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in 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
developed the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan. This plan calls on all
twelve states along the Mississippi River Basin to create plans to
reduce the amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen being introduced to
the waterway. When these two nutrients make their way into the
Mississippi River, they are carried south all the way to the Gulf of
Mexico where they are introduced to that ecosystem.
Once these pollutants enter the Gulf of Mexico, they can cause algae
to bloom. Algae may not seem like a huge deal, but it can become a
bigger issue when it blooms in larger amounts. According to the EPA,
“harmful algal blooms release toxins that contaminate drinking
water, causing illness for animals and humans.”
How could this be a problem in the Gulf of Mexico? The Gulf is a
body of saltwater, and therefore cannot be consumed by people. This
is a process that the United States Geological Survey (USGS) calls
eutrophication. What many may not have considered is what happens to
algae when it dies. Bacteria come in and begin to decompose the dead
algae. According to the USGS, “When the algae die, they are
decomposed by bacteria—this process consumes the oxygen dissolved in
the water and needed by fish and other aquatic life to ‘breathe’.”
The USGS goes on to state that if a significant enough amount of
oxygen is removed from the water, it becomes hypoxic, and becomes
what is known as a “dead zone,” where life cannot be sustained.
At this point, you may be beginning to see where this is going. As
any farmer worth their salt knows, phosphorus and nitrogen are two
of the most abundant nutrients in soil by nature and by
fertilization. These nutrients have been finding their way from the
soil into waterways. This is why Illinois established the Illinois
Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS) in 2015.
According to the Illinois
Department of Agriculture, “The Illinois NLRS was developed by a
policy working group that includes representatives from local, state
and federal agencies, the agricultural industry, and nonprofit
organizations as well as scientists, academics, and wastewater
treatment professionals.” The short-term goal of the NLRS is to
reduce the phosphorus load by 25 percent and the nitrogen load
levels by 15 percent by the year 2025. The more long-term goal is to
reduce the loss of these two nutrients to the Mississippi River by
45 percent.
There are two general areas that the NLRS targets, these being point
sources and nonpoint sources. The EPA defines a point source as “any
single identifiable source of pollution from which pollutants are
discharged, such as a pipe, ditch, ship or factory smokestack.”
In the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy Biennial Report
2023 (from here out this report shall be referred to as the 2023
report), the point sources listed are mostly water treatment
facilities all over the state. These sources are implementing
strategies such as improving existing equipment and upgrading
wastewater treatment facilities. The 2023 report also shared that
both phosphorus levels were down 34 percent from this source since
2011, surpassing its 2025 goal of a 25 percent reduction.
Considering that phosphorus was the biggest concern of all
pollutants being measured when the NLRS was adopted, this seems to
be a pretty big win.
While the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen from point sources is
decreasing, the levels of these nutrients in waterways are actually
on the rise.
A five-year average from 2017-2021 showed that nitrogen levels rose
by 4.8 percent and phosphorus levels by a whopping 35 percent. This
rise in phosphorus and nitrogen levels is due to nonpoint sources,
such as farmland.
The Illinois NLRS provides many outreach activities throughout the
year to help farmers learn about the ways they can contribute to
nutrient loss reduction. In fact, between the years 2021-22, they
put on 940 events including presentations, field days, workshops,
and conferences. Their education includes practices such as cover
cropping.
For those who may not know,
cover cropping is a practice where farmers replace their summer
crops with new crops to help keep the soil covered during the fall
and winter seasons. According to Ohio State University, cover
cropping can help to reduce nutrient loss in topsoil.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Illinois Extension
website has something they call their “Cover Crop Decision Support
Tool.” This can be used to help farmers decide what cover crops to
plant. You can find that tool for yourself by going to
https://covercrop.ncsa.illinois.edu/.
Another strategy farmers can
implement to help reduce nutrient loss is what is called
“edge-of-field” practices. These practices include the establishing
of wetlands, prairie strips, two-stage ditches, drainage water
management, and vegetated riparian buffers. The Illinois Sustainable
AG Partnership has what they describe as a “roadmap” to help farmers
learn about and implement these “edge-of-field” practices. You can
read more about their initiative by going to
https://ilsustainableag.org/edge-of-field-roadmap/.
