Answer: Yes, the combined New York and Connecticut total trade equalized point source average daily load for 2024 was 20,614 lbs/day which is 2,162 lbs/day below the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) target. This represents a 65.1 percent reduction from the baseline established in the 2000 TMDL. This indicates that point source nutrient loads are being reduced from wastewater treatment plants, thereby improving water quality.
Nitrogen loading from wastewater treatment facilities is reported by wastewater treatment facilities to the states of Connecticut and New York. The nitrogen loading reported to Connecticut and New York is called trade-equalized loads – with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, wastewater treatment facilities can enter a water quality trading program where the facilities can do other actions to improve water quality and in exchange receive credits to count towards water quality goals. See more details here!
The 2000 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) developed by Connecticut and New York and approved by EPA called for a 60 percent reduction from the baseline level of 59,000 trade equalized pounds per day of nitrogen. This reduction goal had been met in 2016 and has continued to decline. In 2024, the combined total equalized point source average daily load was 20,614 lbs/day, a rewarding 2,162 lbs/day below the 2000 TMDL target. This represents a 65.1 percent reduction from the baseline established by the TMDL.
Excess nitrogen loads into the Long Island Sound stimulates excessive growth of phytoplankton and macroalgae leading to eutrophication. When the phytoplankton and macroalgae die, zooplankton or microorganisms (e.g., bacteria) feed on the decay and oxygen is consumed in the bottom waters causing “hypoxic,” with less than 3.0 mg/l of oxygen. These conditions stress or suffocate slow-moving animals that need oxygen to survive and cause other animals to scatter and disappear.
Nitrogen typically comes from point sources, large, fixed sources like wastewater treatment or industrial facilities, and non-point sources, smaller diffuse sources like subpar or failing septic systems, stormwater, residential and agricultural runoff. While the Nutrient Objective now focuses more on nonpoint source controls, it is important to continue to make reductions from point sources to protect and restore water quality in Long Island Sound.
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Water quality trading can provide greater flexibility on the timing and level of technology a facility might install, reduce overall compliance costs, and encourage voluntary participation of non-point sources within the watershed. Trading can provide ancillary environmental benefits such as riparian improvement and habitat.