Erie and Algae: The Great Zombie Lake Returns

Algal Bloom -- Kelly's Island, Lake Erie (NOAA)

Once a poster child for environmental success � brought back from near-death, no less � Lake Erie is back on the skids, awash in toxic algae.  It now veers, zombie-like, between life and death.

People in Toledo last week learned this the hard way, losing their drinking water.  That was sudden, but the story has been developing for decades, with ever-thicker algae mats nearly every summer.  And below that, a dead zone has developed across much of the lake bottom.  A similar syndrome has been seen elsewhere: the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, Lake Winnipeg, and many other water bodies downstream from humans and farms.

The main issue has been phosphorus washed in from farms, cattle feedlots and septic systems.  Phosphorus feeds production of algae blooms, which contain the toxin microcystin.  It's an expensive problem, not just in terms of loss of drinking water, but the damage done to the commercial fishing and recreational industries.

Back in the early 1970s, the last time Lake Erie was close to death, the culprit was also phosphorus.  There was no mystery  in terms of the science; the Experimental Lakes Area even provided a useful visual demonstration of the impact of too much phosphorus on lakes.  The regulatory solution was also relatively simple: cutting phosphates out of detergents, and reducing phosphorus inputs from industry and sewage plants.

ELA -- phosphorus makes the difference

But much has happened since: zebra mussels have spread throughout the Great Lakes, helping make phosphorus available to algae.  Climate change is producing heavier rains, which washes fertilizers into the lake.   And most important, success in the 1970s distracted attention from the thousands of other sources of nutrients in the Lake Erie watershed.

Back in 2002 I wrote a science-policy document for the International Association for Great Lakes Research that summarized the issue.  In 2009 the Environmental Protection Agency described the problem as "urgent".  And yet there's been little action.  It's a history that demonstrates the obstacles to action when a problem can't be solved with a technical fix.  Instead, it's rooted in the North American way of life: modern industrialized agriculture and urban sprawl.  As wicked problems go, Lake Erie toxic algae is remarkably like climate change.