TOLEDO — Ohio, Michigan and Ontario, Canada will join together to reduce phosphorus runoff that has led to algal blooms in Lake Erie, according to Dispatch.com.
The harmful blooms have created dead zones in which fish cannot live, noted the article. They have also contaminated drinking water.
The states have agreed to cut the flow of phosphorous into the lake by 40 percent over the next 10 years, stated the article.
Algae growth has been linked to phosphorus from farm fertilizers, livestock manure and sewage treatment plants, reported the article. An August algae outbreak affected drinking water supplies for more than 400,000 people.
Officials have developed a plan to combat the issue, shared the article. They will begin by reducing the runoff by 20 percent in the next five years.
“No one state owns the lake or the whole problem, nor can one state fix it,” said Craig Butler, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, in the article.
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