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- Water pollution, Lake Erie, USA
Problems
Lake Erie is the shallowest and fishiest of the Great Lakes. Nearly a third of the Great Lakes population resides in the Lake Erie watershed — the lake is lined with several urban centers, including Buffalo, New York, Toledo, Ohio, and Cleveland, not to mention the Detroit/Windsor area by way of the Detroit River. Though it has the least water volume of any of the Great Lakes, it provides drinking water for over eleven million people. Lake Erie is a favorite destination for tourists and recreation. Sadly, with high concentrations of industrial facilities and agriculture, it’s also long been a target for pollution.
Heavy industry pollution
Lake Erie is severely impacted by human activities. Factories had been dumping chemical pollutants into the lake and the waterways that flowed into it, like the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH, and the Detroit River in Michigan. Since the Great Lakes Basin lacked substantial government oversight, waste and pesticides from surrounding cities' sewers, industrial plants and agriculture made their way into the lake. as did fertilizer and pesticides from agricultural runoff. Dead fish began to appear along the Lake's shoreline, leading to the coining of the phrase “Lake Erie is dead,” which started to appear in national publications in the late 1960s.
Phosphorus pollution
For decades, pollution filled Lake Erie with far more nutrients than the lake could handle, with phosphorous being the main culprit. Phosphorous is a fertilizer that induces plant growth and algae and was also found in many commercial detergents at the time. Plants began growing, dying, and decomposing in Lake Erie, creating anoxia (severe deficiency of oxygen) at the bottom of the lake and leaving the water's surface putrid and mossy. The lack of oxygen killed fish and other aquatic species, and the smelly surface repelled anglers, tourists, and those living around Lake Erie. Heavy metals also contaminated much of the fish population of Lake Erie.
Harmful algal blooms
Harmful algal blooms have plagued lakeside communities in recent years, coating the lake in green scum, impairing the recreation economy, and threatening drinking water. Some algae even produce microcystin bacteria, which are more poisonous than cyanide and can cause liver damage and other ailments in humans and animals.
Solutions
The Lake Erie Protection & Restoration Plan 2020 (LEPR)
Author: Ohio Lake Erie Commission
The Lake Erie Protection & Restoration Plan 2020 (LEPR) outlines actions the Ohio Lake Erie Commission and its member agencies will take toward the protection and restoration of Lake Erie and its watershed. It also serves as a reference guide for applicants to the Lake Erie Protection Fund. Projects funded by the LEPF must address a Priority Area listed in the LEPR 2020. Ohio Lake Erie Protection & Restoration Plan 2020 Priorities Nutrient Pollution Reduction Habitat & Species Dredge Material Management and Maritime Infrastructure Invasive Species Areas of Concern Toxic Pollutants Beach and Recreational Use Travel, Tourism, Jobs and Economy Water Withdrawals
Source: https://lakeerie.ohio.gov/planning-and-priorities/01-protection-and-restoration-plan
Gallery
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Timelines
2023
A new report finds Ohio and Michigan combined would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more each year to achieve a 40% reduction in phosphorus in the western basin of Lake Erie if they’re to meet an agreement to control harmful cyanobacterial blooms. The Alliance for the Great Lakes and the Ohio Environmental Council, with technical assistance from the Ann Arbor-based company LimnoTech and Chicago-based Delta Institute, released the report, “The Cost to Meet Water Quality Goals In the Western Basin of Lake Erie.” It found that Michigan and Ohio are not likely to meet the 2025 phosphorus reduction goals agreed to under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, calling the efforts made to date “woefully inadequate.”
2021
The 2021 bloom was slow to develop starting in late July, and reached a peak from late August to early September, mostly in U.S. waters. At its peak, the bloom covered 530 square miles. The bloom weakened in mid-September, following several days of strong winds. Following a period of calm winds and seasonally warm waters, the bloom re-intensified near the Michigan coast at the end of September. The bloom lasted longer than in recent years, likely due to warm water temperatures, before slowly dissipating through October.
2018
Ohio EPA declared western Lake Erie officially “impaired” in 2018, which should have prompted a cleanup plan from the state-level EPA as mandated under the Clean Water Act. However, Ohio EPA has yet to provide an effective phosphorus-reduction plan.
2017
In the summer of 2017, ELPC and Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie sued the U.S. EPA for failing to enforce the Clean Water Act and protect Lake Erie communities.
2014
However, beginning in the late 1990s, people around Lake Erie started to notice green algae. It got progressively worse every year. In 2014, the cyanobacteria microcystin from harmful algae got into the Toledo water intake, forcing the city to warn citizens there not to drink the tap water for three days on account of microscopic bacteria that had gotten into the treated water.
1980
One major culprit of algae-causing local water pollution had been phosphorus from laundry detergents. By the late 1980s all Great Lakes states, except Pennsylvania, banned laundry detergent with phosphorus. According to Bihn, it was as though the lake ‘magically’ turned blue for the next 20 years.
1972
In response to public concern and recommendations by the International Joint Commission, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was signed by the United States and Canada in 1972. The Agreement emphasized the reduction of phosphorous entering lakes Erie and Ontario, and maximum levels for phosphorous were added to the Agreement. Also, phosphorus in detergents was finally banned. Coupled with the U.S. and Canadian Clean Water Acts, the GLQWA did much to reduce the phosphorus levels in Lake Erie.
1960
In the 1960s, Lake Erie was declared "dead," though, ironically, it was full of life -- just not the right kind. Eutrophication had claimed Lake Erie and excessive algae became the dominant plant species, covering beaches in slimy moss and killing off native aquatic species by soaking up all of the oxygen. The demise of Lake Erie even made it into a Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax.