Don’t give up the ship in new battle for Lake Erie

Two hundred AND three years ago, skilled Commander Oliver Hazard Perry valiantly led a rugged U.S. naval fleet to defeat Great Britain in one of the biggest and most decisive conflicts of the War of 1812, namely the Battle of Lake Erie.

Two hundred and three years later, Ohio is playing a commanding role in a new battle over Lake Erie – the fight to keep the shallowest of North America’s five Great Lakes a safe, clean and lucrative asset for our state and our neighbors.

That battle will be neither short nor easy. But it is a battle around which the Buckeye State, other states bordering the lake and Ontario, Canada, must unite with a firm and lasting resolve to win.

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

A clear and present danger lurks in the freshwater lake that must be repelled, but the immediate outlook for victory remains grim and daunting. That’s because Lake Erie will experience one of the most severe toxic algae-bloom outbreaks in recent years this summer, seriously threatening public health, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted earlier this month.

Algae blooms – linked to phosphorus from farm fertilizers, livestock manure and sewage treatment plants – have taken their toll on the lake over the last decade and colored some of its waters a putrid shade of green that looks like pea soup.

Unfortunately, that sickening look does not deceive.

Last summer, algae-bloom toxins in the lake fouled the water supply of about 500,000 people in and near Toledo, making it undrinkable for two days. In addition, algae blooms have been blamed for contributing to oxygen- deprived dead zones where fish and other marine life can’t survive.

This summer’s dire NOAA forecast has been triggered by unusually heavy spring and early summer rains, including a June precipitation level ranked as the third-highest in history in the Mahoning Valley and other parts of Northeast Ohio. The heavier the rain, the heavier the runoff of phosphate pollutants from farm fertilizers that take life-depriving root in the lake and other waterways.

ACTION AND ENFORCEMENT

Fortunately, last summer’s crisis in the Toledo area precipitated Ohio legislators to act. Three months ago, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed into law legislation that prohibits farmers from spreading manure on frozen or saturated agricultural fields and requires no more dumping of dredged sediment into Lake Erie within five years. Ohio also acted last year in the immediate aftermath of the Toledo crisis to enact stricter regulations on the use of phosphate-filled fertilizers. It is now up to state regulators to ensure such provisions are sufficient and are stringently enforced.

Additionally, Ohio’s neighbors that share the bounty of Lake Erie – Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ontario – must also share in the crusade to ensure restoration of its purity. A compact among those entities must work united toward that shared goal.

Still more, however, must be accomplished. In addition to fertilizer runoff, the blooms also have been triggered by wastewater and septic runoff. One need only look in our own backyard at the closing of Lakes Newport, Cohasset and Glacier in Mill Creek Park to understand the tragedy of that long-ignored hazard. Therefore any battle plan for ridding the lake of its toxins also must include sanitary improvements to wastewater treatment plants to ensure they bypass bodies of water critical to the region’s health and economy.

None of this will be easy or cheap. But Lake Erie is far too important to the health and livelihood of some 35 million people to let this ticking environmental time bomb explode. Erie and its sister Great Lakes support tourism and fishing industries, which generate an estimated $7 billion in economic activity annually.

Ohio and its allies in this battle would be wise to heed the words of Commander Perry, uttered before his resounding victory on Lake Erie in 1812. He boldly pronounced, “Don’t give up the ship. We have met the enemy and they are ours.”

Such similar conviction and commitment will be needed to conquer the environmental enemy now threatening the future of Lake Erie, one of our region’s most precious and vital natural resources.