Latest EPA assessment shows almost no improvement in river and stream nitrogen pollution

BY MELINA WALLING and MICHAEL PHILLIS
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The EPA’s newest assessment of water quality and nutrient pollution in U.S. rivers and streams shows almost no progress on cutting the nitrogen pollution that comes primarily from farm chemical runoff. That’s a problem because it can cause algae blooms, contaminate drinking water and feed the so-called “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. And it may get worse as climate change increases rainfall that can wash more nutrients into waterways. Activists and scientists say little change has happened because curbing the pollution relies mostly on voluntary action by farmers. They say more regulation and incentives are needed.