A drought one year, for instance, could reduce nitrogen absorption years later, he said.
The goal is to reduce nitrogen levels in the pond, which flows into the Sound.
It will also reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, which contribute to smog, by 90percentt, or 17,000 tons a year.
Australia committed to Unesco's world heritage committee that it would reduce nitrogen runoff by up to 80% by 2025.
Akin to the catalytic converters on cars, they sharply reduce nitrogen oxides, which are a cause of smog, acid rain and particulate pollution.
Mr. Pataki also pledged to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions throughout the year, rather than only from May through September, as the federal government requires.
In January, the city and the state reached an agreement that will sharply reduce nitrogen discharges from city-owned sewage treatment plants along the upper East River.
Here, the supreme court has ordered the government to produce a plan to reduce nitrogen dioxide levels to safe levels in as short a timescale as possible.
The project, agreed to earlier by the county in conjunction with the State Department of Environmental Conservation, should eliminate the discharge of raw sewage and reduce nitrogen levels in the Sound.
CINERGY CORP., Cincinnati, a gas and electric utility holding company, said it would spend more than $700 million on pollution control equipment to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, which cause smog.
Mrs. Whitman's new plan would also replace established programs that seek to improve visibility in national parks and to force individual utilities to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions that cross state lines.
