Petition to Establish Numeric Standards and TMDLs for Nitrogen and Phosphorous
Petition submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calling on them to establish numeric water quality standards for nitrogen and phosphorous in the Mississippi River Basin. The standards should protect not only the river itself but extend to the portion of the ocean protected by the Clean Water Act but outside the jurisdiction of any state and to all water bodies in all states for which numeric water quality standards controlling nitrogen and phosphorus pollution have not yet been established. At a minimum, EPA should establish water quality standards to control nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the mainstem of the Mississippi River and the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
Further, EPA should establish TMDLs for nitrogen and phosphorus for the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River and each Mississippi River tributary that fails to meet the numeric standards set for nitrogen and phosphorus for which a TMDL has not already been prepared. In any event, EPA should prepare a TMDL for nitrogen and for phosphorus for the mainstem of the Mississippi River and the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
