Lawmakers Consider Changes To Phosphorus Runoff Rules For Cities

Republican state lawmakers are considering giving cities and businesses alternatives for reducing phosphorus runoff.

The state Department of Natural Resources adopted the phosphorus rules in the closing days of the Doyle administration through authority granted to states by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The aim was to reduce the harmful effects of too much phosphorus in the water, namely unsightly algae blooms that can suffocate other aquatic life.

Water law expert Paul Kent, an attorney for municipalities, says the trouble with the rules is that they ignore the major sources of phosphorus runoff, like agriculture. Instead, he says they put the burden on city wastewater treatment plants, which are already removing the vast majority of phosphorus. “Our whole issue has been that to spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to remove that last little bit of phosphorus is not cost effective,” Kent said, “and does not result in water quality improvement.”

The plan introduced by Republican lawmakers would give cities and businesses other options, including letting them pay the state for phosphorus reduction projects elsewhere. But that worries Elizabeth Katt-Reinders of the Madison-based Clean Lakes Alliance. She says it could cost the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District $100 million to reduce phosphorus at its wastewater treatment plant, or it could spend a few hundred thousand to reduce phosphorus in the watershed by other means.

Under this bill, however, she says the District would have to spend just $50,000. “$50,000 a year,” she said, “will not make a significant dent in the phosphorus going into our lakes.”

While most environmental groups testified against this plan, most also said they agreed with its goals. The bill is moving quickly through the legislature, getting a public hearing just two days after it was formally introduced.