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Nitrate News -- April, 2000

Environmental rescue for Lake Okeechobee, approved by South Florida water board (Environmental News Network, Wednesday, April 26, 2000, By Cyril T. Zaneski, The Miami Herald ) South Florida water managers approved a bold rescue for Lake Okeechobee on Tuesday, ordering an emergency draining of high water that has smothered the lake's wildlife habitat and decimated its renowned fishery. The plan is risky. It will heighten chances of water restrictions for South Florida's cities and farms, will dump dirty lake water into the Everglades, and will threaten marine life on the state's west and east coasts. But taking no action threatens the very survival of the lake. "Timid actions are not going to help," said Frank Finch, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District. "We need bold actions now. We need to seize the opportunity or lose it." Representatives of utilities and the sugar industry who attended the emergency meeting in West Palm Beach did not object, said Ann Overton, the district spokeswoman. At stake is one of the nation's largest lakes — 720 square miles — and the historic liquid heart of the Everglades. Overflows from Okeechobee once sustained abundant wildlife in the River of Grass. But the lake has been forced in the last half-century to serve too many masters. It supplies water during dry spells for cities and farms, collects flood water pumped into it from farmland during storms, collects wastes from dairy farms upstream, and sustains an annual $100 million tourism industry built around sportfishing and boating. State scientists warned recently that seven consecutive years of excessively high water had pushed the lake to the brink of "ecological collapse" — irreversible destruction of underwater grass beds and marshes that provide habitat for wildlife and help keep the water clean. A staggering 95 percent of the lake's underwater grass beds, about 50,000 acres, have died in the last five years. They were killed by excessive water stored in the lake. The grasses may be lost forever unless the lake's water levels drop by about two feet before the onset of summer's tropical rains, scientists warned. Until Tuesday, the district's governing board had resisted lowering the lake that much for fear of causing water shortages and damaging the Everglades and the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. But heavy rains that raised lake water levels by another six inches on April 13 and 14 forced the board to act. The board voted unanimously to release water over the next three months in an effort to lower the lake by about two feet by June 1. They called the effort "shared adversity" — that all South Floridians would share some difficulty of saving the lake. The board left open the possibility that the plan could be modified later if monitoring shows undue harm, Overton said. The cities in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties will face a 23 percent chance of having restrictions placed on their water use by fall and a 27 percent chance next year under the plan, compared with a 7 percent chance of restrictions otherwise, Overton said.

EPA Proposes Stricter Rules for Drinking Water From Wells (NY Times, April 18, 2000, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS) WASHINGTON, April 17 -- To reduce health risks, the Environmental Protection Agency today proposed tougher requirements for tap water in communities whose public water supply comes from wells. Under the regulation, water supply authorities in thousands of communities would have to increase monitoring for bacterial contamination and use disinfectants if there are health risks, the officials said. The regulations, which are expected to be final later this year, could apply to as many as 157,000 water systems in the country -- mostly smaller systems that rely on underground aquifers. The rules do not apply to private wells that serve single households. This is another significant step, said Vice President Al Gore, "to ensure that Americans enjoy the safest drinking water possible." "The new proposal will bring us even closer to the day when every community in America has clean, safe drinking water," added Mr. Gore, who announced the initiative. The agency estimates the additional monitoring and water quality controls will affect 109 million people and prevent 115,000 illnesses from bacteria and parasites including E. coli and cryptosporidium. In most cases the additional safeguards will add $5 a year to an average household water bill, the agency said. More than 90 percent of Americans receive tap water that meets federal health standards. But there has been growing concern in recent years about illnesses -- and even deaths among the elderly and people with low immune systems -- from drinking water that contains viruses and bacteria like E. coli and cryptosporidium. The agency already has stepped up efforts at detecting and preventing such contamination in drinking water from surface sources like lakes and rivers but has not previously pursued similar efforts in systems that rely on underground sources. In December 1998, President Clinton announced new drinking water standards affecting about 140 million people who are served by large water systems that get their supplies from surface sources. Last month, the environmental agency began work on similar standards for small water systems that rely on surface water.

