Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution

Nutrient pollution, especially from nitrogen and phosphorus, has consistently ranked as one of the top causes of degradation in some U.S. waters for more than a decade. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus lead to significant water quality problems including harmful algal blooms, hypoxia and declines in wildlife and wildlife habitat. Excesses have also been linked to higher amounts of chemicals that make people sick.

"An Urgent Call to Action: Report of the State-EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group (PDF)" (170 pp, 6.15MB) is the product of a collaborative effort among key state and federal drinking water and water quality senior program managers who evaluated the scope of nutrient impacts and major sources of nutrients. The report, delivered to the EPA Administrator by the Group, recommends innovative ways to address the growing and significant challenge of nutrient pollution.

Basic Information

What You Can Do

What is the problem? An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the population of algae in an aquatic system.

Algal blooms are the result of an excess of nutrients (particularly phosphorus and nitrogen).

The bright green water in this estuary is result of a dense bloom of cyanobacteria. (Source: NOAA)

Algal blooms can present problems for ecosystems and human beings. What are EPA and the states doing?

Resources for Developing State Criteria