Hard_Rom
Northumbrian Skald
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2014
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http://www.lfpress.com/2015/01/25/western-lake-erie-is-green-with-monster-algae-blooms
Toxic algae that’s made life miserable along Lake Erie’s Ohio shore, forcing the shutdown of Toledo’s water intake last summer, has links that reach far into Southwestern Ontario, scientists believe.
Turns out, our region’s hands aren’t completely clean.
All our urban turf and especially our vast farmland — including human sewage, animal waste and chemical fertilizers — drains into the Thames River, which empties into Lake St. Clair and into Erie, where monster algae blooms are so bad one morphed into a blob nearly as big as Prince Edward Island in 2011.
A genetic analysis of toxic algae found in Lake St. Clair, fed by farm and urban nutrients that enter the Thames, links it to the same family of algae that sometimes makes western Erie’s water undrinkable.
Phosphorus, a key ingredient in farm fertilizers, washes into the river into Lake St. Clair where it meets the algae “seeds” and boost bacterial growth. From there, it multiplies to becomes slime limited only by how much sun and nutrients it gets.
“Once the blooms are up and going, the blooms in Lake St. Clair can feed into (the Detroit River) and into Lake Erie and contribute to the blooms in Lake Erie,” which are fed largely by farm run-off from the Maumee River in Ohio, Davis said.
Like the Thames, the Maumee also drains intensively farmed land into the Great Lakes.
And in a classic what-goes-around-comes-around scenario, the water from Southwestern Ontario can take a long route back home, since many centres including London draw drinking water from Erie.
Last summer, a massive algae bloom shut down Toledo’s drinking-water intakes.
Ontario cities, including London, have come under scrutiny before for discharging raw or only partly treated sewage into the Great Lakes during heavy rains that overwhelm their sewer systems.
Toxic algae that’s made life miserable along Lake Erie’s Ohio shore, forcing the shutdown of Toledo’s water intake last summer, has links that reach far into Southwestern Ontario, scientists believe.
Turns out, our region’s hands aren’t completely clean.
All our urban turf and especially our vast farmland — including human sewage, animal waste and chemical fertilizers — drains into the Thames River, which empties into Lake St. Clair and into Erie, where monster algae blooms are so bad one morphed into a blob nearly as big as Prince Edward Island in 2011.
A genetic analysis of toxic algae found in Lake St. Clair, fed by farm and urban nutrients that enter the Thames, links it to the same family of algae that sometimes makes western Erie’s water undrinkable.
Phosphorus, a key ingredient in farm fertilizers, washes into the river into Lake St. Clair where it meets the algae “seeds” and boost bacterial growth. From there, it multiplies to becomes slime limited only by how much sun and nutrients it gets.
“Once the blooms are up and going, the blooms in Lake St. Clair can feed into (the Detroit River) and into Lake Erie and contribute to the blooms in Lake Erie,” which are fed largely by farm run-off from the Maumee River in Ohio, Davis said.
Like the Thames, the Maumee also drains intensively farmed land into the Great Lakes.
And in a classic what-goes-around-comes-around scenario, the water from Southwestern Ontario can take a long route back home, since many centres including London draw drinking water from Erie.
Last summer, a massive algae bloom shut down Toledo’s drinking-water intakes.
Ontario cities, including London, have come under scrutiny before for discharging raw or only partly treated sewage into the Great Lakes during heavy rains that overwhelm their sewer systems.
