Utilities work with regulators to treat wastewater to levels that protect human health and ecosystems. Water quality criteria and permits are based on scientifically defensible and shared understanding of sources of pollutants in a watershed, as well as treatment capabilities and costs to control these in the aquatic environment. The national discussion of nutrient impacts on water quality continues to evolve ? issues in high visibility water bodies such as the Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, Gulf of Mexico, and Puget Sound highlight this. USEPA?s efforts to promulgate numeric nutrient standards in all states raise questions about how these standards apply to wastewater dischargers, whether they are effective, and how they affect WERF Subscribers and others in the water quality arena.??