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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 14 November 2017

Toxic algae flourishes despite

vast sums spent to prevent it

Continued from Front tists say.
Government agencies
Pungent, sometimes toxic have spent billions of dol-
blobs are fouling water- lars on the problem. But an
ways from the Great Lakes Associated Press investiga-
to Chesapeake Bay, from tion found little to show for
the Snake River in Idaho their efforts:
to New York’s Finger Lakes —Levels of algae-feeding
and reservoirs in Califor- nutrients such as nitrogen
nia’s Central Valley. and phosphorus are climb-
Last year, Florida beaches ing in many lakes and
were closed when algae streams.
blooms oozed from Lake —A small minority of farms
Okeechobee. More than participate in federal pro-
100 people fell ill after grams that promote prac-
swimming in Utah’s largest tices to reduce fertilizer
freshwater lake. Pets and runoff. When more farmers
livestock have died after want to sign up, there often
drinking algae-laced wa- isn’t enough money.
ter. Oxygen-starved “dead —Despite years of re-
zones” caused by algae search, it’s debatable how
decay have increased thir- well these measures work.
ty-fold since 1960, causing Instead of ordering agri-
massive fish kills. culture to stem the flood
Algae are essential to food of nutrients, regulators usu-
chains, but these tiny plants ally seek voluntary coop-
and bacteria sometimes eration, an approach not
multiply out of control. afforded other big pollut-
Within the past decade, ers. Farmers are asked to
outbreaks have been re- take steps such as planting
ported in every state, a “cover crops” to reduce “tremendous” results but tion-prevention measures Devine, senior attorney for
trend likely to accelerate off-season erosion — often acknowledged only about and pays up to 75 percent the Natural Resources De-
with global warming. with taxpayer subsidies. 6 percent of the nation’s of their costs. fense Council. “Clearly the
“It’s a big, pervasive threat The U.S. Natural Resources roughly 2 million farms are An AP analysis shows the existing system isn’t work-
that we as a society are Conservation Service, part enrolled at any time. agency paid out more ing.”
not doing nearly enough to of the Department of Ag- In response to a Freedom than $1.8 billion between Farmers say they can ac-
solve,” said Don Scavia, a riculture, says it has spent of Information Act request, 2009 and 2016 to share complish more on their
University of Michigan envi- more than $29 billion on the agency provided data costs for 45 practices tar- own than by following gov-
ronmental scientist. voluntary programs since about its biggest spending geting runoff. ernment dictates.
Many monster blooms are 2009. initiative, the Environmental A total of $2.5 billion was “There’s enough rules al-
triggered by an overload Jimmy Bramblett, deputy Quality Incentives Program, pledged during the peri- ready,” said John Weiser, a
of agricultural fertilizers in chief for programs, told AP or EQIP, which contracts od. Of that, $51 million was third-generation dairyman
warm, calm waters, scien- the efforts had produced with farmers to use pollu- for farmers in the water- with 5,000 cows in Wiscon-
shed flowing into western sin.
Lake Erie, where fisherman The Environmental Protec-
Steele was sickened. Yet tion Agency says indirect
the lake’s largest bloom on runoff from agriculture and
record appeared in 2015, other sources, such as ur-
blanketing 300 square miles ban lawns, is now the big-
— the size of New York City. gest source of U.S. water
The previous year, an algae pollution. But a loophole
toxin forced a two-day tap in the Clean Water Act of
water shutdown for more 1972 prevents the govern-
than 400,000 customers in ment from regulating run-
Toledo, Ohio. off as it does sewage and
The type of phosphorus fu- industrial waste.
eling the algae outbreak Without economic conse-
has doubled in western quences for runoff, farmers
Lake Erie tributaries since have an incentive to use all
EQIP started in the mid- the fertilizer needed to pro-
1990s, according to re- duce the highest yield, said
searcher Laura Johnson of Mark Clark, a University of
Ohio’s Heidelberg Univer- Florida ecologist. “There’s
sity. nothing that says, ‘For ev-
Many experts say limiting ery excessive pound I put
runoff is the only way to rein on, I’ll have to pay a fee.’
Algae covers the surface of Maumee River at the mouth of Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio. The type in rampaging algae. There’s no stick.”
of phosphorus fueling the algae outbreak has doubled in western Lake Erie tributaries since “We’ve had decades of Some states have rules.
the Environmental Quality Incentives Program started in the mid-1990s, according to research approaching this issue But they mostly avoid chal-
scientist Laura Johnson of Ohio’s Heidelberg University. Scientists estimate about 85 percent of the largely through a volun- lenging the powerful agri-
Maumee’s phosphorus comes from croplands and livestock operations. tary framework,” said Jon culture industry.q
(DroneBase via AP)