Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force

Hypoxia Task Force Additional Resources

The links grouped and compiled here are mentioned in the other sections of this Web site. Additional links to outside Web sites provide new resources for the study of the Mississippi River.

Funding and Tools 

Water Action Hub

The Water Action Hub (the Hub) is an innovative online platform designed to promote water-related collaboration among key stakeholders, including the business community, in particular regions, such as the Mississippi River Basin Region. The Hub does so by enabling organizations to quickly identify potential partners and engage in collective actions to address shared water challenges in basins of mutual strategic interest. 

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Agencies 

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EPA Nutrient Policy and Data

EPA Watershed Academy Modules

EPA’s Watershed Academy offers a variety of self-paced online training modules that represent a basic and broad introduction to the watershed management field. The modules are organized by six themes, and several address nutrient-related topics. Learn more about EPA’s modules.

EPA Watershed Academy Archived Webcasts

EPA’s Watershed Academy provides archived audio presentations, PowerPoint files, and other webcast-related materials from webcasts conducted on nutrient-related topics. Click on the links for the webcasts below to learn more about nutrients by accessing materials and listening to archived audio recordings. Access all EPA Watershed Academy Webcasts.

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Website

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed an improved website about nitrogen and phosphorus pollution to provide the public with information about this type of pollution—where it comes from, its impacts on human health and aquatic ecosystems, and actions that people can take to help reduce it. EPA's website also includes updated information on states' progress in developing numeric water quality criteria for nutrients as part of their water quality standards regulations. EPA recognizes that states and local communities are best positioned to restore and protect their waters, and the agency is providing technical guidance and tools to help states develop numeric nutrient criteria for their water bodies.

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Data Access Tool

To facilitate state and local efforts to reduce nutrient pollution, EPA released a new Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Data Access Tool. The goal of the tool is to support states in their nitrogen and phosphorus analyses by providing the most current data available on: the extent and magnitude of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution; water quality problems related to this pollution; and potential pollution sources in a format that is readily-accessible and easy-to-use. With this comprehensive data, EPA, the states, and other stakeholders will be able to more quickly gather additional, less-accessible data and develop effective source reduction strategies for nitrogen and phosphorus. Learn more.

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General

Hypoxia and the Gulf of Mexico

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Reports

National Academies

Nonpoint Source News-Notes

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Nutrient Pollution

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Agencies

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

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U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

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Topics

State Nutrient Reduction Strategies

BMPs and Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution

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Documents/Guidance

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Drinking Water

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Models

Modeling Resources and Guidance

Models Commonly Used to Evaluate Nutrient-Related Impacts

  • AGNPS (Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Model)
    Modeling system designed to estimate the pollution loads from agricultural watersheds and to assess the effects of different management programs. Model simulates surface water runoff, nutrients, sediments, chemical oxygen demand, and pesticides from point and nonpoint sources of agricultural pollution.
  • AQUATOX
    Can be used to predict ecological responses to proposed management alternatives. It may help to determine the most important of several environmental stressors, e.g. where there are both nutrients and toxic pollutants.
  • CE-QUAL-W@ from WQRG
    A 2-D, laterally averaged, finite difference hydrodynamic and water quality model. Because the model assumes lateral homogeneity, it is best suited for relatively long and narrow water bodies exhibiting longitudinal and vertical water quality gradients. The model can be applied to rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries.
  • EFDC (Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code)
    A state-of-the-art hydrodynamic model that can be used to simulate aquatic systems in one, two, and three dimensions. The EFDC modeling system has hydrodynamic, water quality-eutrophication, sediment transport, and toxic contaminant transport components transparently linked together.
  • EPD-RIV1 (One Dimensional Riverine Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model)
    A 1-D (cross-sectionally averaged) hydrodynamic and water quality model. It consists of two parts, a hydrodynamic code which is typically applied first, and a quality code. The hydraulic information, produced from application of the hydrodynamic model, is saved to a file which is read by, and provides transport information to, the quality code when performing quality simulations.
  • GWLF (Generalized Watershed Loading Function) You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.
    Provides the ability to simulate runoff, sediment, and nutrient (N & P) loadings from a watershed given variable-size source areas. It also has algorithms for calculating septic system loads, and allows for the inclusion of point source discharge data. It is a continuous simulation model which uses daily time steps for weather data and water balance calculations.
  • HSPF (Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran) 
    Simulates the hydrologic and associated water quality processes on pervious and impervious land surfaces and in streams and well-mixed impoundments over an extended period of time.
  • LSPC (Loading Simulation Program in C++)
    Includes streamlined Hydrologic Simulation Program Fortran (HSPF) algorithms for simulating hydrology, sediment, and general water quality on land as well as a simplified stream transport model.
  • PHOSMOD (Phosphate Model) 
    Calculates the effects of soil-phosphate and granular fertilizer phosphate on daily crop growth, phosphate concentration in the plant, and the changes in the different forms of soil phosphate for conditions when growth is not limited by deficiency of either P or K. It is mechanistic and largely based on well-known equations for key processes.
    http://www.qpais.co.uk/textinfo_p.htm (Link currently inactive) 
  • PRedICT Model (Pollution Reduction Impact Comparison Tool) 
    Developed as a companion tool to AVGWLF, allows the user to create various "scenarios" in which current landscape conditions and pollutant loads (both point and non-point) can be compared against "future" conditions that reflect the use of different pollution reduction strategies.
  • QUAL2K (River and Stream Water Quality Model)
    Simulates flow and water quality in simple rivers and streams. It is typically used to assess the environmental impact of multiple pollution discharges along rivers. Pollutants can come from point sources and from non-point sources.
  • SPARROW Modeling of Surface-Water Quality (SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed Attributes)
    Relates in-stream water-quality measurements to spatially referenced characteristics of watersheds, including contaminant sources and factors influencing terrestrial and stream transport. The model empirically estimates the origin and fate of contaminants in streams, and quantifies uncertainties in these estimates based on model coefficient error and unexplained variability in the observed data.
  • STEPL and Region 5 Model (Spreadsheet Tool for Estimating Pollutant Load) 
    Employs simple algorithms to calculate nutrient and sediment loads from different land uses and the load reductions that would result from the implementation of various best management practices. STEPL provides a user-friendly Visual Basic interface to create a customized spreadsheet-based model in Microsoft Excel.
  • SWAT (Soil & Water Assessment Tool) 
    Predicts the effect of management decisions on water, sediment, nutrient and pesticide yields with reasonable accuracy on large, ungaged river basins.
  • SWMM (Storm Water Management Model)
    A dynamic rainfall-runoff simulation model used for single event or long-term simulation of runoff quantity and quality from primarily urban areas.
  • WASP (Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program)
    Helps users interpret and predict water quality responses to natural phenomena and manmade pollution for various pollution management decisions. WASP is a dynamic compartment-modeling program for aquatic systems, including both the water column and the underlying benthos. WASP allows the user to investigate 1, 2, and 3 dimensional systems, and a variety of pollutant types.

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Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)

Websites

Documents/Guidance

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Water Quality Standards

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Documents/Guidance

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Water Quality Trading

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Documents/Guidance

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