Dayton "Dirt" Green Blog - December 1, 2010

In a recent Akron Beacon Journal article, Bob Downing reported of a proliferation of toxic algae blooms on Lake Erie and in various Ohio inland lakes and ponds.
In Ohio are seven native species of algae that produce toxins.

One such toxin is called microcystin which is a known nerve toxin. At high enough levels the toxin can sicken or even kill humans and animals as such was the case this year in Ohio with 29 people sickened and three dogs killed.

There is a moderate risk to those who use waterways for recreational purposes when levels of microcystin are at levels of between 10 and 20 parts per billon.

The biggest problem is with bodies of water used for swimming and those used for municipal water supplies.

Only once, very low levels of the toxin were found in Akron’s city water supply as the water department’s carbon filters remove any of the algae toxins.

The algae problem could not exist without phosphorus from animal manures, farm runoff and lawn fertilizers according to Dr. David Boher of Heidelberg University’s National Center for Water Quality Research.

Recently, many lawn fertilizer manufacturers have greatly reduced or totally removed phosphorus from their new product formulation.

I suspect that as more and more problems become associated with water runoff loaded with fertilizer that the industry believes that EPA regulation is very near.

Another possible scenario too is the escalating cost of phosphorus that has seen prices triple or more since last spring!

At least from lawn fertilizers, the resultant phosphorus runoff problems will largely be cleaned up from a much more limited use of the element just as when phosphates were removed from detergents years ago.

Riparian buffers along creeks and streams will help to reduce polluted runoff from lawns and farms as these buffers act like a filtration system.

As of now, I know of no EPA regulation (state or federal) that limits phosphorus use; however, the lawn fertilizer industry appears to be regulating itself very rapidly.

Water polluted with toxic algae caused by phosphorus runoff is a problem we cannot afford and one which can and will be corrected either from market forces due to the now high cost of phosphorus or government mandates to reduce phosphorus runoff.