Prior to the passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970’s, the Kalamazoo River, as with many water bodies in the U.S., was degraded by industrial, urban and agricultural discharges and runoff that received little treatment before entering the river. Since that time, pollution
reduction programs and policies have greatly improved discharges to the river and water quality improvements can be seen simply in the appearance of the river. Yet increasing urban pressure over the past few decades, along with agricultural land use still contribute to water quality issues and impairments in the watershed.
One of the water quality problems in the Kalamazoo River Watershed is the nutrient enrichment of Lake Allegan. Symptoms include nuisance algal blooms, low oxygen levels, poor water clarity, and a fish community heavily unbalanced, dominated by exotic carp. Due to these impairments, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for total phosphorus was set for the Kalamazoo River watershed above Lake Allegan in 1998. Both point source and nonpoint source load limits were set in order to achieve an average in-lake total phosphorus concentration of 60 micrograms per liter in Lake Allegan for the growing season from April-September.
Since 1998, the Lake Allegan/Kalamazoo River TMDL effort has been lead through a community-based, collaborative effort of landowners, industry, government, community organizations and citizens. The group has entered into a Cooperative Agreement where point sources have committed to reduce phosphorus loading in the watershed by providing assistance, resources and coordination of local efforts, especially related to nonpoint source loading. Both point sources and nonpoint sources meet regularly as part of the TMDL Implementation Committee to address water quality issues, education activities for the community, and implementation projects to tackle both urban and agricultural loading issues. For more information on this group and committee meetings held on a quarterly basis, go to the “Events & Meetings” page.
2002 TMDL brochure 
If
you would like more information please contact:
MDEQ,
Kalamazoo District Office (269) 692-6970
