New version of Toledo Talk

Report on State of the Srait Conference - I attended the State of the Strait conference which concerned our main source of Lake Erie water, the Detroit River. The Detroit River gives us the lions share of new water for Lake Erie. Local and distant universities and groups have developed and monitored scores of indicators of human and biological health that reflect the overall ability of the water to support human activities and use, as well as animal and plant populations. I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear the regional U.S. EPA officals responding positively to using these indicators to adjust EPA's regulations with regard to the river and the lake. An EPA speaker claimed that the cost benefit analysis was clear, that cleaning up the water MAKES money and SAVES money for the people of Lake Erie. I found it ironic that while these honorable EPA scientists and other leaders were arguing for human health and in solid support of swimmable fishable water quality, the political appointees at the top of the EPA food chain were in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that they didn't want to regulate greenhouse gases. These same political appointees are shutting down 29 U.S. EPA regional libraries to deny the public the right to know what is in their air and water.

They argued for industry's sake, to pollute more, while these great U.S. EPA leaders, meeting in Michigan with many fellow researchers and public servants, embraced the biological indicators presented, as a future essential guide for the regulatory framework to clean up the Detroit River and our Lake Erie.

We can learn from this, but it is essential that our local universities U.T. and Bowling Green, Heidelberg, and others, engage in similar work to develop and monitor scientific indicators that EPA can sink their teeth into, indicators that political appointees at the top can't easily argue with. The Maumee River is a chemical waste and sludge dump for mega agri buisiness, and it grows worse as more CAFOs come, and more corn for ethanol comes to be planted. Corn for ethanol production increases the use of atrazine and phosphorus, increases sediemnt runoff, and will do little or nothing for CO2 levels because of the farming practices involved, and the cost benefit analysis will show that government subsidised farming of corn for ethanol makes ethanol more expensive than gas when you add the impact to the Maumee and Lake Erie and the federal handouts to farmers.

If we already have such monitoring of human health and environmental quality indicators, they need to be assembled into a single effort, and presented to EPA in a similar manner. If anyone can point such a current effort out to me it would be very helpful. Monitoring and identifying indicators of human health and the environment seem to have been key to the U.S.EPAs support of what could be a sea change in protections for the Detroit River and Lake Erie.

If there is no such work accomplished, I hope our political leaders will work with their university contacts and state/federal legislators, and other groups, to make it happen. Undergrads and masters students were called the workhorses of the effort in Michigan, they work cheap and they know what they are doing. Volunteers and high school students are essential too.

The meeting was also attended by numerous high school students and teachers who had been essential to the monitoring portion of the effort. One teacher delivered and outstanding speech detailing the importance of the effort and what it could teach us all. It was clear that his students were fortunate to have him as a teacher. He really knew the issues and was very involved in the project.

It seems important that any such effort to clean up the rivers and lakes be based on the development of biological indicators of human and environmental health, backed by researchers, students, professionals and politicians,and the U.S. EPA. Otherwise, what will change? If it works in Michigan it should work here.

We have the Maumee RAP and Duck & Otter Creek Partnership, and other groups that are also doing good work. Marcy Kaptur and others have started research to understand the dead zone in Lake Erie, but are we identifying and consistently monitoring and recording the observations of the environmental indicators that could influence the way the U.S. EPA regulates the water and air? Any information on current efforts will be greatly appreciated. I've said that twice now. :-) I have calls in to see but haven't heard back from them yet (meetings). I've tried to open the Maumee RAPs webpage but can't get it to open, perhaps its being updated.


To generate the publics will to fully protect the rivers and lakes environment, people should be able to walk the shores of the rivers and lake. The publics right to the waterfront must be restored. The entire riverfront from the I-75 bridge to the Lake has to be returned to Toledoans and the U.S. public. If its a navigable waterway, we should have a legal right to walk its shores. The installation of a seawall should not negate the publics right to walk the shores.
posted by prime3end to politics at 2:58 P.M. EST     (7 Comments)

Comments ...

hmmmm
posted by toledophisher at 04:07 P.M. EST on Mon Dec 11, 2006     #

Prime,

Help me out here with a bit of an education. Please write more about the following things:

-indicators of human and biological health that reflect the overall ability of the water to support human activities and use, as well as animal and plant populations

-Corn for ethanol production increases the use of atrazine and phosphorus, increases sediment runoff

-the dead zone in Lake Erie

-The installation of a seawall causing an interference to the public right to walk the shores

Thanks for your help.
posted by AirTrainer at 07:55 P.M. EST on Tue Dec 12, 2006     #

AirTrainer,

Here is the website which list on page 1 the biological indicators I spoke of.
http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/index.html

The definition of an indicator , from the site, is:
What is an Indicator?

