MANHATTAN, Kansas, November 24, 2008 (ENS) – The pollution of fresh water by agricultural nutrients costs government agencies, drinking water facilities and individual Americans at least $4.3 billion a year in total, finds new research from Kansas State University.

Biology professor Walter Dodds, who led the study, says the researchers calculated that $44 million a year is spent just protecting aquatic species from nutrient pollution.

Dodds and the K-State researchers based their conclusions on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data on nitrogen and phosphorous levels in bodies of water throughout the country.

The damaging chemicals – phosphorous and nitrogen – enter the environment from nonpoint sources rather than flowing into a lake or stream from one pipe.

Kansas stream loaded with sediment and
agricultural runoff (Photo courtesy USGS
Kansas Water Science Center)

They enter the water from various points, such as runoff from row crop agriculture across the surrounding lands, said Dodd.

The researchers calculated the money lost from that pollution by looking at factors like decreasing lakefront property values, the cost of treating drinking water and the revenue lost when fewer people take part in recreational activities like fishing or boating.

“We are providing underestimates,” Dodds said. “Although our accounting of the degree of nutrient pollution in the nation is fairly accurate, the true costs of pollution are probably much greater than $4.3 billion.”

High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in waters can produce harmful algal blooms. In turn, these blooms can produce “dead zones” in water bodies where dissolved oxygen levels are so low that most aquatic life cannot survive, according to the EPA.

“Excesses have been linked to higher amounts of chemicals that make people sick,” the agency says on its website.

Dodds said he anticipates the K-State research will be used by policymakers because it documents the extent of the nutrient pollution problem in the United States and one facet of why it matters.

“Monetary damages put environmental problems in terms that make policymakers and the public take notice,” he said. “Putting environmental problems in terms of dollars allows people to account for the actual costs of pollution.”

The study appears in the November 12 online issue of the journal “Environmental Science and Technology.”

Contributors to nitrogen and phosphorus pollution include:

* Overusing fertilizer – both residential and agricultural usage
* Rainfall flowing over cropland, Animal Feeding Operations and pastures, picking up animal waste and depositing it in water bodies
* Rainfall flowing over urban and suburban areas where stormwater management is not required, such as parking lots, lawns, rooftops, roads
* Discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants
* Overflow from septic systems

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

DOVER, Delaware, November 13, 2008 (ENS) – Delaware has adopted new regulations governing the pollution control strategy for the Indian River and Bay, Rehoboth Bay and Little Assawoman Bay watersheds.

The strategy is designed to reduce the amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus entering the Inland Bays and their tributaries to levels required to meet water quality standards. The strategy is published in the November 2008 Delaware Register of Regulations.

Delaware’s Inland Bays are recognized as waters of exceptional recreational and ecological significance.

“This strategy represents the best of what government can do to protect some of the state’s most valuable and vulnerable natural resources,” said Governor Ruth Ann Minner.

“This is a significant accomplishment and many people within the community – citizens, farmers, business owners, builders, environmental and other group representatives who served on the Tributary Action Team and others – committed to many hours of working together to recommend strategies that resulted in a comprehensive, effective approach to reducing nutrient pollution in the bays for us and future generations,” the governor said.

Dock at Delaware’s Rehoboth Bay
(Photo credit unknown)

The strategy is the result of years of “spirited discussions and debate” with many interest groups, using science as the backbone to meet water quality standards, said Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary John Hughes.

“Our goal has always been to protect these environmentally sensitive bays and to bring the water quality in the bays to levels sufficient to protect human health and support aquatic life,” said Hughes. “We believe the pollution control strategy we’ve adopted will achieve that goal for the Inland Bays.

“At the same time, we’ve taken into account the economic and financial realities of watershed residents by building in flexibility and predictability to make implementation easier for those affected,” he said.

“We are all fortunate to witness the long awaited passage of environmental protections and measures that will help us to realize our goal – fishable and swimmable Inland Bays,” said Inland Bays Board Chairman Richard Eakle

The strategy includes provisions to establish buffers to filter pollutants before they flow into the Inland Bays and their tributaries. The strategy also includes a map highlighting the primary and secondary waters and the proposed buffer widths. The buffers will only be required for new developments or subdivisions.

Primary waters, including the Inland Bays and tributaries with continual stream flow and state-regulated wetlands, require buffer widths of 100 feet, while secondary waters, including bay tributaries with intermittent streamflow, require 60-foot buffers.

Buffer widths may be reduced to 50 feet on primary waters and 30 feet on secondary waters with enhanced stormwater management and a development-wide nutrient management plan.

The strategy requires pump-out and inspection of septic systems that serve homes and businesses which are sold or transferred to other owners.

