With all the news reports on people running out of water in
Toledo and flooding regional stores buying every gallon of bottled water on the
shelves, there is no mentioning about what caused this alarming pollution of
Toledo’s water supply. This information, however, is crucial to prevent worse
from coming!
The toxin producing cyanobacterium Microcystis is NOT growing due to Detroit’s waste water – as a WTOL
reporter misleadingly reported, but because of massive amounts of fertilizer,
especially phosphates, entering through the rivers Raisin and Maumee.
The major source of this fertilizer is agriculture, especially large monocultures of corn, which requires large amount of fertilizers that are often applied in excess and at the wrong time of year. In addition, many farmers ignore the recommendations for buffer zones around drains and creeks and other recommended measures to minimize fertilizer runoff. (1, 2)
The major source of this fertilizer is agriculture, especially large monocultures of corn, which requires large amount of fertilizers that are often applied in excess and at the wrong time of year. In addition, many farmers ignore the recommendations for buffer zones around drains and creeks and other recommended measures to minimize fertilizer runoff. (1, 2)
But we also have to consider another player behind this
water crisis that is big business in Lenawee County and the surrounding areas
in Michigan and Ohio. These are CAFOs (Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations)
housing 1000s of dairy cows, swine, and poultry producing so much waste that
the operators often have to get rid of it improperly as shown in the increasing
number of violations confirmed by the Michigan DEQ (3).
The animal waste adds to the agricultural fertilizer runoff
and over-fertilizes the “algae” (cyanobacteria) in Lake Erie that in return
produce toxins poisoning our drinking water.
When will we wake up from our slumber of oblivion and
realize that we are sawing off the very limb that we are sitting on?
Sources:
(1)
Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring System of The
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences: http://www2.nccos.noaa.gov/coast/lakeerie/bulletin/bulletin_current.pdf
(2)
Michalak AM, Anderson EJ, Beletsky D, Boland S,
Bosch NS, Bridgeman TB, Chaffin JD, Cho K, Confesor R, Daloğlu I et al. . 2013.
Record-setting algal bloom in Lake Erie caused by agricultural and
meteorological trends consistent with expected future conditions. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/28/1216006110.abstract
(3)
Confirmed Violations/Discharges from CAFOs and
Liquid-System Livestock Operations to Bean/Tiffin Watershed and River Raisin
Watershed: http://nocafos.org/violations.htm
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