Pollution fouls Brazil's waterways (Copyright © 2000 Nando Media; Copyright © 2000 Christian Science Monitor Service; The Web site of The Christian Science Monitor, source of this article. By ANDREW DOWNIE, The Christian Science Monitor) RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (April 9, 2000 1:11 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Fernando Gomes stretches over the bridge and pulls his net from the murky green waters of the Canal de Joatinga, where Rio de Janeiro's flatland lagoons flow out to the Atlantic Ocean. The retired military officer isn't having much success. A morning's work has netted only a handful of the fish he had planned to share with neighbors. The waters, he says, are polluted with rubbish and sewage. It used to be so different. "It was marvelous around here. The water was clean and there were lots of different kinds of fish. That little island had nothing on it," he says, nodding to buildings across the water. "Those condominiums over there didn't exist. ... Now all the sewage and garbage from the condominiums are emptied into the lagoons." Tales of ecological degradation are nothing new in Brazil, a nation almost as well-known for its environmental problems as for its outstanding natural beauty. To many of those who live and work around once-spectacular Barra de Tijuca, the destruction of its mangrove swamps and the pollution of its beaches and lakes seem particularly unnecessary. The burgeoning city, often described as a tropical Miami Beach, is just a few miles from Rio de Janeiro, more than close enough to have learned from that city's errors and lack of planning. "I can excuse the pollution in Rio, but not in Barra, because it is not a question of knowledge anymore," says Mario Moscatelli, a biologist who resigned from the Rio government in March to protest the lack of action on pollution. "We are making the same mistakes all over again. The ecosystems supported this for more than 400 years, but it has reached the point where they can't take it any longer." For Moscatelli, the construction of a community like Barra de Tijuca was the perfect opportunity for Brazil to show it was paying more attention to the environment. The city started to expand in the 1970s, when a tunnel was built linking it to Rio's chic south side. In the past 20 years, its population has jumped from 40,000 to 240,000, says Rodrigo Bethlem, a top city official. With ocean on one side and three freshwater lagoons on the other, it was the ideal setting for a new outdoors community. The beaches were long and clean, and the lagoons were famous for shrimp and white heron. Then condominiums were built opposite the beaches and factories were constructed on the edge of freshwater lagoons. Raw sewage quickly turned them into fetid pools. Each condominium was required to build its own sewage-treatment system, but not all are up to standard. A study carried out by the municipal government last year found that 30 percent of the sewage dumped into one of the lagoons, the Lagoa de Marapendi, was insufficiently treated. Just as in Rio, where 75 percent of the beaches recently were declared unfit for bathing, it is sewage that is causing the most problems. In the Baixada de Jacarapegua, the flatlands that include Barra de Tijuca and a handful of other small cities, there is only one sewage-treatment plant for 800,000 residents and scores of factories and businesses. "It is not that there is excrement in the water," says Moscatelli. "There is water in the excrement. It's like a toilet bowl." Experts say the fact that Brazil is home to 40 percent of the world's freshwater lakes and lagoons has led to a lack of respect. "People think we have all these beautiful lakes, so it won't matter if we throw rubbish in this one, because there are plenty more," says Sandra Azevedo, a biologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who carried out a three-year study on polluted waterways. The study found that the level of microcystins, a toxin linked to a form of cancer, was more than 40 times the maximum recommended by the World Health Organization. Levels of lead, magnesium, zinc and other heavy metals are as much as 300 times above the maximum. A study in a canal close to Rio's Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas registered fecal matter at 2.4 million times the recommended norm. The presence of microcystins and other toxins has obliterated aquatic life in the three coastal lagoons surrounding Barra, Azevedo says. Ten years ago, fishermen caught 800 tons of shrimp in the Lagoa de Jacarapegua, she notes. Last year, they caught none. The Rio state and city governments are together investing more than $200 million to construct a sewage-treatment plant and underground drainage system to take treated sewage far out into the sea. But the project is long-term and money is hard to come by. It will be 2012 before the state water authorities have enough money to build a second water-treatment plant, Bethlem says. Officials acknowledge it will take at least another five years for the lagoons to begin to look - and smell - cleaner. That's little comfort for people like Gomes. "The thing to do would have been to plan, but the planners just built and built," he says. "The damage is done. One more reason why we are still in the third world." (c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