In addition, advanced treatment for nitrogen reduction is required for all new and replacement onsite wastewater and disposal systems on properties located within 1,000 feet of tidal waters and wetlands, as mapped in the proposed regulation.

All new and replacement systems would be required to use this technology by 2015.

In 1998 and 2004, DNREC completed total maximum daily loads for nutrients for the Inland Bays. TMDLs establish the maximum amount of individual pollutants that can be discharged to a water body from point or nonpoint sources while maintaining water quality standards.

Nonpoint sources of nutrients include septic systems, runoff from development and agricultural runoff. About 80 percent of the fresh water entering the bays is groundwater, which means that nutrients that flow through the soil also enter the groundwater.

The TMDLs for the Inland Bays established that nonpoint sources of nitrogen and phosphorus need to be reduced by 40 to 85 percent to bring the water quality to the level sufficient to protect human health and support aquatic life.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, November 6, 2008 (ENS) – Pennsylvania voters have approved a $400 million bond issue that will allow the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority to award grants and loans for water treatment systems and pipelines.

With 99.6 percent of precincts reporting, the referendum received more than 2.8 million “yes” votes and 1.7 million “no” votes.

Critics of the referendum argued that Pennsylvanians already owe $110 billion in state debt, not including the additional $3 billion passed in the 2008-09 state budget. They are wary of taking on new debt in the current economic climate.

The money will be available for municipally owned drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems in all parts of the state, in communities large and small, urban and rural.

The funding will be available to the 183 publicly owned water systems in Pennsylvania that are facing federal mandates to reduce nutrient pollution in the Susquehanna and Potomac river basins and downstream in the Chesapeake Bay.

“Pennsylvanians from different parts of the state and from all party affiliations overwhelmingly chose to create new jobs and make an important down payment on our economic future and the quality of life in our communities,” said Governor Edward Rendell.

“Our water and sewer systems – as well as other critical components of our infrastructure – are in need of substantial investments to ensure quality, dependable services that will position our economy to grow,” the governor said.

The Sustainable Infrastructure Task Force convened by the governor early this year released a report last week that listed at least $36.5 billion in capital repairs and upgrades that are needed statewide over the next 20 years to maintain service.

The task force estimates that Pennsylvania will need to spend another $77.1 billion for operation, maintenance and debt service.

“This is part of a larger national problem,” Governor Rendell said. “Across the country, we’re confronted with a staggering total national infrastructure shortfall of $1.6 trillion. That unmet need affects the quality of not only roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, it also applies to our airports and rail freight lines – important services that businesses rely on to ship their goods and supplies. If we don’t act quickly, that deficit will continue to grow and we will see our infrastructure fall further into disrepair.

“And, with our nation’s economy slowing, now’s the time to make these investments,” he said. “These projects will support tens of millions of jobs that are necessary to build these systems and maintain them.”

The $400 million bond issue approved Tuesday is expected to support 12,000 jobs in Pennsylvania.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2008 (ENS) – A report on ways to minimize the impacts of harmful algal blooms in freshwaters across the United States presented by federal government agencies on Monday offers few solutions and relies heavily on future research to develop responses to the noxious and often toxic plants.

These algae can form unsightly and foul-smelling mats, localized areas of low oxygen in the water, and clogged water intakes.

Impacts include foul taste and odor problems in drinking water sources and farm-raised fish, domestic and wild animal deaths, and reduced recreational opportunities due to noxious or toxic blooms. Human illness has been associated with large toxic blooms in recreational waters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science and Technology Council released the interagency report, which draws on the expertise of scientists in dozens of government agencies.

It emphasizes the importance of developing methods for detecting the cells and toxins of these harmful algal blooms in fresh water and understanding how the toxins are taken up and how they affect humans and animals.

“Freshwater HABs pose serious threats to human and ecological health,” said NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher. “This report assesses the state of knowledge about freshwater HABs in the U.S. and sets research priorities to improve our ability to minimize or even prevent impacts of these events.”

CyanoHAB on an Oregon lake
(Photo by Stephen Hager)

A majority of states have now experienced these freshwater blooms. Human activities, such as nutrient pollution, alteration of water flow, and introduction of invasive species, are thought to contribute to them.

Progress to date on research and response has been made mostly through research at the individual project level with larger federal research and response efforts concentrated on the Great Lakes region.

“The central importance of this report is that this is the first comprehensive look at harmful algal blooms in U.S. fresh waters,” says Paul Sandifer, a senior scientist with NOAA’s Oceans and Human Health Initiative and co-chair of the Interagency Working Group on Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia and Human Health that produced the report.

