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69th SWCS International Annual Conference July 27-30, 2014 Lombard, IL
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IMPLEMENTING STATE NUTRIENT STRATEGIES
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Website: www.epa.gov/msbasin
Soil & Water Conservation SocietyTuesday, June 29, 20143:30pm – 5:00pm
Presented by:Joe Piotrowski – US EPAKimberlyn Velasquez – US EPARebecca Power – University of WI ExtensionChad Watts – CTIC
N & P pollution is becoming one of America’s costliest and most challenging environmental problems
Over the last 50 years, the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus entering our waters has escalated dramatically.
N&P Pollution: Scope of the Problem
USGS Nutrients in the Nation’s Streams and Groundwater September 2010 report found that:
50% of U.S. streams have medium to high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus
78% of assessed coastal waters exhibit eutrophication
Nitrate drinking water violations have doubled in eight years
N&P Pollution: Scope of the Problem
N&P pollution can hurt the tourism industry, decimate people’s property values, and cause illnesses
The Gulf is critical to the national economy and provides some of the nation’s most valuable fisheries.
Estimated dead zone costs per year to seafood & tourism industries: $82 Million (NOAA)
Today’s Session
Intro on Hypoxia and the Hypoxia Task Force (HTF)
Getting Results Through Nutrient Strategies and Priority Watersheds
Land Grant University Partnership
Examples of activities for increasing nutrient efficiency
Questions
Closing & Takeaways
Source: NASA
Excess Nutrient Delivery to the Gulf
Source: Robertson and Saad, 2013
Total Nitrogen Total Phosphorus
The World’s 2nd Largest Dead Zone
5,800 square miles
Source: N. Rabalais
Have We Made Progress?
• US Army Corps of Engineers• US Environmental Protection Agency• US Department of Agriculture• US Geological Survey
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• National Tribal Water Council
5 Federal Agencies and Tribes:
12 State Agencies: • Arkansas• Missouri• Iowa• Tennessee• Minnesota• Indiana
• Ohio • Louisiana• Illinois• Mississippi • Kentucky• Wisconsin
Each state is represented by either:Agriculture agency , Environment (pollution control) agency, or Natural Resources agency
The Hypoxia Task Force
Mississippi River BasinHTF States
HTF Focus: State Nutrient Strategies
• Prioritize watersheds based on N&P
• Set watershed load reduction goals
• Control Ag. runoff
• Control point source pollution
• Implement accountability and verification measures
• Submit progress reports
• Develop work plan and schedule for numeric nutrient criteria development
1. Indiana
2. Iowa
3. Louisiana
4. Minnesota
5. Mississippi
6. Ohio
7. Tennessee
8. Wisconsin
9. Kentucky
Recommended Strategy Framework
9 States Have Complete or Draft Strategies
State Identified Priority Watersheds
HTF Federal Nutrient Strategy
• Monitoring and modeling to help demonstrate progress
• Research on the impacts and relationship between nutrients and hypoxia
• Targeting of conservation practices and economic analysis of their benefits
• Development of technical tools to help planners and conservationists make informed decisions
• Expanding outreach and partnerships with organizations sharing similar goals and interests
Federal Efforts to Support States
EPA Tools Available to You
Community Outreach Toolkit
How's My Waterway
Discharge Monitoring Report Pollutant Loading Tool
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Data Access Tool
Water Quality Data Portal
This is Where the HTF
Wants Your Help
University of Wisconsin Extension
Rebecca Power
CTIC
Chad Watts
Expanding Partnerships to Implement State Nutrient Reduction Strategies
Increase understanding of issues Partner with states in priority watersheds Identify opportunities for progress
We Need Your Help!
Questions For Us To Consider
Does the state priority watershed approach resonate with you as a rallying point for federal, state, and other stakeholder efforts?
What are you already doing, if anything, to collaborate on the development of state nutrient strategies?
What could the HTF as a whole do to better engage you as a partner - either formally or informally?
Questions for You
What are you doing to collaborate on a larger watershed scale - nutrient management research or implementation?
What could we on the Hypoxia Task Force do to strengthen your organization's connection with your state's HTF member agency, related to state nutrient strategy development? Are there any barriers that need to be addressed?
How can your organization help with state nutrient strategy implementation? Research, monitoring, outreach, education, etc.
Today’s Takeaways…
Together, The 12 HTF States and 5 federal Agencies have a plan that we think will work
We have begun to enlist partners, starting with the Land Grant Universities
We want to, no NEED TO, enlist more partners to help in many different disciplines if we hope to accelerate conservation efforts that need to occur.
Today’s Takeaways…Some of the Help we can Use
University staff can help by:
• Getting the word out on economically feasible tools, techniques, BMPs and nutrient reduction techniques
• Providing nutrient BMP information to Crop Advisors
• Assisting local stakeholders with implementing promising BMPs in priority watersheds (e.g. cover crops, bioreactors)
Corporations can help by:
• Supporting the development of local stakeholder groups where they don’t yet exist
• Financial and technical with implementing a watershed plan where one does exist
NGOs can help by:
• Considering whether in the future you believe it makes sense to align with an approach that has significant state and federal backing
• Adopting high priority watersheds & developing watershed plans that reduce nutrients
Everyone can help by:
• Connecting with your HTF state agency(s) & researching your state nutrient strategy
• Staying on top of HTF activities and progress (e.g., Alton meeting)
THANK YOU!WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU
Website: www.epa.gov/msbasin
For More Information Contact:USEPA, Hypoxia Task Force TeamJoe Piotrowski – [email protected] Velasquez – [email protected]
Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) Chad Watts – [email protected]
University of Wisconsin-ExtensionRebecca Power – [email protected]