Ohio moves forward with strategy to combat Lake Erie’s algae
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s government agencies will spend the next year looking closely at hotspots that are contributing to Lake Erie’s algae blooms and developing a monitoring network.
The work is part of the state’s strategy finalized this past week to attack the algae that has become an increasing threat to drinking water.
Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario along with Ohio signed a deal in 2015 to make a 40 percent reduction over the next decade in the phosphorus runoff feeding the algae.
Ohio’s plan calls for using the next year to identify priority watersheds and develop reduction targets for those areas that are the source of large amounts of phosphorus.
The state also will try to find ways to cut phosphorus discharges at 30 wastewater treatment plants in northwestern Ohio.