The toxic blue-green algae that will spread across the western basin of Lake Erie this summer likely won’t be as dense as last year’s record bloom, experts say. However, the researchers who track Erie’s water woes say the algae could appear a month early this year, tainting water by June instead of July.
...Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, are common in most lakes but grow thick in sun-warmed water by feeding on phosphorus from manure, fertilizers and sewage that storms wash into streams and ultimately lakes. The algae can produce as many as four toxins that can sicken people and kill pets.
...State officials are beginning to focus on farms to combat the algae. For example, farmers who tend crops near Grand Lake St. Marys face mandatory limits on how much manure they can spread on fields. The state also sprayed the central portion of the lake with alum, a compound that starves algae.
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As for Lake Erie and the much larger, 4 million-acre Maumee River drainage area, the state is pushing a voluntary program that encourages farmers to limit the use of chemical fertilizers and to reduce runoff.
...Some clean-water advocates say they doubt the state’s Lake Erie strategy will work without mandatory limits.
“Usually, it takes more than volunteerism to make that happen,” said Sandy Bihn, the director of the Lake Erie Waterkeeper group.
Larry Antosch, the environmental policy director for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, said no mandate is needed.
“I think the farmers in the watershed would be more than willing and able,” he said.
via www.dispatch.com
Raise your hand if you are willing to impose cost on yourself for my sake.
