A flock of Florida green groups has sued the U.S. EPA, seeking state and national water-pollution standards for fertilizer runoff from factory farms. Nitrogen and phosphorus flow from agricultural operations into many Florida waterways (among other places), triggering algae blooms which suck oxygen from the water and kill off marine life. Exposure to the algae, which contaminates many drinking-water sources and popular swimming holes, can lead to a wide range of health ailments in humans. Both Florida and the EPA have let deadlines pass for setting specific limits for fertilizer runoff; the EPA recently said it would propose numerical standards by 2011, but litigants say that’s not good enough. “Each time an extension is granted,” says Manley Fuller of the Florida Wildlife Federation, “it essentially guarantees these contaminants will continue to flow into our rivers, lakes, and oceans — endangering our wildlife and threatening our economy.”
