Update: EPA has extended the comment period on the proposed standards for Florida waters until April 28, 2010.
On January 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed water quality standards to protect Florida’s waters. The proposed action would set a series of numeric limits on the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen, also known as “nutrients,” that would be allowed in Florida’s lakes, rivers, streams, springs and canals. Major sources of phosphorus and nitrogen pollution include farm operations, particularly fertilizer use and livestock wastes, as well as stormwater runoff and municipal wastewater treatment.
The EPA action was initiated after the federal agency entered into a 2009 consent decree with the Florida Wildlife Federation to propose limits to this pollution. The consent decree committed EPA to proposing numeric nutrient standards for lakes and flowing waters in Florida by January 2010, and for estuarine and coastal waters by January 2011. EPA also agreed to establish final standards by October 2010 for lakes and flowing waters and by October 2011 for estuarine and coastal waters.
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