Once thriving ecosystem declining in Florida's Lake Okeechobee (Nando Times, Copyright © 2000 Nando Media; Copyright © 2000 Associated Press; By KARIN MEADOWS, Associated Press) LAKE OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (April 10, 2000 1:05 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Thick islands of swaying bulrush and cattails once slowed the whitecaps that skip across the surface of the nation's second-largest lake. The miles of grasses also were a haven for spawning fish, but their gradual disappearance has left Lake Okeechobee looking more like an ocean, with problems just as vast. Fishing guides like Butch Butler have shied away from talking about the decline of the once-thriving ecosystem of fish, fowl and plant life, fearing bad publicity might scare even more bass enthusiasts away. But Butler also knows keeping quiet could mean the death of the lake he loves. "If they don't start to do something real quick we're going to be in serious trouble," Butler, 39, said as he sped across the once-clear waters. Over the years, phosphorus-laden runoff from citrus and sugar crops, cattle farms and dairy farms has over-enriched the water, bringing an onslaught of unwanted plant life that blocks Florida's pounding sunshine from the reaching the bottom. To compound the problem, the nutrient-rich water is being held captive at high levels behind the Hoover Dike, built years ago to prevent the flooding of South Florida's coastal region and save lives after two hurricanes pushed the lake over levees. The combination has become deadly, killing off an estimated 50,000 acres of grasses. That means largemouth bass and crappie don't have a place to spawn. The solution seems simple: Monitor the flow of fertilizers into the lake and lower the water levels. The first part is being tackled. Lake phosphorus levels have been dropping since cattle and sugar farmers began filtering the water that runs off their property or is pumped back into the lake. But groups representing various interests affected by the lake's flow are in constant battle over the water releases. And anytime the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or South Florida Water Management District make a move - either to hold back or let water go - someone sues. Sugar and citrus farmers, who use the lake as a reservoir for irrigation, want water levels kept high in case of drought. The Miccosukee Indians, who live southeast of the lake, say tainted water is damaging the Everglades, the lake's natural flood plain before it was dammed. Environmentalists have sued the state and federal agencies responsible for management of the lake claiming too much water is being dumped into the Everglades, threatening the nesting season of the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow and other birds and plant life. Those to the east and west of the lake complain that fresh water released into the partly salty St. Lucie River estuaries are causing lesions on fish and killing plant life. Twelve years ago, a study of the lake by a group of Florida scientists and water resource experts predicted an ecological crisis for the body of water. It's no longer a forecast, according to a letter recently sent to Gov. Jeb Bush from the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. Bruce Shupp, national conservation director for the Montgomery, Ala.,-based group, warned Bush that the loss of Okeechobee's $100 million sportfishing enterprise would become an ecological, economic and political crisis. "The economic losses from poor fishing will be huge," Shupp wrote. "The depressed economy will last until the aquatic vegetation and the fishery recover." The governor has made restoration of the lake and the Everglades a high priority for the state legislature this spring and supports a proposed $7.8 billion federal plan for restoration. Still, while the water sits behind the dam at least two feet too high - and sometimes higher - Pete Milam, a water resource for the corps, prays for evaporation, or a new directive. "We are suffering right along with everybody else who is trying to find answers," said Milam, a biologist. "We've either got too much water or not enough." Meanwhile, life on the lake continues to disappear. Eagle Bay Island, a wide plot of 8-foot-tall, tan-colored grasses and reeds which stretches like a finger about 1,000 yards into the 30-mile-long lake, is a dramatic example. Just two years ago, the vegetation reached another half mile, fishing guide Butler said. "You can see there's almost nothing of it left."

