Technical Bulletin No. 0833: Evaluation of Nutrient Criteria and Response Variables Based Upon the NCASI Long-term Receiving Water Study Experience

In response to the 1998 Clean Water Action Plan, the USEPA has published strategy documents for developing ecoregional nutrient criteria and it has proposed criteria guidance values for lakes and reservoirs, rivers and streams, and one wetland, in some ecoregions. A review of the experience to date in NCASI’s Long-Term Receiving Waters Study (LTRWS) was conducted to identify the utility of this experience in addressing the nutrient criteria guidance values and the process used in their development. It was found that detection limits for N and P analyses in most laboratories are likely to be higher than criteria values proposed for rivers and streams in some ecoregions.