U.S. EPA releases plan for Lake Erie phosphorus
Excessive algal growth poses substantial threats to both Lake Erie’s ecosystem and human health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said recently.
And with more than 10 million people relying on the lake for clean drinking water, swimming and fishing, the U.S. has committed to reducing phosphorus, a major contributor to harmful algal blooms in the lake’s western basin.
“In the last decade, harmful and nuisance algal growth in the lake has increased significantly due to storms that deliver high levels of nutrients from major rivers. Recurring algal blooms and associated ‘dead zones’ — oxygen-depleted areas created when algae die and decompose — threaten drinking water quality and Lake Erie’s critical $12.9billion tourism industry and world-class fishery,” the agency said.
It recently released an action plan which outlines federal and state efforts to achieve binational phosphorus reduction targets adopted by the U.S. and Canada in 2016 under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
The release said the U.S. has committed to reducing phosphorus nutrient sources by 40 per cent, a reduction of 7.3 million pounds.
That follows the same target recently set by the Canadian federal government and province of Ontario.
Algae blooms are estimated to cost the Lake Erie basin economy at least $272 million.
The U.S. action plan — www.epa.gov/glwqa/ — summarizes actions federal agencies and states are taking across the Lake Erie basin and provides a mechanism for tracking progress.
“While the bulk of the phosphorus reductions will come from sources in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, all five states in the basin are committed to taking action to reduce nutrient loadings and minimize problems of excessive algal growth,” the release said.
Both the U.S., state and Canada–Ontario action plans can be found at binational.net/annexes/ a4.