“Freshwater algal blooms are equally as important and problematic as those found in marine waters,” said Sandifer, a former member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. “They can affect drinking water for the millions of people across the country who rely on surface fresh water supplies such as the Great Lakes.”

The report, “Scientific Assessment of Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms,” presents a plan to minimize health and economic impacts of freshwater HABs but a great deal of research will be required to ensure the resilience of the nation’s freshwater ecosystems.

Priorities include understanding causes in order to better predict blooms, improving environmental monitoring for early warning, improving risk assessments for humans and the environment, developing bloom prevention and control methods, and finally supporting HAB research and response infrastructure.

Scientists at the National Exposure Research Laboratory are exploring the use of titanium dioxide, an emerging “green” technology, for the treatment of microcystins in drinking water. They also are developing techniques for separation, detection, identification and quantitative measurement of six cyanobacterial toxins.

Across the Midwest, some states are already monitoring for HABs. In Indiana, the Department of Environmental Management, along with Soil and Water Conservation Districts, conducts sampling.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University monitor 132 lakes for cyanobacteria and associated toxins.

In Nebraska many agencies are involved. The Nebraska Natural Resource Districts, Public Power District, Game and Parks Commission, and Department of Environmental Quality, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, monitor CyanoHABs in lakes and inform the public online.

Michigan and Minnesota each provide monitoring. In Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources maintains general CyanoHAB information on the internet, while the Division of Public Health provides a fact sheet on cyanobacteria, their toxins, and health impacts.

The report recommends creation a national agreement on monitoring strategy, including federal guidelines to determine when beach closings and health advisories are needed.

But it’s not enough to monitor for algae. The report says that outreach to the public can lessen HAB impacts by promoting awareness of potential threats, by sharing accurate perceptions of drinking water, recreational water, and the safety of freshwater fish and crustaceans, and by fostering community participation in HAB prediction and response efforts.

The report recommends that scientists develop effective HAB control methods that have minimal impacts on the environment.

Potential control techniques to investigate further include increasing flushing rates, ultrasound, electrocoagulation, new and existing coagulants, and new algicidal or algistatic compounds.

Scientists are seeking effective treatment technologies to remove cyanotoxins from drinking water. Investigations of enhanced coagulation technology, filtration effectiveness, and disinfectant by-products are important, the report says. Microcystins, cylindrospermopsin, and anatoxin-A are the primary algal toxins of concern for regulation under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Researchers are combining ground-based measurements and satellite image data to characterize bloom dynamics and inform development of future bloom forecasting tools.

For dealing with HABs this season, some help is available at the Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response website [www.glerl.noaa.gov] developed by NOAA’s Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health.

Never drink untreated surface water, whether or not algal blooms are present, warns the Wisconsin Division of Public Health in the report. Boiling the water will not remove toxins.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, June 18, 2008 (ENS) – As a record-breaking volume of floodwater laden with sewage and fertilizers rolls down the waterways of the Mississippi Basin towards the Gulf of Mexico, a joint federal-state task force released an updated action plan to reduce low oxygen levels that cause a dead zone each summer in the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers say this year’s dead zone may be the largest ever recorded due to increased fertilizer use in the Midwest and flooding along the Mississippi River dumping even more water than usual into the Gulf of Mexico.

The revised action plan was signed at a meeting of the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force Monday in New Orleans.

The plan calls for all states to continue and expand activities to reduce the amount of nitrates and phosphorus emptying into the Mississippi River Basin from farm fertilizers and urban runoff.

These nutrients fuel the enormous algae blooms that cause the annual dead zones. The algae deplete the oxygen in the water when they die, sink to the bottom and decompose.

Satellite image shows sediment loads from
the Mississippi and Atchafalaya
Rivers entering the Gulf of Mexico.
(Image courtesy NASA)

“Our improved plan unites governments and citizens across the country to take action upstream and along the coast to reduce river nutrient pollution and increase Gulf of Mexico health,” said Benjamin Grumbles, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s assistant administrator for water.

“Sound science, cooperative conservation, and innovation will accelerate environmental progress throughout the 31-state watershed and this plan puts us on a course to do just that,” he said.

Improvements include more accountability through an Annual Operating Plan, better tracking of progress, state as well as federal nutrient reduction strategies, and a plan to increase awareness of the problem and implementation of solutions.

Eleven key actions in the 2008 Action Plan outline critical needs to complete and implement nitrogen and phosphorus reduction strategies, promote effective conservation practices and management practices, track progress, reduce existing scientific uncertainties, and promote effective communications to increase awareness of Gulf hypoxia.

Garret Graves, chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, reminded members of the Task Force of the urgent need to clean the water in the Mississippi River since that water and sediment are the most important resources needed to restore and sustain Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastal marshes.

