By Peak Johnson

Earlier this month, the U.S. EPA approved a bid by officials in Wisconsin to allow a slower paced adoption of rules that will limit the discharge of a dominant water pollutant.

The Multi-Discharger Variance (MDV) for Total Phosphorus, according to The National Law Review, “establishes an additional and less-costly compliance option for eligible point sources seeking relief from burdensome phosphorus discharge limitations.” The EPA’s approval of the MDV will last for a 10-year period, but could be extended if the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requests.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the EPA informed the DNR that it would allow the state to put in place stronger regulations in order “to limit the discharge of phosphorus from point sources such as sewage treatment plants and factories.”

Phosphorus fuels algae in many of Wisconsin’s lakes. In an assessment conducted by the DNR last year, the department concluded “that 41 percent of more than 7,700 waters in the state violated water standards for phosphorus.”

This plan has been in process for some time with the EPA.

"Our sense is that it has been working its way through the system for a while," Scott Laeser, water quality specialist with Clean Wisconsin, told the Sentinel.

Wisconsin did approve stronger phosphorus regulations that took effect in 2010 in the final days of the administration of then-governor Jim Doyle. The EPA approved those changes.

Business interests had disagreed with the costs, “and at the time the DNR's own analysis said the regulations could cost up to $1 billion over the next decade.”

A 2015 analysis by the DNR and state Department of Administration estimated the cost at more than $7 billion over the next 20 years.

However, environmental groups have said that “the figures ignored costs of pollution of water resources and their impact on recreation, wildlife and public health.”

To read more about efforts to stymie phosphorus visit Water Online’s Nutrient Removal Solutions Center.