According to the National Association of Clean Water Agencies,
two lawsuits filed in federal courts in New York and Louisiana could spur a
$280 billion boom in sewer plant construction and renovation, if courts rule
that the USEPA must regulate sewer effluent nutrient content more
stringently. NRDC challenges EPA regulations
permitting each state to set numeric limits for nitrogen and phosphorous in
sewer effluent, and attacks USEPA’s refusal to act on its 2007 petition
requesting the addition of nutrient removal to current secondary treatment
requirements under the Clean Water Act.
NRDC is asking the courts to require USEPA to issue and
enforce a requirement that every sewage treatment plant in the United States
use the best available technology to limit phosphorous and nitrogen in sewage
effluent, in order to reduce giant sized algae blooms in the Gulf of Mexico and
Chesapeake Bay.
