Monday, January 19, 2015

U.S. takes timid steps to counter Lake Erie pollution

The United States Department of Agriculture is offering a pittance in farm subsidies aimed at reducing phosphorous pollution of Lake Erie.

There have been far greater incentives on the Canadian side, some of them for decades.

For example, the Grand River Conservation Authority has been offering manure-storage and erosion-control subsidies since 1998.

The U.S.D.A. announced Friday tht it has $17.5 million to cover farmers in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

It intends to give first priority to those whose farms are the most likely to be contributing phosphorous to Lake Erie.

It’s a voluntary program, but there is talk about banning manure spreading on frozen fields.

The department has been working with university scientists and soil experts to determine what areas they should target.

"We have hot spots," Cosby said. "We've identified all that."

Researchers have found that agriculture is the leading source of the phosphorus that feeds the algae in Lake Erie and other fresh water sources. Some researchers say as much as two-thirds comes from agriculture.

The algae blooms produce the type of toxins that contaminated the drinking water supply for Toledo and a sliver of southeastern Michigan for two days last August.


Last year a similar program for farmers in Ohio drew applications for $30 million, but only $10 million was available.