There was quite a stir this week in Toledo with news regarding the Lucas County commissioners’ sponsorship of a website identifying “hotspots” in the Western Lake Erie Basin watershed for nutrient loading. The Western Lake Erie Basin Nutrient Sources Inventory is described as a “mapping tool that identifies causes of impairment and potential pollutant sources that need to be controlled to achieve desired nutrient load reductions.”
The tool reshuffled existing data and offered a new platform for old arguments about the role of agriculture in the Lake Erie’s water quality woes. From a related story on Toledo’s 13abc.com this week:
This summer was the third largest algal bloom outbreak in the history of Lake Erie.
It was so bad, algae backed up into the Maumee River in downtown Toledo.
The city and Lucas County are spending hundreds of millions of dollars fixing sewer and storm water runoff that dumps into the lake.
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