What changed to make Lake Erie green again?
The last time it was phosphorus in laundry soap when we changed from ringer to automated washing machines. The phosphorus laden water went to the wastewater plant where massive amounts of suds piled up where wastewater plants discharged. Twenty Eight States banned phosphorus in laundry detergent, Proctor and Gamble took phosphorus out - we still have Tide and we had a blue lake!
This time the change is from many farmers raising livestock on millions of acres to fewer farmers having many more livestock using far less acres to apply all the manure. These livestovk operations are know as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations(CAFO's) or Factory Farms. Hog and dairy untreated manure is applied as a liquid in the old Vlack Swamp on tiled ditched fields.
China requires the manure to be treated and limits the number of livestock in a watershed. The U.S. does neither. Here is China research and pictures of Chinese manure treatment.
Piles of manure and unpermitted cattle that drain to Fish Creek/St. Jospeph's/Maumee River in WIlliams County Ohio
WTOL Investigative Report Schmucker Lake Erie
Lake Erie will not meet 2025 algae 40% reduction even though
commercial fertilizer phosphorus application reduced by 48% but offest by increases
in manure application
USDA NRCS CAFO funds for manure not being used as intended says farmer Look at minute 26 if short on time
HARMFUL ALGAE SOURCE REDUCTION EFFORTS
The last time it was phosphorus in laundry soap when we changed from ringer to automated washing machines. The phosphorus laden water went to the wastewater plant where massive amounts of suds piled up where wastewater plants discharged. Twenty Eight States banned phosphorus in laundry detergent, Proctor and Gamble took phosphorus out - we still have Tide and we had a blue lake!
This time the change is from many farmers raising livestock on millions of acres to fewer farmers having many more livestock using far less acres to apply all the manure. These livestovk operations are know as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations(CAFO's) or Factory Farms. Hog and dairy untreated manure is applied as a liquid in the old Vlack Swamp on tiled ditched fields.
China requires the manure to be treated and limits the number of livestock in a watershed. The U.S. does neither. Here is China research and pictures of Chinese manure treatment.
Piles of manure and unpermitted cattle that drain to Fish Creek/St. Jospeph's/Maumee River in WIlliams County Ohio
WTOL Investigative Report Schmucker Lake Erie
Lake Erie will not meet 2025 algae 40% reduction even though
commercial fertilizer phosphorus application reduced by 48% but offest by increases
in manure application
USDA NRCS CAFO funds for manure not being used as intended says farmer Look at minute 26 if short on time
HARMFUL ALGAE SOURCE REDUCTION EFFORTS
- Target greatest phosphorus runoff areas identified in 2017 - Additional maps info. Governor Kasich did good work on identifying phosphprous runoff stream hotspots. DeWine abandoned these efforts.
- Campbell Lawsuit to stop excess phosphorus violations to Maumee River - Press Release
- Meat and Poultry Processing Plants biggest industrial dischargers of phosphorus - Water Keeper Alliance Lake Erie Waterkeeper Comments to USEPA proposed rules
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LAKE ERIE ALGAE - Manure - Confined Animals (Fact Sheet)
Lake Erie was known as the troubled waters identified with the Times Magazine picture of the burning of the Cuyahoga River in 1969. That was pivotal to the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. Substantially reduced Industrial discharges to Lake Erie and its tributaries through pipes improved Lake Erie water quality. The vast amounts of algae were reduced by banning phosphorus from laundry detergent and by reducing phosphorus discharges at Lake Erie wastewater plants. (Phosphorus in detergent for automated washing machines that discharged into wastewater plants was when vast amounts of algae appeared in the 1950's and beyond). Lake Erie became the poster child for Lake Erie recovery and all was pretty good until the late 1990's when vast amounts of algae started reappearing.
What changed to cause the resurgence of harmful algae? In the mid to late 1990's Ohio invited dairies from the Netherlands(that were required to reduce their dairy numbers because of algae and water quality problems) to the Maumee watershed. The large concentrated animal feedlot operations(CAFO's) produce massive amounts of urine and manure that were placed in lagoons and then spread as a liquid on tiled ditched fields in the Maumee watershed. It was when these CAFO dairy operations came to the Western Lake Erie watershed that the harmful algae in Lake Erie began. Since the late 1990's the numbers of farms raising cows, pigs, and poultry has been reduced by over 80%, often with big ag underpricing meat and dairy products to force small livestock operations out of business.
