Phosphorus-fighting projects get $400,000 from province, feds
LONDON, ONT. Five Southwestern Ontario projects to find ways to keep phosphorus out of the Thames River are getting a boost with $400,000 in federal and provincial cash.
The money from senior governments will help test ways to remove phosphorus from water, whether in farm drainage systems or municipal pumping stations. That’s a departure from many traditional initiatives that look to prevent phosphorus — a common ingredient in fertilizer — from leaching into the water system in the first place.
“These projects will test different technology and determine their practicality, and we’ll be able to get a sense of the costs of what works. At the end of the day, it needs to be very practical so farmers can do it themselves,” said Charles Lalonde, project director for the Thames River phosphorus reduction collaborative. There are two projects in Woodstock, two near London, and one near Tilbury in Chatham-Kent, all communities within the Thames River basin, one of the biggest contributors of phosphorus to Lake Erie.
The phosphorus pollution from municipalities in Southwestern Ontario, including farm runoff and sewer overflows, makes London — with some of its sewers still handling both storm and waste water — and the region a chief polluter. Though a naturally-occurring nutrient, too much phosphorus can cultivate an environment for toxic algae to flourish. That’s been a recurring problem in Lake Erie, which in 2014 briefly left residents of Toledo, Ohio, without clean drinking water. “Nobody is entirely innocent with regard to phosphorus,” said Mark Reusser, vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, which represents tens of thousands of farmers across the province.
Many were interested in taking part in these pilot projects, he said. “It’s been great interest, especially since a good portion of the cost was covered. Some interest from some farmers, maybe not the ones you would think would be interested in doing this, some of the more skeptical people.” Farmers who commit time, land and labour to the projects will receive real-time information in return.
“We saw an opportunity where there wasn’t much research being done, and that was with regard to removing phosphorus from drainage water after it has already left the farm,” said Reusser, a Waterloo-area turkey farmer.
The five projects, selected from a pool of 11, include various strategies and technologies to remove phosphorus from water, including absorbent materials, filtration systems and specialized technologies that react with phosphorus particles to create a product that can be removed from water. London city council approved a
These projects will test different technology and determine their practicality, and we’ll be able to get a sense of the costs of what works.
$285-million pollution-prevention plan earlier this year, which includes replacements of London’s aging combined sewer systems, prone to overflows that can send partially-treated wastewater into the river, and upgrades to city wastewater plants. During the next five years, city hall will invest $27 million, and continue looking for other funding sources to make up the difference.
London already has reduced the amount of phosphorus it sends into the Thames River by 30 per cent since 2009.