Algae Bloom Revisited

I recently wrote an article about this subject and stated that not much was being done to identify and resolve the problem of algae bloom. Reader feedback caused me to dig a little deeper and low and behold there are a few people who actually have a clue what’s going on and have a plan to rectify the situation.

I forgot that there was a bad algae bloom in the 1970’s It was not as widespread as last years but bad enough. That time once the farmers and municipalities realized they were part of the problem they took action. The result was very little algae after just a couple years. Hopefully those two entities will do the same this time.

The solution for the farmers this time is more complicated. The runoff from fields that have been fertilized or had manure spread on them contains phosphorous which feeds the algae. The solution sounds simple but it isn’t. The amount of fertilizer used hasn’t changed significantly but farming has. In recent years farmers have turned more and more to drainage tile to get rid of unwanted water from their fields. Most of this tile runoff which contains high levels of phosphorous feeds into the surrounding streams which eventually ends up in Lake Erie.

The debate centers around limiting the use of fertilizers which doesn’t seem very practical to me. The good news is real action is being taken. Even though it’s still in the talking stage the people who can fix the problem are actively involved. Some state officials are talking about stringent regulations. My fear there would be that they would go overboard and really complicate things for the farmers. I think getting the fertilizer manufacturers involved would be the place to start. If they think fertilizer use is going to be restricted they will come up with solutions.

The overflow from the municipalities is a problem that has a more direct solution. During periods of peak rainfall the story is that the sewage plants can’t handle all the water therefore they release the overflow of raw sewage into Lake Erie. What confuses me is I thought the storm runoff was separate from the sanitary sewers so why should that be a problem. Do we still have a lot of building runoff dumping into the sanitary system? If we do it’s time to rectify that problem. Hopefully someone can explain what is really going on here.

If we have a spring and summer with a lot of rain the algae problem will be severe this year also. The good news is something is being done about the problem. Hopefully everyone involved understands how serious the problem is and will make an honest effort to resolve it.