COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio will receive nearly $7.5 million as its share of funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intended to battle harmful algae blooms like the one that caused a water emergency in Toledo in August.
Grants totaling over $8.6 million are being distributed to Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to fund eight projects targeting algal blooms in western Lake Erie, said EPA regional administrator and Great Lakes national program manager Susan Hedman.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will get about $5.9 million and the state EPA will receive $1.5 million from the Great Lake Restoration Initiative, Hedman said. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Indiana’s Department of Agriculture will receive a combined $1.2 million.
The money will pay for the state to provide technical assistance and incentives to farmers in western Lake Erie watersheds to reduce phosphorus runoff that contributes to harmful algal blooms and I improve methods of measuring phosphorus loads in Lake Erie tributaries.
“I am especially pleased to see resources directed toward sampling and monitoring in tributaries leading to Lake Erie. We need a better picture of where conservation strategies and infrastructure improvements can be most effectively used to stop runoff and protect our waters,” said U.S. Rep Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) who was on hand for the announcement.
State and federal officials decided in September that $12 million would be made available from the GLRI to pay for projects identified during meetings in August, after nearly a half million people in the Toledo area were banned from using their tap water for nearly three days.
The $8.6 million announced Monday will be administered by the state agencies while the federal government will implement the rest.
Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who has requested additional resources from the EPA to combat algae in Ohio’s freshwater lakes, called the move a step forward.
“Harmful algal blooms remain an issue across the state and more still needs to be done to protect communities like those around Buckeye Lake and Harsha Lake, which are struggling with harmful algal bloom problems of their own,” he said.
The city of Toledo issued a “Do Not Drink” order for almost 500,000 people in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan for more than two days in early August when a water treatment plant was contaminated by microcystin, a toxin generated by a harmful algal bloom at the mouth of the Maumee River.
The algal blooms also contribute to low-oxygen “dead zones” in the deeper waters of Lake Erie.