“The Mississippi River built almost all of South Louisiana. We will rely upon it to help us rebuild what has washed away over the last century. The river must be healthy in order for us to succeed, said Graves.

Graves said Louisiana is the source of very little of the contamination yet his state must deal with the consequences of pollution from other states. He said Louisiana is not only concerned with rebuilding and restoring coastal marshes but also is trying to preserve fisheries stocks that are vitally important to the nation.

“The Gulf’s world class recreational and commercial fishing is at stake,” he said. “This industry is not only a major contributor to the region’s economy, but is a huge part of the heritage of the people of our state and region. The culture of fishing has shaped South Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf and we must do all we can to preserve that culture.”

Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Army Corps of Engineers formed the task force in 1998.

Ohio joined in 2002 because the Ohio River supplies a large portion of the water in the lower Mississippi River.

The action plan is a voluntary effort that supports state and federal initiatives to reduce nutrient runoff into the river while encouraging private projects to do the same.

“The action plan signed today will provide a solid foundation for an aggressive program to reduce and eliminate the nutrients that cause the Gulf dead zone,” Graves said.

He said Louisiana has budgeted to cover the expense of its actions to comply with the plan. “The $300 million that Governor [Bobby] Jindal and the legislature provided earlier this year for coastal restoration and hurricane protection will allow us to move forward on river diversions that will help to filter nutrients and restore our coastal area, a win-win for Louisiana.”

The action plan is online at: epa.gov

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

MADISON, Wisconsin, March 11, 2008 (ENS) – The U.S. demand for corn-based ethanol will add to nutrient pollution in the Gulf of Mexico and expand the annual low oxygen “dead zone” that kills fish and other aquatic life, a computer model run by an international team of scientists shows.

In the first study of its kind, lead author Simon Donner of the University of British Columbia and Chris Kucharik of the University of Wisconsin-Madison modeled the effects of biofuel production on nutrient pollution in an aquatic system.

The researchers looked at the estimated amounts of land and fertilizer needed to meet future production goals for corn-based ethanol.

The new U.S. Renewable Fuels Standard, signed into law in December 2007 as part of the revised energy bill, calls for the production of 36 billion gallons of biofuels, mainly ethanol and biodiesel, annually by 2022.

Not all of those billions of gallons of biofuels will be ethanol made from corn. An estimated 21 billion gallons will come from advanced biofuels, which can be produced using a variety of new feedstocks and technologies. Of this, roughly 16 billion gallons is expected to be from cellulosic biofuels, derived from plant sources such as trees, grasses and agricultural waste.

Still, Donner and Kucharik say their findings suggest that nitrogen loading from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico would increase by 10 to 19 percent, expanding the dead zone, which each summer already covers more than 7,722 square miles – an area equivalent to the size of New Jersey.

The Gulf of Mexico dead zone near
the mouth of the Mississippi River
(Photo courtesy NOAA)

“This result confirms our suspicion that there’s a significant tradeoff to the expanded production of ethanol from corn grain,” says Kucharik, a scientist with the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. “It also shows that we need to continue considering our options for other biofuel feedstocks. And when we do, we need to keep the greater impacts on ecosystems in mind.”

Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertilizers have been found to promote excessive growth of algae in water bodies, a problem that is common across North America and in many areas of the world. In some cases, the decomposition of algae consumes much of the oxygen in the water. Inadequate dissolved oxygen in bottom waters forces bottom-dwelling animals to either flee or die.

Fertilizer applied to cornfields in the central United States – Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin – is the primary source of nitrogen pollution in the Mississippi River system, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico.

Donner and Kucharik arrived at their figures by combining the agricultural land use scenarios required to meet future demand for corn-based ethanol with models of terrestrial and aquatic nitrogen cycling.

Their results call into question the assumption that enough land exists to fulfill the current demand for food and feed crops, while at the same time allowing an expansion of corn production for fuel.

Instead, the scientists conclude that boosting ethanol production from U.S. croplands without endangering water quality and aquatic ecosystems will require a substantial reduction in the amount of corn that is grown for animal feed and meat production.

Because the Mississippi River drains 41 percent of the U.S. land area, some scientists believe only a broad effort at reducing nitrate runoff would reduce the dead zone. Because nitrogen is stored in the soil and continues leaching for many years, any solution must be a long-term effort.

The U.S. ethanol industry produced a record amount of fuel ethanol in 2007 – 6.48 billion gallons – 32 percent more ethanol than in 2006, according to year-end data released by the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration.

Capacity for ethanol production is expected to grow another four billion gallons in 2008, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.