This summer the quick demise of Grand Lake St. Mary's was troubling to not only those who use the lake for recreation but for the townsfolk who make a living from the lake's tourism. It seemed that everyone had a theory on what caused the toxic algae, but no one can dispute that one cause was the farm fertilizer and manure run-off.
The Dayton Daily News' article "Toxic Soup Feeds Blue-Green Algae" (last Monday), explained the reason for the big lake's water woes: "To know the problem of farm runoff polluting Ohio's waterways is to know the fertilizers. In Grand Lake St. Mary's, the sources are nitrogen and phosphorus, which are found in manure and commercial fertilizers used to help grow crops, including corn, soybeans and wheat." For more information, check out the Dayton Daily News Coverage on this issue. The paper did some great investigative and informative reporting in this series.
Now some of you will wonder, as I did, what about the EPA's role in stemming the flow of farm run-off into our waterways? Well, as I learned from the article, the problem is that the 1972 Clean Water Act focuses mostly on factory pollution. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that factories aren't the problem in Mercer County. Compounding the problem is the fact that animal waste is hard to track.
It is troubling to note that with the increase of factory farms, our watersheds are in peril unless we find a way to curtail the farm run-off. If you'd like to read more, I suggest you take a look at the Forum National Trust for Historic Preservation's article.
Back in the 70's, I remember my ecology teacher telling the class that his generation had almost killed Lake Erie. He warned the class that as the future generation (hey, don't laugh, back then we were) we needed to ensure this did not happen in our future. Well, I hate to say it, but it appears we repeated the same mistake on another lake!
What do you think about this problem? Do you think there is another factor causing the pollution at the lake? Readers, please post your comments.
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While Grand Lake has been in the news this past summer, there are many other Ohio lakes plagued by the same problem. Cutler Lake at Blue Rock State Park in eastern Ohio was also closed this past summer due to an algae problem. Warnings were also posted at the Burr Oak State Park lake in Morgan County in southeastern Ohio. I remember well the problems with Lake Erie back in the 1970's.
ReplyDeleteGood article...I had heard about the problems at Grand Lake with the algae and the lake being closed to boaters and swimmers for a time. I hadn't heard until you mentioned it about Lake Erie, but then I wasn't here at that time, so it was enlightening how you brought that out. It apparently doesn't occur to people how animal manure(including chickens)runoff can devastate a water supply. If manure piles are allowed to set and settle, each time it rains enough, that manure content can be carried by the rain runoff. It is also the same way with pesticides used to control insects on crops...All the while it is controlling insects, it is also providing a potentially dangerous runoff in the ground under the right conditions. So, no matter how we try to protect the food supply and water supply, there are still elements that go against us in that fight.
ReplyDeleteI remember growing up on a section of Lake Michigan during a period when it was not open for swimming! It has since made a comeback of sorts, but I did not realize the issue of run-off from farms was a factor in the demise of other bodies of water. If the EPA doesn't control farm run-off, is there any agency that does?
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