful Nutrients Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 33MB) | Successful Nutrients Webinar Print Version
  • Indian Creek Watershed Project, April 24, 2013
    Indian Creek Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 61MB) | Indian Creek Nutrients Webinar Print Version
  • Interactive Routine for Bioreactor Design and Evaluation Transcript, March 6, 2013
    Bioreactor Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 54MB) | Bioreactor Nutrients Webinar Print Version
  • The Nose Knows: Canine Scent Tracking Transcript, February 7, 2013
    Snifferdog Webinar Video with Audio (MP4, 127MB) | Sniffdog Nutrients Webinar Print Version

  Archived versions of EPA's webcasts dealing with numeric criteria for nitrogen/phosphorus pollution are available on the Watershed Academy webcast archives page.

  • Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Series: State and Local Policies to Restrict the Use of Lawn Fertilizers, September 21, 2011
    Ron Strauss, Research Scientist, Minnesota Department of Agriculture; Bevin Buchheister, Maryland Director, Chesapeake Bay Commission; Dr. John Lehman, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of Michigan
  • Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Series: Nitrate in Ground Water, March 29, 2011
    Jill Jonas, Director, Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources;
    Audrey Eldridge, Coordinator for the Southern Willamette Valley Groundwater Management Area, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality; Neil M. Dubrovsky, PhD, Chief, Nutrients and Trace Elements National Synthesis Project, National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA), U.S. Geological Survey
  • Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution and Harmful Algal Blooms in Lakes, January 26, 2011
    Ken Wagner, Water Resource Manager, Water Resources LLC, Wilbraham, MA; Russ Gibson, Nonpoint Source Program Manager, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
  • Managing Nutrients in the National Estuary Program, March 1, 2010
    Holly Greening, Executive Director, Tampa Bay Estuary Program; Kimberly Paulsen, Peconic Estuary Program Coordinator, Suffolk County New York Department of Health Services; Ed Lewandowski, Executive Director, Delaware Center for the Inland Bays
  • National Lakes Assessment: Reporting on the Condition of the Nation's Lakes, January 5, 2010
    Sarah Lehmann, Team Leader for National Aquatic Resource Surveys, Monitoring Branch, EPA's Office of Water; Neil C. Kamman, Chief, Water Quality Monitoring, Assessment and Planning, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation
  • An Urgent Call to Action: Nutrient Innovations Task Group Report, December 1, 2009
    Ephraim S. King, Director, Office of Science and Technology, in EPA's Office of Water; Craig Cox, Midwest Vice President, Environmental Working Group; Walter L. Baker, Director, Utah Division of Water Quality, Utah Department of Environmental Quality
  • Moving Forward on Gulf Hypoxia, October 7, 2008
    Benjamin H. Grumbles, Assistant Administrator for Water, U.S. EPA; Nancy Rabalais, Ex. Director and Professor, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium; Darrell Brown, Associate Director, Oceans and Coastal Protection Division, U.S. EPA; John Kessler, Assistant Chief, Division of Soil and Water Conservation, Ohio Department of Natural Resources
  • Managing Nutrients in Your Backyard and Your Community, March 19, 2008
    Steve Potts, Acting Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Criteria Team Leader, U.S. EPA; Ondine Wells, Statewide Builder and Developer Coordinator, Florida Yards and Neighborhoods; Mona Menezes, Stormwater Educator, City of Columbia, Missouri
  • Implementing TMDLs and Trading Through the National Estuary Program, February 21, 2007
    Darrell Brown, Chief, USEPA's Coastal Management Branch; Mark Tedesco, Director, USEPA's Long Island Sound Office; Gary Johnson, Senior Environmental Engineer, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
• Grants
  • Grant for Nutrients Benefits Valuation