Ask your local government to adopt a Lake Erie Resolution..
Sample Resolution Requesting Reductions in Lake Erie Nutrients/Algae
Sample by Lake Erie Improvement Association, Sandy Bihn 419-691-3788
Full Text of the Draft Resolution
WHEREAS Lake Erie is the Walleye and Migratory Bird Capital of the world and supports over 100,000 jobs and
over $10 billion to the economy.
WHEREAS in 2011 Lake Erie experienced the largest algal bloom in recorded history; and,
WHEREAS Lake Erie is drinking water for over 11 million people; and,
WHEREAS Lake Erie is the 12th largest freshwater lake in the world and supplies over half the consumable fish
in the Great Lakes; and,
WHEREAS Lake Erie contributes over 10,000 jobs and over $10 billion to Ohio’s economy; and,
WHEREAS the algae in Lake Erie is having an adverse impact on tourism, fishing, boating and shoreline
property values; and,
WHERAS Ohio has taken definitive action on an algae problem in Grand Lake St. Marys with the expenditure of
millions of dollars and special regulatory requirements with the ban of fertilizer, manure and other applications
on frozen ground with the designation of a distressed watershed with similar action needed for Lake Erie; and,
WHEREAS research shows that over 80% of the phosphorous to Lake Erie is from the Detroit and Maumee
Rivers; and
WHEREAS the Detroit wastewater plant is the single largest wastewater plant in the U.S. serving over 3 million
people in 76 communities and processing about 650 million gallons of sewage daily and with a 2011 record 45
billion gallons of combined sewer overflows in 2011, and over 20,000 tons of sewage sludge disposed of in the
Detroit and Rouge Rivers, and regularly discharging over 5% of the phosphorous to Lake Erie with a permit up
for review in 2012; and,
WHEREAS the Toledo Shipping channel is the most dredging channel in the Great Lakes with up to one million
cubic yards dredged annually with almost all open lake dumped since 2003 causing turbidity and the
resuspension of nutrient rich sediments; and
WHEREAS the practice of applying fertilizer including manure to frozen ground contributes to the nutrients in
Lake Erie; and
WHEREAS Lake Erie is resilient, and with nutrient reductions, can recover quickly because western Lake Erie,
where the algae blooms originate, turns over every 30 – 45 days and the rest of Lake Erie every 2.6 years;
and,
WHERAS some of the Lake Erie algae is toxic and threatens animal and public health when coming in contact
with the algae; and,
WHERAS the algae adds significant costs to water intake treatment for drinking water; and,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
1.
That the State of Ohio lead the efforts to solve the growing algae problem in Lake Erie by:
participating in the Detroit Wastewater permit in 2012; seek an end to the practice of open lake
dumping of dredged Toledo shipping channel sediments; provide the same ban on fertilizer application
on frozen ground in the Lake Erie watershed as was done on Grand Lake St. Marys; and provide
consistent phosphorous limits for agriculture and manure in soil samples.
2.
Total Maimum Daily Load for Nutrients(TMDL) be conducted in western Lake Erie and that continuous
monitoring be conducted in Lake Erie and at the outfalls of the Detroit, Maumee, Sandusky, Cuyahoga,
Raisin, Portage, and other Lake Erie Rivers with frequent phosphorous monitoring.
3.
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be sent to Governor Kasich and members
of the Ohio, southeastern Michigan legislature and the elected governance in Ontario, Canada.