Growing Returns

Selected tag(s): Lake Erie

How the marketplace is driving clean water solutions

By David Festa / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 17, 2014

Federal and state governments aren’t doing enough to keep polluted runoff from reaching America’s waterways. That’s the conclusion the Environmental Protection Agency – aka the federal government – has reached in a new report from the office of its inspector general.

Anyone surprised?

Government has tried to reign in nutrient pollution for decades, only to watch dead zones persist in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay and Lake Erie. Just last month, a toxic brew of urban and agricultural runoff shut down Toledo’s water for two days. Seven weeks later, many of the city’s half million residents are still afraid to drink what’s coming out of the tap.

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, cover crops, dead zones, ecosystems, EPA, fertilizer, grain production, Gulf of Mexico, hypoxia, nutrient efficiency, polluted runoff, sustainable agriculture, Toledo, toxic algae, water quality, western water | Comments are closed

Water filters can fight dead zones without hindering farm production

By Eileen McLellan / Bio / Published: August 15, 2014

Updated (October 23, 2014): Interior, Agriculture Departments Partner to Measure Conservation Impacts on Water Quality

A treatment wetland built under the Iowa Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. Photo from Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship

“Is the water safe?”

In the United States, we take it for granted that the answer to that question is “yes.” But the residents of Toledo, OH, learned recently that their water wasn’t safe to drink for a few days because toxins associated with an algal bloom in Lake Erie had contaminated the city’s water supply. Meanwhile, a Maryland man was released from the hospital after nearly losing his leg and his life to flesh-eating bacteria contracted from swimming in the Chesapeake Bay.

These types of incidents are caused by nutrient pollution. Although nutrient pollution can come from many sources, runoff from agriculture is the dominant contributor to the problem in Lake Erie, the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Agriculture-associated nutrient pollution also impacts local streams and lakes, causing fish kills and closing swimming beaches. A recent study in Minnesota suggested that more than 70 percent of nitrogen in state waters comes from cropland.

What needs to be done, and how much will make a difference? Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged Chesapeake Bay, dead zone, ecosystems, fertilizer, Gulf of Mexico, hypoxia, Interior department, natural resources conservation, nutrient pollution, USDA, USGS, water quality, watershed, western water, wetland buffer | Comments are closed

Lake Erie’s fertilizer problem isn’t over, but we’re working on it

By Karen Chapman / Bio / Published: August 6, 2014

Fertilizer is the engine of agriculture, but its inefficient use means that excess fertilizer ends up in our waterways, contaminating freshwater supplies and causing algae blooms, such as those that recently cut off water supplies to hundreds of thousands of residents in Toledo, OH. In addition to impacts on communities, algae blooms also affect ecosystems, killing millions of fish and harming the seafood and recreation industries.

Nutrient runoff from fertilizer is a problem that many stakeholders, including farmers, have been trying to fix for many years, both in the Western Lake Erie Basin and beyond. The efforts to date have had a real impact, but that impact has not been nearly enough to solve the problem of dangerous and costly dead zones.

We need to do much more at a much larger scale, while also increasing productivity to feed a growing population.

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged Adapt Network, ecosystems, fertilizer, fertilizer runoff, General Mills, Ohio, sustainable agriculture, Toledo, toxic algae, Walmart, water contamination, water quality, western water | Comments are closed