EPA OIG Report on Need for an Agencywide Strategic Action Plan to Address Harmful Algal Blooms

The EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released report #21-E-0264 entitled, “EPA Needs an Agencywide Strategic Action Plan to Address Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).” The OIG report says that by creating a strategy, EPA can reduce HABs and their impacts on human health and the environment (and drinking water sources) using the authorities and tools provided by the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts, and enable improved collaboration with EPA offices and regions, and federal, state, and external partners. The OIG recommends that EPA’s strategic action plan should describe how the Agency will maintain and enhance a national program to forecast, monitor, and respond to freshwater HABs. The OIG also found that EPA has not fulfilled its 2015 commitment to Congress to develop additional drinking water health advisories for cyanotoxins and needs to take further action to develop revised nitrogen and phosphorus numeric water quality criteria recommendation. For more information and to view the full report and report at a glance, visit the EPA website.