CLEVELAND, Ohio - One of the wettest Junes on record has dumped some of the largest loads of phosphorus ever recorded into the Maumee River, raising the prospect of another huge toxic algae bloom this summer in Lake Erie's western basin.
"We're not looking at a mild event here," said Rick Stumpf, an oceanographer and algae bloom specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "This has been an especially soggy June."
Farmers in Northwest Ohio spread manure on their fields prior to planting corn and soybeans. Heavy rainfall carries phosphorus and nitrogen from the manure into the Maumee River, providing nutrients for toxic algae blooms that have flourished in the lake for the past 20 years.
Last summer's algae bloom contaminated Toledo's drinking water, forcing the shut-down of the city's public drinking-water system.
Phosphorus discharge records have been kept in Ohio since 1930. The largest discharge to date was recorded in 1981, Stumpf said.
"But we're closing in on it," Stumpf said.
NOAA's algae bloom forecast will be released July 9.
Last summer's algae bloom wasn't as large as the blooms in 2011 and 2013. Problems arose, however, after prevailing winds kept the bloom concentrated near Toledo's water intake pipes, sending toxic microcystis cells into the water treatment plant, which the facility was unprepared to handle.
"Will the next bloom shut down another drinking water facility? I don't know," said Kristy Meyer, the Ohio Environmental Council's managing director of agricultural & clean water programs. "But why should we stand for harmful algae blooms polluting our lake? We shouldn't put up with it."
Meyer is critical of state officials for seeking to cure the symptoms instead of the cause of the problems: phosphorus run-off from agricultural fields.
Many farmers apply manure to their fields judiciously, they've enrolled in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and have obtained fertilizer-application certifications, Meyer said. But others are negligent in testing their soil, causing them to over-apply nutrients to their fields. And there is spotty enforcement of the certification regulations, she said.
"This is the way they were taught to farm," Meyer said. "We don't have a good handle on how much manure is being applied. It's all about how much is needed and applying the manure in the right location."
Beginning July 1, farmers in the western basin can apply for a chunk of $17.5 million in federal money, which is earmarked for planting cover crops and installing drainage-control structures designed to keep algae-feeding pollutants out of Lake Erie.
Other measures the farmers can use the money for include planting more trees, creating more buffer strips and taking measures to grow affordable food without upping the algae-forming nutrient content of Northwest Ohio streams and rivers.
The Farm Bill money is available through a consortium of agricultural officials from Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana who are part of what's called the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.