The Great lakes in the northeastern United States have always been a source of water. People have used them from every thing from transporting logs in the older days, to fishing and recreation up until now. They are one of the most beautiful water sources in our country and it is hard to imagine what it would be like without them. At times in the past they have become quite polluted, but many efforts have been made to clean them up, among them Lake Erie.



This year there has been a much larger than normal blossoming of algae in Lake Erie. It is really thick in places and is becoming a real nuisance in many ways. It has interfered with fishing, swimming, and boating and those are the good points. It is what it is doing to fish and to humans that has people really worried.

It would seem that phosphorus is one of the things that is causing it to grow so rapidly. It appears that the lawn and plant fertilizers that we use on lawn and flowers is eventually making its way into Lake Erie and giving the algae a big boost in growth. Not exactly what lawn lovers had in mind, but then there are often unwanted side affects of things that we initially though were a good idea.

This particular type of algae is deadly to fish and some small animals. It smells bad and can give the water an unpleasant taste. Apparently even killing it does not stop all of the bad consequences of this blue green algae species. It is not toxic to humans, but it can give them a rash.

Some water utilities are spending thousands of dollars daily to try and kill off the algae, but it does not seem to be eradicating the problem very quickly. Even when the algae is dead, as it decomposes it uses up oxygen and causes what is known as oxygen free dead zone that can help kill off fish.

These kinds of water problems are making one thing abundantly clear to us. We have to do something about all of the toxic things that are put in the water. We know that steps have been taken to clean up the pollution that has already been dumped into the water, but what about the stuff that is still allowed to get in there? Remember when you were kids and you did not want to swim in water kids are peeing in? Well, that is equivalent to what is being allowed to be dumped in the water we have to not only swim in, but drink as well. How gross is that?