Lake Erie's algae problem hit international news in 2014 when users were told not to drink the water because of the toxin cyano bacteria producing toxin microcystin was found in treated water. Scientists tell us that the source of what is fueling harmful algae is dissolved reactive phosphorus with about 90% coming from agricultural runoff. The agricultural runoff is from phosphorus applied to fields from commercial fertilizers and manure.
There are 5.5 million acres in the Lake Erie watershed, the most intense agricultural land in the Great Lakes with thousands of miles of ditches to drain the Black Swamp coupled with field tiles in fields usually about thirty feet apart.
THE BIG CHANGE causing Lake Erie harmful algae is the massive amounts of liquid manure runoff from dairy and pigs, and the manure runoff from cattle and poultry applied within three miles of the barns.
A 2019 study by the Environmental Working Group(EWG) and the Environmental Law and Policy Center(ELPC) shows the huge increases(since 2005, (no data from the 1990's to 2005) in CAFO's with most unpermitted, also known as one unders. Annual manure production increase from 3.9 million tons per year to 5.5 million tons per year and the amount of phosphorus applied to fields increased by 67%. A followup study in 2022 shows the continuing CAFO/manure increases and more and more unpermitted operations. The study states that there are 2200 unpermitted CAFO's applying far more manure than the permitted facilities. There are a staggering number of animals in Western Lake Erie in confined operations, 400,000 dairy cows, 1.8 million hogs and 24 million chickens all applying untreated manure and urine to tiled ditched fields with phosphorus that far exceeds crop need.
Research from continuous monitors in the Maumee Watershed shows that when more CAFO's(permitted and unpermitted) area added to the watershed, dissolved phosphorus increases by 3-5% per CAFO.
A proposed 8000 cattle facility was proposed near Fort Wayne, Indiana, the local zoning board turned down the application. Then barns started being built in Ohio separated to avoid permits and located near the St. Joe's River, a Maumee tributary. The operator is Schmucker, the owner is JBS, the largest beef industry in the world.
In the fall of 2023, liquid cow dairy manure from a recently expanded operation applied to fields turned the Portage River green. Ohio says all ok.
Meanwhile Ohio has weakly permitted two industrial manure digesters increasing trucks hauling manure. And USEPA approved Ohio's Maumee Lake Erie TMDL that says CAFO's and manure not a big deal!
Lake Erie was known as the troubled waters identified with the Times Magazine picture of the burning of the Cuyahoga River in 1969. That was pivotal to the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. Substantially reduced Industrial discharges to Lake Erie and its tributaries through pipes improved Lake Erie water quality. The vast amounts of algae were reduced by banning phosphorus from laundry detergent and by reducing phosphorus discharges at Lake Erie wastewater plants. (Phosphorus in detergent for automated washing machines that discharged into wastewater plants was when vast amounts of algae appeared in the 1950's and beyond). Lake Erie became the poster child for Lake Erie recovery and all was pretty good until the late 1990's when vast amounts of algae started reappearing.
What changed to cause the resurgence of harmful algae? In the mid to late 1990's Ohio invited dairies from the Netherlands(that were required to reduce their dairy numbers because of algae and water quality problems) to the Maumee watershed. The large concentrated animal feedlot operations(CAFO's) produce massive amounts of urine and manure that were placed in lagoons and then spread as a liquid on tiled ditched fields in the Maumee watershed. It was when these CAFO dairy operations came to the Western Lake Erie watershed that the harmful algae in Lake Erie began. Since the late 1990's the numbers of farms raising cows, pigs, and poultry has been reduced by over 80%, often with big ag underpricing meat and dairy products to force small livestock operations out of business.
Lake Erie's algae problem hit international news in 2014 when users were told not to drink the water because of the toxin cyano bacteria producing toxin microcystin was found in treated water. Scientists tell us that the source of what is fueling harmful algae is dissolved reactive phosphorus with about 90% coming from agricultural runoff. The agricultural runoff is from phosphorus applied to fields from commercial fertilizers and manure.
