A third of Montana waterways are impaired by nutrient pollution. Environmental groups are petitioning the state to stop issuing permits they say make the problem worse.
This fall, Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality changed the way it measures nutrient pollution. DEQ stopped using numerical standards, which are a limit for the amount of nutrients in the water. Instead of numbers, the agency now uses narrative standards.
Guy Alsentzer is with Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, a water watchdog group. He says getting rid of numeric standards is a huge step back for water quality.
“We're down to essentially subjective decisions from permit writers that are simply making guesses at what's going to work without having any type of site specific evidence to really show what's necessary to prevent the harm,” Alsentzer said.
Waterkeeper is petitioning DEQ to stop issuing wastewater discharge permits. The petition asks the agency to stop until it comes up with a plan for limiting nutrient pollution.
Nutrient pollution happens when nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater, fertilizers and other human sources, runs off into water bodies. An overabundance of nutrients triggers algal blooms that choke out aquatic life, like fish, and can make water toxic if ingested.
In a statement to MTPR, a DEQ spokesperson wrote the new narrative nutrient criteria are authorized by state and federal law.
Alsenzter says this new approach won’t protect Montana waters, and isn’t using the best available science.
It is up to DEQ to decide how it will respond.
