The federal and
provincial governments have put $203,000 towards phosphorous-reduction
initiatives along the Thames River watershed.
Farm
organizations are contributing another $100,000.
It’s part of the
goal to reduce phosphorous content in water entering Lake Erie by 40 per cent
by 2025.
The International
Joint Commission between Canada and the United States has called for increased
efforts to reduce phosphorous because that starves algae which rob the lake of
oxygen. That impacts all other life, including fish populations, in the lake
and algae blooms foul beaches.
The aim
of the funding is to reduce phosphorous runoff from farm fields and to install cost-effective
treatment technologies in drainage channels before the water reaches the Thames
and its tributaries.
Participating
organizations and financial contributions to support the strategy have been
made by the municipality of Chatham-Kent, Grain Farmers of Ontario and its
Chatham chapter, the City of London, the Lower Thames Valley Conservation
Authority, Blue Water Pipe Inc., and the local chapters of the Ontario Federation
of Agriculture in Kent, Lambton and Middlesex.
The
strategy has also received $20,000 from the founding partners, OFA and the
cities initiative.
