Federal environmental regulators said Monday that they will hold off on imposing controversial water pollution standards on Florida lakes, rivers and streams to give the state more time to crafts its own rules.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would delay the rules — bitterly opposed by farmers, industries and utilities — because of “uncertainty” surrounding alternative standards the state has been working to complete.

The federal rules, intended to control the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, had been scheduled to take effect Tuesday but will be postponed for four months until July 6. The delay, according to an EPA statement, would help alleviate any “confusion and inefficiency’’ caused by forcing industries and utilities to adopt standards that could later be changed.

Standards drawn up by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have been submitted to the EPA but are on hold, pending review by the Florida Legislature, which is scheduled to end its session on Friday.

Last month, a federal judge ordered the EPA to implement rules covering lakes and springs but gave the agency more time to work on rules for rivers and streams.

The complicated rules, which would put numeric limits on nutrient levels in water bodies for the first time, have been the subject of years of debate and lawsuits. Industry, business and farm interests contend federal rules would cost them and the state billions of dollars. Environmentalists argue state rules aren’t strong enough to curtail algae blooms that have triggered fish kills and closed waterways to public use.