1. WLEB Partnership Meeting June 11, 2014 – Chicago, IL
Annex 4 – Nutrients
WLEB Partnership Meeting
June 11, 2014 – Chicago, IL

2. Overview Nutrients Annex commitments Governance Progress to date
Next 6 months
Engagement
Key Challenges
8/3/2019

3. Nutrients Annex Commitments
Lake Ecosystem Objectives (paraphrased from agreement)
Maintain healthy nearshore and offshore algal communities
Reduce extent of hypoxic zones associated with algal blooms,
Cyanobacteria toxins do not pose human health risk
Maintain trophic status
Establish phosphorus objectives, loading targets and allocations for each lake
Phosphorus Objectives:
Review and update for offshore and develop for nearshore
Phosphorus Loading Targets:
Review and update
Determine loading allocations;
Establish load reduction targets for priority watersheds 3

4. Nutrients Annex Commitments
Implement programs and other measures to manage excess phosphorus from point and non-point sources in urban and rural communities, industrial and agricultural sectors including;
Limits for wastewater effluents (.5mg/l WWTP>1MGD) Lakes Erie and Ontario, 1mg/l WWTP >1MGD Superior, Michigan and Huron
Development of new technologies and approaches where needed
Assess effectiveness of programs and adapt
Identify priority watersheds for nutrient control and develop management plans for these watersheds
Develop phosphorus reduction strategies
and domestic action plans 4

5. Nutrients Annex Commitments
Undertake research, monitoring and modeling to;
establish, report and assess phosphorus objectives and loading targets
further understand nutrient issues
Report on progress
Every three years through the Progress Report of the Parties. 5

6. Our Charge -- It’s Complicated --
Starting with Lake Erie by 2016
Determine phosphorus concentration objectives and loading targets for open waters and nearshore areas including embayment's and tributaries
Determine loading allocation by country and identify priority watersheds for load reduction
Starting with Lake Erie by 2018
Assess effectiveness of programs to achieve the Substance and Lake Ecosystem Objectives
Develop domestic action plans and strategies to control nutrients
Framework for other Lake’s
-- It’s Complicated --

7. Subcommittee and Task Group Structure
Core Team
Tinka Hyde, EPA
Susan Humphrey, EC
Sandra George, EC
Santina Wortman, EPA
Annex Subcommittee
Objectives and Targets Development
Agricultural
Sources
Urban and Rural Municipal Sources
Jeff Reutter, OSU
Sandra George, EC
John Schlichter, ODA
Jim Richardson, OMAF
William Creal, MDEQ
Terri Bulman, OME

8. Nutrient Annex Subcommittee Communications
Annex Subcommittee Purpose: Coordinate and guide the activities of task groups to deliver on commitments in Nutrients Annex including time-bounded commitments
Core Team
Weekly calls, every Thursday morning
Task Group co-leads join the call once a month
Annex 2 leads join the call once a month
Sub-committee Meetings
Monthly calls
2 face-to-face meetings per year
Task Groups
Workplans developed
Regular coordination
Face-to-face meetings as needed

9. Objective and Targets Task Group
Objectives and Targets Task Group Purpose: By 2016 develop phosphorus concentration and loading objectives for nearshore and open waters of Lake Erie that are necessary to achieve the Nutrient Annex Lake ecosystem objectives
Progress - Past 6 months
Engaged 25+ experts from Canada and US
Held face-to-face meetings Jan and April 2014
Established subgroups to:
Review existing models
Refine approach to measure Harmful Algal Blooms
Address challenges with Eastern Basin Cladophora

10. Key decisions and outcomes
There is Task group agreement:
That adaptive management principles are key to this process
to use existing science and models
on the ecological endpoints that best represent the nutrient annex's lake ecosystem objectives
that the initial focus will be on the development of P loadings targets for western basin harmful algal blooms and central basin hypoxia by fall 2014
To use an ensemble modeling approach to develop loading targets
On the review and selection of existing models and modeling scenarios to develop load response curves

11. Objective and Targets – Next 6 -8 months
For Western Basin Harmful Algal Bloom and Central Basin Hypoxia
Selected models to be calibrated
Input datasets for models are developed
Load response curves developed for predetermined scenarios – fall 2014
Task group and modeller's to evaluate model outputs
Recommendations to Nutrient Annex subcommittee
Draft Loading recommendations to GLEC Dec 2014
Stakeholder consultation - spring 2015

