By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH

Indiana Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The outbreak of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Lake Erie in 2017 was the fourth-worst since tracking began 15 years ago, according to the director of The Ohio State University’s Stone Lab.

Blooms in 2015 were the worst, followed by 2011 and 2013, Christopher Winslow said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been scoring the severity of the blooms since 2002.

HABs can be caused by runoff from farm fields, wastewater treatment plants, fertilizer from lawns, septic tanks and combined sewer overflow, he explained. With 70 percent of the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) in agriculture, farmers should understand their role in cleaning the lake, noted Winslow, also director of the Ohio Sea Grant College program.

“Farmers are going to have to do a heavier lift,” he said. “Some are doing an amazing job. The time, effort and monetary investment are more on farmers.”

Support from producers to make improvements runs the gamut, he explained. “Most of them want to do the right thing. About a third of farmers are already using best management practices, another third are ready and willing but want or need more information. The last third think they’re not a part of the problem, or know they are but they’re not going to do anything about it.”

For producers who want to decrease phosphorus runoff from their fields, there are several options, such as blind inlets, two-stage ditches, cover crops and grass waterways and wetlands, he said.

In 2015, officials in Michigan, Ohio and Ontario, Canada, signed an agreement calling for a 40 percent reduction in phosphorus entering the lake by 2025. It also seeks a 20 percent decrease by 2020. The 40 percent reduction would be from 2008 load levels.

“When talking about the 40 percent reduction, they’re not looking at the size of the bloom but the amount of phosphorus going down 40 percent,” Winslow said. “That’s the number we want to reduce.”

Indiana isn’t part of the agreement but the state is committed to reaching the same goals, said Jordan Seger, director of the Division of Soil Conservation, with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

“In Indiana, when it comes to conservation on agricultural land and reduction in nonpoint source pollutants, we rely on a voluntary approach,” he noted. “We feel we’re seeing progress in that area.

“In 2016, we saw record investment in conservation practices. More than $13 million was spent on new conservation practices statewide. We’re seeing a commitment, we’re seeing an investment. We feel the voluntary approach, with the right science and data, is the direction we need to go.”

Indiana is looking to implement continuous water monitoring in the WLEB, Seger said. Officials want the infrastructure in place to be able to monitor the impact of various practices.

“We’re moving (toward monitoring), but we’re not at the end of the road yet,” Seger explained. “We need to continuously monitor. We’ve got to capture the storm events. We want the ability to be able to say we achieved that 40 percent. If we see dramatic reduction at one point (in the watershed), we want to find out what the farmers there are doing. We want to share that with the rest of the world.”

The cost of such monitors, including technicians to collect water samples and to calibrate the equipment, is in the six figures, he said. The state is looking at funding opportunities.

Monitoring is important because rainfall events impact algal formation, Seger said. “Farmers can do everything correct and if they get a 50-year, 100-year storm event, especially after applying fertilizer and nutrients, they’re going to have movement. I wish we could regulate rainfall. That would solve a lot of issues.”

Even if farmers do everything right, legacy phosphorus – that which is stored or embedded in a stream bed or lake bottom for decades – could be a factor in reaching that 40 percent reduction, he said. A flood event or dredging could help the legacy phosphorus disburse back into the water, and eventually into Lake Erie.

“If we’ve got a lot of legacy phosphorus, it’s going to really affect that final number,” he said. “It’s an unknown variable.”

Winslow said any decrease in phosphorus entering the lake should impact the HABs. “If you shut off the source of phosphorus, the bloom is gone that year,” he noted. “If you see a reduction in phosphorus and rain, you should see an incremental decrease in blooms each year.”

Indiana will be working to get out its message, “Small changes, big impact,” in upcoming months, Seger said. “We continue to do good things on the farm. We’re going to continue to work to get infrastructure in place to be transparent. We’re really hoping 40 percent is that magic number.”