DOE also does things called wasteland allocation. Essentially, how much of pollutant (and this includes nutrients) can be "safely" put in a stream. This number would divided up amongst all the wastewater discharge permit holders to ensure that the water quality number would not be exceeded. To do that, they did a study. In this instance, the river in question was managed for hatchery coho and chinook and had damn few pink and chum. So, the nutrient input (N and P) was low. I pointed out that the then emerging knowledge of salmon nutrient delivery might cause WDF to increase escapement goals. Note: I knew they wouldn't, but they "might". DOE said that the old goals and practices, which were background levels, needed to remain the same so that business and government could make the treatment investments and not have a moving target to hit. Even then, agencies worked in hardened silos.