Fertilizer-tainted runoff wrecking many US coastal areas, report says (Nando Times, H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press; Copyright © 2000 Nando Media; Copyright © 2000 Associated Press) WASHINGTON (April 5, 2000 6:41 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Fish and other marine life are being killed and marshlands damaged in more than a third of U.S. coastal areas from algae blooms caused by the runoff of excess nutrients, the National Academy of Sciences says. The scientists concluded in a report issued Tuesday that the problem of coastal pollution from nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers is so severe and widespread that states require federal help. The nutrients often travel hundreds of miles along rivers before they create problems. "Conditions in many coastal areas are expected to worsen unless action is taken now to reduce nutrient pollution," said Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University, and the panel's chairman. While nitrogen and phosphorous occur in nature and are critical to support plant life in marine environments, too much of the nutrients causes an excessive growth of phytoplankton and other organisms, which deprive fish and other marine life, including plants, of oxygen. That causes marine life to die or be driven away. Algae blooms caused by an overabundance of nutrients - specifically, excessive nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers or poultry waste - have been linked to a decline of fisheries, the death of manatees along the Florida coast, and the loss of coral reefs and sea grasses, the panel said. Algae blooms have been blamed for years for the so-called dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico along the Louisiana and Texas coast. Large amounts of nutrients flowing from the Farm Belt into and down the Mississippi River have caused the massive dead zone - the size of New Jersey - each spring in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists estimated the amount of nitrogen pouring from the river into the Gulf has tripled, and the amount of phosphorous doubled, in the past 40 years. Algae blooms also have been linked to a microbial called Pfiesteria that has killed fish in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay and off the Carolinas. But the report by the Academy's National Research Council said that nitrogen and phosphorous pollution is causing environmental damage along almost all of the nation's estuaries, with severe problems identified in 44 of the 139 coastal areas examined. "Excess nitrogen in our coastal waters starts a dangerous chain of ecological events that is exacerbating harmful algae blooms such as red tides, contaminating shellfish, killing coastal wildlife, reducing biodiversity, destroying sea grass, and contributing to a host of other environmental problems," Howarth warned. Because rivers often transport chemical nutrients hundreds of miles from inland farmland and urban centers, the most severe problem areas, according to the report, are where rivers and bays feed water into the ocean. Severe problem areas, where there were symptoms of low oxygen levels, toxic algae blooms and loss of submerged aquatic vegetation, were found along the coasts of nine states: Washington, California, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, New York and Massachusetts. The most severe problems were reported in the mid-Atlantic states and the Gulf of Mexico, the report said. Worldwide, human activity - from excessive use of fertilizers to the burning of fossil fuels - have caused the amount of nitrogen in the environment to more than double since the 1960s. The wide use of synthetic fertilizers account for much of the growth, but other sources are animal waste, including chicken and hog manure, discharges from wastewater treatment plants, and the burning of fossil fuels. Nitrogen compounds in the air, usually from smokestacks, also contribute to the high nutrient levels in some estuaries, especially along the East Coast, the panel said. It estimated that tougher pollution controls on soot being imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency could cut such water deposits by as much as 17 percent. There are no federal laws or regulations that limit general runoff from agricultural lands, although the EPA is beginning to regulate nutrient releases from large factory farms and poultry plants.

Judge rules EPA can set runoff limits (Environmental News Network, World Wire, Thursday, April 6, 2000, By Associated Press) In the first ruling of its kind, a federal judge has upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to set limits on water pollution caused by runoffs from farms and logging. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco allows federal regulators to combat such pollution by pressuring states to change land-use practices. Federal officials, including EPA Administrator Carol Browner, said they hope the ruling starts a national trend. "This important decision allows us to build on our successes of completing the task of cleaning our nation's waters," Browner said Wednesday after the ruling was released. The ruling concerns provisions of the 1972 Clean Water Act that the EPA did not start to enforce until 1991 under pressure from courts and environmental groups. The provisions allow the agency to tell states to come up with ways to reduce pollution in rivers and waterways contaminated solely by runoff, as opposed to industrial waste or sewage. The EPA says runoff has become the leading threat to water quality in the United States. The agency was sued by two California landowners, the American Farm Bureau Federation and state and local farm organizations. The landowners, Guido and Betty Pronsolino, own forest property along the Garcia River, one of 17 rivers on California's North Coast classified as "substandard" by the EPA in 1992. The agency said the river's coho salmon and steelhead populations have been severely damaged by sediment from many years of logging. When the Pronsolinos sought a logging permit, state forestry officials required various measures to reduce erosion — as mandated by the EPA — including leaving certain trees uncut. The couple said the measures would cost them $750,000. The landowners argued that nothing in the Clean Water Act authorized the EPA to set pollution limits for waterways contaminated solely by runoff. Their lawsuit argued that the EPA had the right to regulate only pollutants discharged from "point sources," like drain pipes from sewage systems and industrial plants — and not runoff. Alsup disagreed, saying the Clean Water Act did not distinguish between sources of pollution in requiring quality standards for all waterways. "The Clean Water Act called for a comprehensive set of water-quality standards for every navigable river and water in America," the judge wrote. "No substandard river or water was immune by reason of its sources of pollution." Copyright 2000, Associated Press All Rights Reserved

