EPA Tools & Resources Webinar
Nutrient Explorer
Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at 3-4 PM ET
Excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in lakes can lead to eutrophication, hypoxia, and algal blooms that may harm aquatic life and people. Some U.S. states have established numeric water quality criteria for nutrients to protect surface water, but monitoring to determine if criteria are being met is limited by resources and time. EPA’s Nutrient Explorer can help managers locate and prioritize areas where nutrients in surface waters are predicted to exceed certain water quality thresholds. Nutrient Explorer is a downloadable tool for modeling relationships between watershed land use, climate, and other variables and surface water nutrient concentrations. This interactive application allows users to explore spatial patterns and temporal trends in surface water nutrient datasets and can be applied by decision makers to different locations and surface water bodies to identify the most influential drivers of excess nutrient concentrations and to prioritize watersheds for restoration.