Tag Archives: phosphorus

Polluted water flowing into Tampa Bay could cause massive algae bloom, risking manatee and fish habitats

Millions of gallons of water laced with fertilizer ingredients are being pumped into Florida’s Tampa Bay from a leaking reservoir at an abandoned phosphate plant at Piney Point. As the water spreads into the bay, it carries phosphorus and nitrogen – nutrients that under the right conditions can fuel dangerous algae blooms that can suffocate sea grass beds and kill fish, dolphins and manatees. It’s the kind of risk no one wants to see, but officials believed the other options were worse. >click to read< 18:38

Dairy farms taking a toll on Great Lakes, waterways

On an August weekend in 2009, campers in the Port Huron State Game Area began to realize there was something terribly wrong with the Black River. They were finding dead fish floating on the river’s surface. Eventually, the cause of the fish kill was traced to an excessive application of liquid cow manure at Noll Dairy Farm in Croswell. State officials said the discharge affected more than 20 miles of the river and killed about 218,000 fish. With blue-green algae blooms becoming a part of summer in Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, concern is growing that nutrients — including those from cow manure and from large operations with more than 700 milk-producing animals — could be a long-term problem as farmers look for places to put cow waste. Read the rest here 10:29

A collaborative approach to Chesapeake Bay restoration

Today, pollution threatens all of the recent progress we’ve made at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. At risk is not only the ecosystem’s survival, but also a way of life for so many. Despite successful pollution reduction efforts, excessive nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from runoff also still contribute to harmful algal blooms, “dead zones” and loss of underwater grasses. continued @ tidewaternews.com