EPA can limit pollution from farm, logging runoffs, judge rules (Copyright © 2000 Nando Media; Copyright © 2000 Associated Press; By BOB EGELKO, Associated Press) SAN FRANCISCO (April 6, 2000 9:23 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - In the first ruling of its kind, a federal judge has upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to set limits on water pollution stemming from runoffs from farms and logging. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup allows federal regulators to combat such pollution by pressuring states to change land-use practices. Federal officials, including EPA Administrator Carol Browner, said they hope the ruling starts a national trend. "This important decision allows us to build on our successes of completing the task of cleaning our nation's waters," Browner said Wednesday after the ruling was released. The ruling concerns provisions of the 1972 Clean Water Act that the EPA did not start to enforce until 1991 under pressure from courts and environmental groups. The provisions allow the agency to tell states to come up with ways to reduce pollution in rivers and waterways contaminated solely by runoff, as opposed to industrial waste or sewage. The EPA says runoff has become the leading threat to water quality in the United States. The agency was sued by two California landowners, the American Farm Bureau Federation and state and local farm organizations. The landowners, Guido and Betty Pronsolino, own forest property along the Garcia River, one of 17 rivers on California's North Coast classified as "substandard" by the EPA in 1992. The agency said the river's Coho salmon and steelhead populations have been severely damaged by sediment from many years of logging. When the Pronsolinos sought a logging permit, state forestry officials required various measures to reduce erosion - as mandated by the EPA - including leaving certain trees uncut. The couple said the measures would cost them $750,000. The landowners argued that nothing in the Clean Water Act authorized the EPA to set pollution limits for waterways contaminated solely by runoff. Their lawsuit argued the EPA had the right to regulate only pollutants discharged from "point sources," like drain pipes from sewage systems and industrial plants - and not runoff.

Judge Allows Wider Limits on River Pollution (Los Angeles Times, Thursday, April 6, 2000, From Times Staff and Wire Reports) SAN FRANCISCO--A federal judge says the Environmental Protection Agency can set limits on pollution of rivers by such sources as logging and agricultural runoff. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, made public Wednesday, is the first by a federal judge to say that the federal government has the authority under the 1972 Clean Water Act to quantify the amount of pollution coming from diffuse or so-called "non-point" sources, according to the EPA. Such pollution is by far the most prevalent form of contamination in rivers and streams. Almost all of the 509 California streams classified as impaired are contaminated with non-point pollution. Without the ability to measure such pollution, government agencies cannot fashion cleanup plans or order compliance by polluters. Using such measurements, states decide how to achieve limits through restrictions on logging, road-building and other practices that cause erosion and chemical runoff. States can lose federal funds if they fail to require reductions. Before 1991, the EPA set pollutant limits on discharges from "point sources" only--such sources as drain pipes from sewage systems and industrial plants. Farm groups in the lawsuit argued that the agency had no power to limit pollution from other sources. Alsup's ruling in a suit filed by two Mendocino County landowners and joined by farm organizations is not binding on other courts. But Clinton administration officials said it would be a national precedent. California's Water Quality Control Board backed the EPA. The ruling "appropriately holds people responsible for their part in creating the pollution," said Sandra Michioku, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, whose office represented the board. In his 29-page ruling, Alsup said the Clean Water Act did not distinguish between sources of pollution in requiring quality standards for all waterways. "To have excluded the large number of rivers and waters polluted solely by agricultural and logging runoff would have left a chasm in the otherwise 'comprehensive' statutory scheme," the judge said.

