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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
|Fact Sheet

              United States 

                    Environmental ProtectionAgency

                  Office of Water

                    4304

                  EPA-822-F-00-002

                    April 2000Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual for Lakes and Reservoirs



SummaryThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is publishing a technical
 guidance manual which provides a method for setting nutrient water 
quality criteria for lakes and reservoirs. This guidance is intended to 
assist States, Tribes and others in establishing scientifically 
defensible ecoregional nutrient criteria. EPA will also use this 
guidance to develop nutrient criteria for lakes and reservoirs for 
various ecoregions across the country with the aim of reducing and 
preventing eutrophication on a National scale.**Background**



              EPA is publishing technical guidance which presents EPA's method 

                for setting nutrient water quality criteria for lakes and reservoirs. 

                The EPA has not previously issued guidance for developing ecoregional 

                nutrient criteria. In addition, current criteria for nutrients 

                do not specifically address the prevention of eutrophication. 

                In 1976, in EPA's publication entitled Quality Criteria for Water 

                (also known as the Red Book), EPA presented ambient water quality 

                criteria for nitrates, nitrites and phosphorus. The criterion 

                for nitrate nitrogen was 10 mg/L for the protection of domestic 

                water supplies. The phosphorus criterion was 0.10 ug/L elemental 

                phosphorus for the protection of marine and estuarine waters. 

                This criterion was based on a conservative estimate to protect 

                against the toxic effects of the bioconcentration of elemental 

                phosphorus to estuarine and marine organisms, and not on the potential 

                to cause eutrophication. While this guidance does not present 

                nutrient criteria for a specific lake or reservoir, it constitutes 

                EPA's scientific recommendations regarding defensible approaches 

                for developing regional nutrient criteria. EPA will use this guidance 

                to develop default Section 304(a) (of the Clean Water Act) nutrient 

                criteria for various ecoregions across the country. These criteria 

                may then form the basis for States and Tribes to set enforceable 

                water quality standards for lakes and reservoirs. ****

              **Why is EPA publishing a Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual 

                for Lakes and Reservoirs?**              On March 24, 1998, the President's Clean Water Action Plan was 

                presented in the Federal Register. The Clean Water Action Plan 

                specifically states that EPA will establish nutrient criteria 

                that reflect the different types of water bodies and different 

                ecoregions of the country and will assist States and Tribes in 

                adopting numeric water quality standards based on these criteria.

              **Overview of the Problem**              Cultural eutrophication (i.e., that associated with humans) of United States 

                surface waters is a long standing problem; approximately half 

                of the National waters reported as impaired are attributable to 

                excess nutrients. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the primary cause 

                of eutrophication and algal blooms are often a response to enrichment. 

                Within lakes and reservoirs, chronic symptoms of overenrichment 

                include low dissolved oxygen, fish kills, increased sediment accumulation, 

                and species and abundance shifts of flora and fauna. The problem 

                is National in scope, but varies in nature from one region of 

                the country to another due to geographical variations in parent 

                geology and soil types. Any criteria developed for management 

                decision making must, therefore, be done on a ecoregional basis.              **What are nutrient criteria and how will they be developed?**

              Nutrient****criteria are numerical values for both 

                causative (phosphorus and nitrogen) and response (chlorophyll 

                and turbidity) variables associated with the prevention and assessment 

                of eutrophic conditions. These criteria are expected to be used 

                to help identify problem areas, serve as the basis of State and 

                Tribal water quality standards for nutrients, and evaluate relative 

                success in reducing cultural eutrophication.

              The guidance manual describes the elements of a nutrient criterion development:



              1) classification of the lakes and reservoirs by physical characteristics. 

                2) historical data and other information to establish perspective;

                3) current reference site information;

                4) models used to project existing information, when data are 

                  scarce;

                5) evaluation of downstream consequences before finalizing 

                  criteria values; and

                6) a panel of Regional, Federal, State and Tribal specialists 

                  to examine the information and establish criteria.**What are the activities related to this guidance document?**

              A Notice of Availability in the *Federal Register* was 

                published to provide the public with the opportunity to provide 

                scientific views on the guidance document. Therefore, EPA will 

                review and consider information submitted by the public on significant 

                scientific issues that have not otherwise been identified by the 

                Agency during the development of this guidance. This guidance 

                has been through external peer review, and a summary of these 

                comments and other comments made on earlier drafts are available 

                on the Nutrient website (http: www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/nutrient.html)              

              Guidance documents for rivers and streams, estuarine and coastal waters, and 

                wetlands also are being developed by EPA.              **Will this document be revised in the future?**              After review of the submitted significant scientific information, EPA will 

                publish a revised document, or publish a notice indicating its 

                decision not to revise the document. EPA is also committed to 

                updating the document in the future as new scientific information 

                becomes available.              **How do I obtain a copy of the document?**



Copies of the complete document, *Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance

Manual: Lakes and Reservoirs*can be

obtained from EPA's Water Resource

Center by phone at 202-260-7786, or by

e-mail to [email protected],

or by conventional mail to EPA Water

Resource Center, RC-4100, 401 M Street

SW, Washington, DC 20460.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             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