An indicator is a measurable feature that provides useful information on ecosystem status, quality or trends and the factors that affect them. Examples of indicators used in this report include contaminants in fish, coastal wetland loss, reproductive success of threatened and endangered species, urban sprawl, land use changes, pollutant emissions, and many others. Indicator reporting clearly communicates ecosystem trends to policy makers and managers to aid in decision-making.

Indicators are frequently placed into three different categories to illustrate causal relationships: pressure, state, and response.

Pressure indicators describe the direct and indirect pressures, including human activities that impact the environment.

State indicators describe the physical, chemical, and biological condition of the natural world and human health and welfare.

Response indicators describe societal actions in policy or behavior undertaken to improve and protect the environment.

Policy-makers and decision-makers at all levels need timely, reliable, and relevant information on indicators for management purposes. Indicators measure progress toward management goals and objectives. From a management perspective, particular emphasis needs to be placed on quantifying targets and endpoints for management programs
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With regard to ethanol increasing runoff and so increasing sediments, atrazine, phosphorus..

A PHD at UT's Lake Erie Center lectured on making a model of sediments in the Maumee, and specifically addressed corn. The majority of atrazine in the midwest is used on corn. It grows tall, and they need to wipe out the weeds with a big dose of atrazine. The Nature of the root structure and the bald earth around the plants makes for more runoff per this lecturer. Per farmers I have spoken with, many farmers use phosphorus on corn, they feel they have to. Corn can turn purple without enough phosphorus. So there is more atrazine, more phosphorus, and more runoff which delivers these chemicals and the mud to the Maumee. 85% of the land that drains to form the Maumee is farmland. As more farmers convert to growing corn for ethanol this problem should get worse. It should also be noted that many farmers , when they have to convert to no till, will increase the amount of chemicals they use. So I don't know if that is necessaritly a cure to the problem. I've seen studies that indeed show that no till helps a lot.
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The dead zone in Lake Erie.
Its back , bigger than ever. It shrunk considerably when phosphorus was removed from laundry detergent many years ago. Now its back with a vengence. Some think its increased phosphorus from farming, some think it has to do with zebra mussels, its being studied now which is good. The dead zone is a large area in the center of the lake that is depleted of oxygen. This is pretty important when you consider the value of the lake just as a fishery for commercial and recreational fishing. Some claim that the huge concentrated animal feeding operations are contributing huge amounts of manure to the River, and that has brought back the dead zone.
Certainly the state of Ohio and the AG dept are encouraging farmers from the Netherlands, who were bought out by their own government, to start their mega CAFO dairy farms here in Ohio. They overapply the manure to fields, or so I'm told. 5000 cows generates about a million gallons of manure a year that they spread on fields that drain into the Maumee.
Manure and phosphorus and other chemicals can boost algae, and deplete oxygen.
***************************
the installation of a seawall.... I could have said this better, but the industrial "owners" of the land from the I-75 bridge to the lake, have converted the riverfront almost entirely into seawall. I doubt that once they erect a seawall and start their industrial operations, that they will allow people to walk the riverfront. Too dangerous, too polluted, liability concerns,etc. could be addressed by thoughtful design that encourages human use and their right to walk the riverfront. How many fences run right up to the river to block the way of any would-be Sunday afternoon walk along the river. Its an essential right, to walk a waterways banks, one that has plenty of obstacles currently. I am happy to see the new developments on the river embracing the idea of a commons for people to walk the riverfront. But what can be done about the rest of it? Ideas anyone?
posted by prime3end at 03:03 P.M. EST on Thu Dec 21, 2006     #

Direct Link to indicators used by the Conference:
http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/alpha-index.html
posted by prime3end at 03:07 P.M. EST on Thu Dec 21, 2006     #

Following a presentation by one of the scientists doing research on the dead zone, I can say that there's more to this phenomenon than just phosphorus. In fact, scientists believe that the structure of the bottom of the lake has more to do with the dead zone than anything and that such oxygen depletion has been ocurring for centuries.

This is not to say that such things as phosphorus do not have an impact, but eliminating all phosphorus would not solve the problem. Combined sewer overflows are actually identified as a major improvement to help with the problem.

