National Research Council urges EPA to do more to reduce nutrient pollution in Mississippi River

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must enforce the Clean Water Act more aggressively to improve water quality in the Mississippi River and the northern Gulf of Mexico, especially because the biofuel boom is causing increased use of fertilizers that cause nutrient pollution in the river and the Gulf, the National Research Council says in a new report.

"EPA has failed to use its authority under the act to adequately coordinate and oversee state activities along the Mississippi and ensure progress toward the act's goal of 'fishable and swimmable' waters," a release about the report says. "States along the river also must be more proactive and cooperative in their efforts to monitor and improve water quality."

The report urges EPA to work with states to develop tougher water-quality standards, including a Total Maximum Daily Load for nutrient pollutants. Under the Clean Water Act, a TMDL is a numerical limit on the amount of a pollutant that a water body can accept and still meet its water-quality standards. UPDATE: EPA announced Oct. 17 it was creating an advisory committee for agriculture. "EPA had in the neighborhood of 26 various advisory committees, but never one for agriculture," reports Dave Russell of Brownfield Network.

Nutrient pollution in the river and the "dead zone" in the Gulf stem largely from use of farm fertilizers in the river's huge watershed, which includes the Ohio and Missouri rivers. "EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture should work together more closely to reduce harmful runoff from agriculture," the release says. "USDA's conservation programs for protecting water quality should target areas that contribute higher levels of nutrient and sediment runoff to the river, the committee said. Growing interest in biofuels -- which may increase crop production and therefore nutrient runoff from use of fertilizers -- makes improved EPA-USDA cooperation in the Mississippi River basin all the more urgent."

The National Research Council is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter and is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences. (Read the report)