Environment Pollution
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water 4304
EPA-822-B-01-003 October 2001
Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual
Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters
October 2001
Disclaimer
This manual provides technical guidance to States, Indian Tribes, and other authorized jurisdictions to establish water quality criteria and standards under the Clean Water Act (CWA), to protect aquatic life from acute and chronic effects of nutrient overenrichment. Under the CWA, States and Indian Tribes are to establish water quality criteria to protect designated uses. State and Indian Tribal decisionmakers retain the discretion to adopt approaches on a case-by-case basis that differ from this guidance when appropriate and scientifically defensible. Although this manual constitutes EPA's scientific recommendations regarding ambient concentrations of nutrients that protect resource quality and aquatic life, it does not substitute for the CWA or EPA's regulations; nor is it a regulation itself. Thus, it cannot impose legally binding requirements on EPA, States, Indian Tribes, or the regulated community, and might not apply to a particular situation or circumstance. EPA may change this guidance in the future.
Cover Photograph: Somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay. Supplied by David Flemer as a duplicate copy from the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Photo Archives, University of Maryland; date unknown but earlier than 1972.
ii
Nutrient Criteria—Estuarine and Coastal Waters
CONTENTS
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . .
Office of Water 4304
EPA-822-B-01-003 October 2001
Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual
Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters
October 2001
Disclaimer
This manual provides technical guidance to States, Indian Tribes, and other authorized jurisdictions to establish water quality criteria and standards under the Clean Water Act (CWA), to protect aquatic life from acute and chronic effects of nutrient overenrichment. Under the CWA, States and Indian Tribes are to establish water quality criteria to protect designated uses. State and Indian Tribal decisionmakers retain the discretion to adopt approaches on a case-by-case basis that differ from this guidance when appropriate and scientifically defensible. Although this manual constitutes EPA's scientific recommendations regarding ambient concentrations of nutrients that protect resource quality and aquatic life, it does not substitute for the CWA or EPA's regulations; nor is it a regulation itself. Thus, it cannot impose legally binding requirements on EPA, States, Indian Tribes, or the regulated community, and might not apply to a particular situation or circumstance. EPA may change this guidance in the future.
Cover Photograph: Somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay. Supplied by David Flemer as a duplicate copy from the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Photo Archives, University of Maryland; date unknown but earlier than 1972.
ii
Nutrient Criteria—Estuarine and Coastal Waters
CONTENTS
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . .