Kentucky years late on algae pollution plan

Two and a half years after Kentucky pledged to have a strategy in place to control the type of pollution causing this year's historic Ohio River toxic algae blooms, the document remains unfinished and out of public view.

Originally promised as a way to help reduce Kentucky's contribution to a massive oxygen-depleted dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, state officials acknowledged in April 2013 that it would also reduce pollution in about 350 water bodies in Kentucky. With nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus contributing to an outbreak of toxic algae scattered along hundreds of miles of the Ohio, some water quality advocates are calling for a greater sense of urgency.

But the director of the Kentucky Division of Water on Tuesday said drafting a strategy to control nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus is very complex and has been challenging for the environmental agency.

"It's taking time to get everything completed," said Peter Goodmann, the water agency director. "We continue to tweak some things internally."

He said a draft of the plan was not ready for public release. In the meantime, he said, the agency has made good progress in its efforts to get better control of nutrient pollution, which can come from wastewater treatment plants, some industries and wash off farms and cities in the form of fertilizer and organic waste, such as manure.

And Goodmann said the state already has begun to carry out provisions of its strategy document, even before it's finished, including water quality monitoring and working with farming interests to identify "best approaches."

Authorities on Sept. 18 significantly expanded the Ohio River's toxic algae warning to include the reach that flows through Louisville to the Cannelton Locks and Dam in Hancock County, all the way from West Virginia.

State officials have said the river poses no direct danger to drinking water. But they have warned against swallowing it or coming into contact with it during recreational activities, such as swimming and boating. Riverthon, a four-race paddling event ranging from seven to 50 miles and hosted on the Ohio River, was moved from Oct. 3 to Oct. 17 in and around Louisville, because of water conditions related to the presence of toxic algae.

Officials also are monitoring the river in advance of the big Ironman competition in Louisville on Oct. 11.

A Metro Parkscanoeing program planned for Friday and Saturday was still on, officials said.

"The risks to passengers in the 24-foot Voyageur canoes, which are high-sided and less prone to be tipped, are minimal," officials said, adding that algae was not considered a health threat in the Riverview Park and Shawnee Park areas.

Kentucky Waterways Alliance policy director Tim Joice said he's frustrated because he doesn't believe the public understands that pollution is key to the toxic algae, which is actually a cyanobacteria. He said it was news to his organization that the state was carrying out its nutrient management plan even before that plan has gone before the public for formal input and been made final.

"They are implementing a plan that doesn't even exist in any final form, without even publicly acknowledging the things they are doing," he said.

"I am not pretending the state has the resources to accomplish anything or everything that we want as an organization, given the annual budget cuts imposed on the agency," he said. But he said the state should set higher goals.

The federal government and states in the Mississippi River watershed have for years been discussing ways to reduce nutrient pollution, and the waterways alliance is among a coalition of several groups that have sued to force stronger action.

The Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan from 2008 said state nutrient reduction strategies should be completed as soon as possible but no later than 2013. Those strategies were to target watersheds with significant contributions of nitrogen and phosphorus.

Joice said states are also developing numerical standards or limits to nutrient pollution, not merely narrative water quality descriptions, but Kentucky is lagging behind. He said such standards have been a goal since 2008, and that he fears they won't be accomplished until at least 2018.

Kentucky is taking public comments through Wednesday on new state water quality standards through 2018, and they don't include any numerical standards for nutrients.

Goodmann said Kentucky is working on numerical standards but could not say when they would be proposed. The state needs to collect more water quality data, focusing first on lakes and reservoirs, he said.

At the same time, Goodmann's agency along with state health officials warn that Ohio River water with its toxic algae blooms  "may increase the risk of gastrointestinal symptoms such as stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Skin, eye and throat irritation and/or breathing difficulties may also occur after contact."

Reach reporter James Bruggers at (502) 582-4645 and at jbruggers@courier-journal.com.

How to comment:

• Review water quality standards public notice at http://1.usa.gov/1XkTHVw.
• Send comments by no later than midnight to kentucky@water.gov.