I recommend this site for a good explanation on the dead zone.
posted by MaggieThurber at 04:39 P.M. EST on Thu Dec 21, 2006     #

Maggie thanks for the link, but if you read it, nutrient loads from man are involved, as well as invasives, and combined sewer overflows, and farm runoff will factor in at #1. I can't imagine how you read that and took from it that the shape of the lake is a big deal. The maumee delivers more sediment, several fold more than the detroit river, yet the detroit river provides Lake Erie with 90% percent of its water. The Maumee is a chemical mude sludge dump for farmers. Even government agencies are afraid to tell the whole story if it involves farmers, yet they add most of the nutrient load to the maumee and lake erie. From the link::::::

What are the causes of this condition? The dead zone occurs because bacteria use up oxygen as they decompose dead algae and other materials that have sunk to the bottom. As they use up oxygen, there is none to replace it because of the temperature and water density gradient. The central basin is unique in that the cold hypolimnion layer at the bottom is relatively small and all or nearly all of the oxygen may be used up seasonally by bacteria in the decomposition process. The Western Basin of Lake Erie is too shallow for this cold water layer to occur; plants and algae can occur throughout the water column, so decomposition can go on freely at the bottom throughout the summer without using up all the oxygen. The Eastern Basin of Lake Erie is much deeper, so it has a greater volume of cold, well-oxygenated water to use up in the short time period. The shape of the Central Basin and its many sources of nutrient inputs means that this anoxic condition could occur or has occurred seasonally each year. In fact, research has shown that this period of low oxygen in the Central Basin hypolimnion has been recorded for centuries. This condition is made worse by heavy nutrient inputs (like phosphorous and nitrogen), via rivers and other man-made sources that give rise to large blooms of both green (good) algae and blue-green (noxious) algae. Water quality agreements made in the 1970s helped reduce nutrient inputs into the lake, but increasing development pressures have led to problems with Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) and non-point source pollution from agriculture and development. Certainly human-induced effects have made this problem worse.

Why is it a problem? Exotic species like zebra and quagga mussels also change the way nutrients are cycled, and the timing of nutrient availability. Zebra mussels, and particularly quagga mussels, filter out nutrients and green algae early in the year and release fecal pellets (nutrients) late into the summer, and reject the blue green (bad) algae. This process causes more demand for decomposition and also partitions green algae (phytoplankton) that would normally be available to zooplankton, which is a good source of food for juvenile and other small fishes. Concentrations of blue green algae can lead to taste and odor problems with drinking water from the lake. The loss of oxygen in the lower layer of the lake will force aquatic life to move out of that volume of water to places that will be less than ideal for them, but they generally will still survive. One other problem that can occur is when strong winds blow the cold layer of water into shore, resulting in a rapid water temperature change and a rapid loss of dissolved oxygen which can cause a large fish kill.

What is being done about this condition? Collaborative research on the extent of the Central Basin dead zone is being conducted by the USEPA Research Vessel Lake Guardian. On-going research and sampling is being conducted by Lake Erie agencies (like our work on the Research Vessel Grandon out of Fairport Harbor). Members of the US Congress are acting on the National Invasive Species Act reauthorization, and Great Lakes agencies in the US and Canada are implementing projects to reduce CSO and non-point impacts and restore natural river corridors and wetlands.

What can we do as citizens? The best thing we can do is support legislation that aims to stop the spread of exotic aquatic nuisance species, support funding for improved treatment facilities that reduce CSO input, act responsibly by not spreading exotic species, and utilize smart land use practices that protect or improve watersheds and wetlands, minimize shoreline and streamside development, and reduce nutrient inputs and runoff. These practices include protecting vegetation along streamside setbacks for at least 50 feet, reducing or improving timing of fertilizer applications, reducing harbor and nearshore hard structures like seawalls and jetties, maintaining thickly vegetated buffer strips and retention basins adjacent to developed areas, not overtly clear-cutting areas for development and monoculture planting, and even recycling.

For more information contact us:

Fairport Harbor Fish Research Unit
Ohio DNR, Division of Wildlife
1190 High St.
Fairport Harbor, Ohio 44077

Phone: 440-352-4199
Fax: 440-352-4182
E-mail: kevin.kayle@dnr.state.oh.us
Sandusky Fish Research Unit
Ohio DNR, Division of Wildlife
305 E. Shoreline Dr.
Sandusky, Ohio 44870

Phone: 419-625-8062
Fax: 419-625-6272
E-mail: jeff.tyson@dnr.state.oh.us


Division of Wildlife information: 1-800-WILDLIFE
posted by prime3end at 06:31 P.M. EST on Sun Dec 24, 2006     #

I repeat:

This is not to say that such things as phosphorus do not have an impact, but eliminating all phosphorus would not solve the problem. Combined sewer overflows are actually identified as a major improvement to help with the problem.
posted by MaggieThurber at 09:07 A.M. EST on Tue Dec 26, 2006     #

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