12. Task Group Still Wrestling with ….
P Concentration Objectives
Cladophora
Current understanding is limited at best
Science still being undertaken
Relationships with P loading not well established
Very difficult to monitor for P in nearshore
Important to understand for other lakes
Need to be linked to loadings (weren’t in previous agreement)
Some question as to the utility of developing P concentration targets if they can’t be effectively monitored
Especially concerned with SRP and nearshore targets

13. Urban and Rural Municipal Sources
New Development
Addressing issues early in planning stages
Best use of conventional (ponds and pipes) and innovative (LID, conservation and reuse) stormwater management
Short- & long-term impacts, (e.g. construction runoff and on-going maintenance of assets)
Unpredictable Natural Events
Changing climate and locally extreme weather events require specific solutions to mitigate local impacts
Existing Urban Areas
Aging / inadequate stormwater management, in-fill dev., CSOs, sewage treatment facilities
Existing built environment require approaches that address:
limited footprint and existing infrastructure
management of assets and financing solutions
Rural Runoff/Drainage
Diffuse sources of run-off
No clear accountability for rural run-off quality
Monitoring & Reporting
Measuring impact and effectiveness
Reporting on progress
Cumulative Nutrient Inputs and Impacts
Individual inputs may not be significant on their own, but create significant cumulative impact and financial costs downstream
Other Lake Inputs
Impact of invasive species on lake ecology
Sediment management 13
Source: Conservation Ontario

14. Urban & Rural Municipal Sources
Urban and Rural Non Farm Sources task group purpose is to understand urban & rural non farm sources of P and evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs in managing P
Progress – Past 6 months
Met Feb 4-5,2014
Key decisions/outcomes
Defined categories for phosphorus loading inventory
Developed definitions, common terminology/units
Established watershed boundaries
Decided on key years of interest representing
wet (2011) and dry (2012) weather
Developed inventory of point sources
Developed programs/activities checklist
Loads from WWTP’s
Developed strategy for assessing non-point sources

15. Urban & Rural Municipal Sources
Gaps
Areas of Further study
Estimations of urban and non-point stormwater loads
Need to Clarify P performance requirements for stormwater management
Improve overall quality of information ( e.g. compliance reporting, stormwater monitoring)
Impact of construction activities on water quality unknown
Review of stormwater estimation models (EC)
Stormwater management inventory
Guidance for stormwater asset management, infrastructure planning
Explore options for improved compliance reporting, stormwater monitoring
Support optimization studies
Examine BMPs to minimize impacts of construction phase activities
Focus on largest dischargers – identify opportunities for reduction

16. Agricultural Sources Progress – Past 6 months
Agricultural Sources task group purpose is to understand agricultural sources of P and evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs in managing P
Progress – Past 6 months
Baseline program inventory
Face to face meeting to confirm work plan and discuss current programs Jan 2014
Developed document framework for reporting current program inventory and effectiveness
Review of key agricultural systems in the Great Lakes Basin and projected growth
Draft list of programs being compiled in Canada and US to be reviewed by Ag Task Team
Program Effectiveness evaluation
Reviewing existing program evaluation tools
Assessment Report
Table of contents developed

17. Agricultural Sources Next steps Gaps
Consistent framework/set of criteria by end of June 2014 to support evaluation in Canada and US
Complete program effectiveness evaluation by June 2015
Gaps
Need loading estimates for all agricultural sources
Methodologies to calculate

18. Other Sources research ongoing Loading estimates from other sources
Need info about sediment dredging and open-lake dumping
research ongoing
Atmospheric loadings
from existing monitoring stations
already incorporated into estimates
Sediment Re-suspension
considered as part of mass balance

19. Key challenges
The Subcommittee and Task Groups are continuing to work away at addressing key challenges:
Determining P concentration targets that are linked to loadings targets that can be monitored, this is especially a problem for nearshore targets
Developing loadings targets for Cladophora as key science is still under development and results will not be available until Critical for East Basin of Lake Erie and the other lakes
Linking loadings targets and concentration targets for tributaries as science incomplete
Understanding how to calculate loading from non-point sources esp. from agriculture, this is important when developing P source reduction strategies in priority watersheds

20. Subcommittee Ongoing Activities
Ensuring we’re benefiting from work done by others ahead of us (e.g. Ohio Task Force Report, IJC LEEP, LE LaMP) as we achieve our mandate
Integration of results from task group activities
Looking forward to shifting to domestic action plan work in late 2015, change task group structure
How to develop and implement the domestic plans due in 2018
Consistency
Contents
Adaptive management
Cross annex coordination – Annex 2
Coordinated Communications and Key Messaging

21. Engagement
Will establish formal outreach strategy related to our draft targets and loads
We plan to also periodically engage with interested stakeholders throughout the process to keep folks abreast of our progress

22. Questions