These best management practices, or BMPs, are not free. They require
not only a monetary commitment from farmers, but a time commitment
as well. Luckily for farmers, the first can be taken care of via
grants. One of these grants is called the Illinois Farm Bureau
Nutrient Stewardship Grant. This grant allows farmers to apply for
grants for projects that align with the Illinois NLRS’s goals.
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The process of applying for
this grant is a bit involved, but has one major benefit. By the end
of the process, the farmer will be connected with local partners who
will help keep the project operational. Rather than having a state
or national organization run the program, local farmers and partners
are the ones able to make the decisions and call the shots.
Lincoln Daily News also
reached out to Reagen Tibbs, Commercial Agriculture Educator at the
U of I Extension in Lincoln. Tibbs referred farmers to page 60 of
the 2023 report for information on additional programs farmers can
get involved with to help further the goal of nutrient loss
reduction.
In addition to referring
farmers to the 2023 report, Tibbs included ways farmers can keep up
to date about the Illinois NLRS. He encouraged farmers to visit the
Illinois EPA’s website to view up to date information about the NLRS
and its implementation.
Tibbs also shared that farmers can read blogs about the NLRS by
going to the Illinois Extension page on nutrient loss reduction by
going to
https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/nutrient-loss-reduction.
He further directed farmers to the Illinois Extension podcast that
covers topics relating to the Illinois NLRS.
You can access that podcast by going to
https://extension.illinois.edu/nlr/podcast.
The other main nonpoint source that the Illinois NLRS keeps track of
is what is referred to as the “Urban Stormwater Sector.”
According to the 2023 report, “stormwater runoff is rainfall and
snowmelt flowing over land and impervious surfaces, such as roads
and sidewalks, that do not soak into the ground.” The 2023 report
goes on to state that this water source is another source of
pollutants such as phosphorus and nitrogen. It does, however, state
that this sector’s contribution to nutrient runoff is small when
compared to other sectors. Like with the agricultural sector, there
are several ways in which people can contribute to nutrient loss
reduction. These practices include sediment basins, structures for
water control, trees, porous pavement, rain gardens, urban filter
strips, and woodland management.
Again, like with the
agricultural sector, the Illinois EPA has a grant program to help
fund these practices. The Section 319 Grant Program is a national
program under the Clean Water Act. The federal government gives
states a certain amount of money to fund programs, which the
Illinois EPA can then distribute to local governments and other
organizations to fund projects aimed at addressing water quality at
nonpoint sources. It should be noted that the maximum amount of
funding a project can receive is 60 percent of its total cost. You
can apply for a Section 319 Grant through the Grant Accountability
and Transparency Act (GATA) Grantee Portal at
https://grants.illinois.gov/portal/.
While phosphorus and nitrogen levels are on the rise, the Illinois
NLRS is doing what it can to help educate and fund Illinois
residents, farmers, and water treatment facilities in programs aimed
at reducing these pollutants. It is going to take contributions by
everyone to help ensure phosphorus and nitrogen levels can be
decreased by 45 percent.
[Matt Boutcher
Lincoln Daily News]
Sources:
https://agr.illinois.gov/resources
/nutrientloss.html
https://www.usgs.gov/mission-
areas/water-resources/science/
nutrients-and-eutrophication#:~:
text=An%20overabundance%20of
%20nutrients%E2%80%94primarily
,release%20toxins%20in%20some
%20cases.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/
education/tutorial_pollution/03point
source.html#:~:text=The%20U.S.
%20Environmental%20Protection
%20Agency%20(EPA)%20defines
%20point%20source%20pollution,
common%20types%20of%20point
%20sources.
https://epa.illinois.gov/content/dam/
soi/en/web/epa/topics/water-
quality/watershed-management/excess-
nutrients/documents/2023-biennial-
report/Illinois%20NLRS%202023%
20Biennial%20Report.pdf
https://covercrop.ncsa.illinois.edu/
https://grants.illinois.gov/portal/
https://extension.illinois.edu/nlr/
podcast
https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/
nutrient-loss-reduction
https://ilsustainableag.org/edge-of-
field-roadmap/
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