Judge says EPA can set runoff limits for rivers (SF Gate.com, by BOB EGELKO, Associated Press Writer Thursday, April 6, 2000, Breaking News Sections) (04-06) 09:54 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- In the first ruling of its kind, a federal judge has upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to set limits on water pollution caused by runoffs from farms and logging. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup allows federal regulators to combat such pollution by pressuring states to change land-use practices. Federal officials, including EPA Administrator Carol Browner, said they hope the ruling starts a national trend. ``This important decision allows us to build on our successes of completing the task of cleaning our nation's waters,'' Browner said Wednesday after the ruling was released. The ruling concerns provisions of the 1972 Clean Water Act that the EPA did not start to enforce until 1991 under pressure from courts and environmental groups. The provisions allow the agency to tell states to come up with ways to reduce pollution in rivers and waterways contaminated solely by runoff, as opposed to industrial waste or sewage. The EPA says runoff has become the leading threat to water quality in the United States. The agency was sued by two California landowners, the American Farm Bureau Federation and state and local farm organizations. The landowners, Guido and Betty Pronsolino, own forest property along the Garcia River, one of 17 rivers on California's North Coast classified as ``substandard'' by the EPA in 1992. The agency said the river's coho salmon and steelhead populations have been severely damaged by sediment from many years of logging. When the Pronsolinos sought a logging permit, state forestry officials required various measures to reduce erosion -- as mandated by the EPA -- including leaving certain trees uncut. The couple said the measures would cost them $750,000. The landowners argued that nothing in the Clean Water Act authorized the EPA to set pollution limits for waterways contaminated solely by runoff. Their lawsuit argued that the EPA had the right to regulate only pollutants discharged from ``point sources,'' like drain pipes from sewage systems and industrial plants -- and not runoff. Alsup disagreed, saying the Clean Water Act did not distinguish between sources of pollution in requiring quality standards for all waterways. ``The Clean Water Act called for a comprehensive set of water-quality standards for every navigable river and water in America,'' the judge wrote. ``No substandard river or water was immune by reason of its sources of pollution.'' The American Farm Bureau Federation said the ruling was not a defeat because states would still make the final land-use decisions. ``This ruling will keep regulatory authority over non-point sources at the state level, where it belongs and where Congress intended it to be,'' federation president Bob Stallman said in a statement. --©2000 Associated Press On the Net: The ruling can be downloaded from the EPA's Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/lawsuit.html

News Release from Department of Justice and United States Environmental Protection Agency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE; WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2000;; EPA: (202) 260-4377;DOJ: (202) 514-2008

FEDERAL COURT ISSUES LANDMARK CLEAN WATER DECISION

Ruling Uphold EPA's Authority to Identify Waters Polluted By Runoff

WASHINGTON -- For the first time, a federal judge has upheld the EPA's longstanding interpretation and practice that the EPA and states have the authority to identify which U.S. waterways are polluted by runoff from urban areas, agriculture and timber harvesting -- "nonpoint sources" of pollution - and to identify the maximum amount of pollutants that may enter these waterways. "This important decision allows us to build on our successes of completing the task of cleaning our nation's waters," said EPA Administrator Carol Browner. "The Clinton-Gore Administration has made delivering clean, safe water to all Americans a priority in our efforts to ensure greater protection for the environment in communities across the country." The March 30 opinion by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco affirms the comprehensive scope of the Clean Water Act's Total maximum Daily Load program. In the first decision to squarely address the issue, Judge Alsup found that Congress intended to include nonpoint source pollution in the Clean Water Act's water quality standards program, and he noted that nonpoint source pollution is the dominant water quality problem in the United States today. "The court has affirmed a strong tool for restoring America's rivers and cleaning up pollution, regardless of its source, " said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment Division of the Justice Department. The court heard a challenge to an EPA decision to put the Garcia River on a list of impaired waterways in California and define the amount of sediment that should be allowed to enter the river from land along its banks. Although salmon and steelhead once flourished in the Garcia River, excessive sediment from forestry operations now prevents the river from supporting healthy fish. In March 1998, the EPA developed a "total maximum daily load" (TMDL) for sediment for the river. A TMDL defines the greatest amount of a particular pollutant that can be introduced into a waterway without exceeding the river's water quality standard. The agency also defined the reductions in sediment that are necessary for the river to attain the water quality standard set by the State of California. The American Farm Bureau Federation and other agriculture and timber groups filed suit, claiming that the EPA and the states should calculate TMDLs only for pollutants that are discharged from pipes, or point sources. The court rejected this argument, holding that the Clean Water Act is designed to provide a comprehensive solution to the nation's water quality problems, "without regard to the sources of pollution." In California, only 1% of impaired waterways fail to meet water quality standards solely because of pollution that comes from pipes, municipal waste treatment works, or other point sources. According to EPA, 54% of California's impaired waterways are polluted by nonpoint sources exclusively, while another 45% are impaired by a combination of point and nonpoint sources.

