Kentucky and Tennessee are two of the twelve states and five federal agencies that work together to reduce nutrients that are causing or contributing to the Gulf of America Hypoxic Zone as part of the Hypoxia Task Force. Each state has developed a strategy to outline how they will address the sources of nutrients that they have. As a part of this reduction, both states have chosen to focus on utilizing wastewater treatment plant nutrient optimization. The local impacts of these programs demonstrate cost effective source reduction. Nutrient optimization is a process of reviewing the operations of a facility to make changes in process, particularly aeration, that results in lower nitrogen and phosphorous in the effluent. Often, this also results in energy use reduction. This presentation will showcase the programs in each of the states and discussion of the collaboration between the states and among other states in the Mississippi River Basin and highlight success examples from each state.