Prescenzifall2014EH2000 ·

Many things have contaminated Lake Erie since the start of the industrial revolution.  Sewage, petroleum products, invasive species, algae blooms, and bacteria have plagued Lake Erie and most of the great lakes for some time and continue to now.  Today, one of the larger problems with Lake Erie is toxic algae plumes.  Often times these plumes are a result of bacteria forming from sewage being dumped into the lake either intentionally or because of flooding.  The warm weather during the summer months amplifies the amount of harmful protest, bacteria, and algae in the lake.  In fact, last year the harmful algae levels were so high, toxins from algae were actually starting to be detected in the water supply of Toledo.  Nearly 500,000 resident in the Toledo area last year were told to not drink their tap water as they could be at risk. (http://www.toledoblade.com/Featured-Editorial-Home/2014/12/04/Clean-up-Lake-Erie-for-real.html)  The algae plumes have been some what ignored by the politicians of our state with little being done.  However, recently a bill was passed to put some restrictions on how and when farmers can spread fertilizers and/or cow manure.  This bill came to be because studies are now shower that agricultural fields that have been treated with fertilizer cause a huge run off of phosphorus.  This Phosphorus than causes the algae growth to grow exponentially and cause problems as it can become toxic.  Instead of declaring the Lake Erie watershed “distressed” an action that would trigger mandatory conservation measures — the politicians involved merely called for a new definition of the condition that presumably put off action for some time and not make it a high alert issue.  This has upset many people through out the state and more legislation is in the process of being brought into law.  If nothing is done, experts have expected to only worsen in the spring and summer months this upcoming year.  Currently, high problem areas are those lake shores around larger cities like Cleveland and Toledo(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/lake-erie-algae-blooms_n_2994304.html )