Runoff damages coastal areas, report says (Environmental News Network, World Wire, Wednesday, April 5, 2000 By Associated Press) Fish and other marine life are being killed and marshlands damaged in more than a third of the nation's coastal areas from algae blooms caused by the runoff of excess nutrients, the National Academy of Sciences said Tuesday. The scientists concluded that the problem of coastal pollution from nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers is so severe and widespread that states require federal help. The nutrients often travel hundreds of miles along rivers before they create problems. "Conditions in many coastal areas are expected to worsen unless action is taken now to reduce nutrient pollution," said Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University, and the panel's chairman. While nitrogen and phosphorous occur in nature and are critical to support plant life in marine environments, too much of the nutrients causes an excessive growth of phytoplankton and other organisms, which deprive fish and other marine life, including plants, of oxygen. That causes marine life to die or be driven away. Algae blooms caused by an overabundance of nutrients - specifically, excessive nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers or poultry waste — have been linked to a decline of fisheries, the death of manatees along the Florida coast, and the loss of coral reefs and sea grasses, the panel said. Algae blooms have been blamed for years for the so-called "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico along the Louisiana and Texas coast. Large amounts of nutrients flowing from the Farm Belt into and down the Mississippi River have cause the massive "dead zone" — the size of New Jersey — each spring in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists estimated the amount of nitrogen pouring from the river into the Gulf has tripled, and the amount of phosphorous doubled, in the past 40 years. Algae blooms also have been linked to a microbial called Pfiesteria that has killed fish in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay and off the North Carolinas. But the report by the Academy's National Research Council said that nitrogen and phosphorous pollution is causing environmental damage along almost all of the nation's estuaries, with severe problems identified in 44 of the 139 coastal areas examined. "Excess nitrogen in our coastal waters starts a dangerous chain of ecological events that is exacerbating harmful algae blooms such as red tides, contaminating shellfish, killing coastal wildlife, reducing biodiversity, destroying sea grass, and contributing to a host of other environmental problems," warned Howarth. Because rivers often transport chemical nutrients hundreds of miles from inland farmland and urban centers, the most severe problem areas, according to the report, are where rivers and bays feed water into the ocean. Severe problem areas, where there were symptoms of low oxygen levels, toxic algae blooms and loss of submerged aquatic vegetation, were found along the coasts of nine states: Washington, California, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, and Massachusetts. The most severe problems were reported in the mid-Atlantic states and the Gulf of Mexico, the report said. Worldwide, human activity — from excessive use of fertilizers to the burning of fossil fuels — have caused the amount of nitrogen in the environment to more than double since the 1960s. The wide use of synthetic fertilizers account for much of the growth, but other sources are animal waste, including chicken and hog manure, discharges from wastewater treatment plants, and the burning of fossil fuels. Nitrogen compounds in the air, usually from smokestacks, also contribute to the high nutrient levels in some estuaries, especially along the East Coast, the panel said. It estimated that tougher pollution controls on soot being imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency could cut such water deposits by as much as 17 percent. There are no federal laws or regulations that limit general runoff from agricultural lands, although the EPA is beginning to regulate nutrient releases from large factory farms and poultry plants. Copyright 2000, Associated Press All Rights Reserved

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