There are 5.5 million acres in the Lake Erie watershed, the most intense agricultural land in the Great Lakes with thousands of miles of ditches to drain the Black Swamp coupled with field tiles in fields usually about thirty feet apart.
THE BIG CHANGE causing Lake Erie harmful algae is the massive amounts of liquid manure runoff from dairy and pigs, and the manure runoff from cattle and poultry applied within three miles of the barns.
A 2019 study by the Environmental Working Group(EWG) and the Environmental Law and Policy Center(ELPC) shows the huge increases(since 2005, (no data from the 1990's to 2005) in CAFO's with most unpermitted, also known as one unders. Annual manure production increase from 3.9 million tons per year to 5.5 million tons per year and the amount of phosphorus applied to fields increased by 67%. A followup study in 2022 shows the continuing CAFO/manure increases and more and more unpermitted operations. The study states that there are 2200 unpermitted CAFO's applying far more manure than the permitted facilities. There are a staggering number of animals in Western Lake Erie in confined operations, 400,000 dairy cows, 1.8 million hogs and 24 million chickens all applying untreated manure and urine to tiled ditched fields with phosphorus that far exceeds crop need.
Research from continuous monitors in the Maumee Watershed shows that when more CAFO's(permitted and unpermitted) area added to the watershed, dissolved phosphorus increases by 3-5% per CAFO.
A proposed 8000 cattle facility was proposed near Fort Wayne, Indiana, the local zoning board turned down the application. Then barns started being built in Ohio separated to avoid permits and located near the St. Joe's River, a Maumee tributary. The operator is Schmucker, the owner is JBS, the largest beef industry in the world.
In the fall of 2023, liquid cow dairy manure from a recently expanded operation applied to fields turned the Portage River green. Ohio says all ok.
Meanwhile Ohio has weakly permitted two industrial manure digesters increasing trucks hauling manure. And USEPA approved Ohio's Maumee Lake Erie TMDL that says CAFO's and manure not a big deal!
LAKE ERIE STURGEON
Sturgeon are native to Lake Erie and are being reintroduced in the Maumee River near the Toledo zoo. Sturgeon are like dinosaurs, they can live over 100 years and take over twenty years to spawn. Sturgeon are bottom feeding so they do not compete with the walleye and yellow perch food chain.
Cuyahoga River Sturgeon History
Sturgeon are native to Lake Erie and are being reintroduced in the Maumee River near the Toledo zoo. Sturgeon are like dinosaurs, they can live over 100 years and take over twenty years to spawn. Sturgeon are bottom feeding so they do not compete with the walleye and yellow perch food chain.
Cuyahoga River Sturgeon History
ERIE MARSH
Erie Marsh is on the northwestern edge of Lake Erie and is contiguous to Maumee Bay and the Ottawa River and is also bound by I75. It is an amazing marsh area with islands, terrific number of bird species. There is also a peninsula that serves as a barrier/protection for the marsh. Lake Erie Waterkeeper is fostering an effort with Federal, Ohio and Michigan officials, local officials, Natures Conservancy, and citizens to sustain the marsh and Woodtick Peninsula, which may be able to be preserved with dredged materials from the Toledo shipping channel.
Here is a good description of Erie Marsh by Nature’s Conservancy
Erie Marsh is on the northwestern edge of Lake Erie and is contiguous to Maumee Bay and the Ottawa River and is also bound by I75. It is an amazing marsh area with islands, terrific number of bird species. There is also a peninsula that serves as a barrier/protection for the marsh. Lake Erie Waterkeeper is fostering an effort with Federal, Ohio and Michigan officials, local officials, Natures Conservancy, and citizens to sustain the marsh and Woodtick Peninsula, which may be able to be preserved with dredged materials from the Toledo shipping channel.
Here is a good description of Erie Marsh by Nature’s Conservancy
Links
Lake Erie Links
Local
State
- Sierra Club, Ohio Chapter
- Ohio Department of Natural Resources
- Ohio Environmental Council
- Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
- Ohio Lake Erie Commission
- Ohio Sea Grant College Program
- Sierra Club, Michigan Chapter
- Michigan Citizens Action
- Michigan Department of Natural Resources
- Michigan Environmental Council
- Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan
Great Lakes / National
Binational
International Joint Commission (Canada and USA)