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Strategic plan targets invasive species
The Superior Daily Telegram (11/17)
Douglas County’s Land Conservation Committee is forwarding a plan to the county board that takes aim at invasive species.
Mich. Clean Marina Program: Public-private partners work together to improve water quality
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/9)
Partners from the public and private sector in Michigan are working together in a voluntary program to improve the quality of the Great Lakes.
Researchers seek funding for wind test site in Lake Michigan
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/7)
In a recent article in The Muskegon Chronicle, it was reported that researchers at Grand Valley State University’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) cited a lack of year-around data (on wind platform testing) needed by prospective development companies.
COMMENTARY: Senate needs to pass clean energy act to help Michigan
The Grand Rapids Press (10/26)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was absolutely correct with his recent proclamation about the current condition of the Great Lakes State: "The State of Michigan," Reid declared from the Senate Floor, with a copy Time Magazine in his hand, "is in trouble."
First Nation women 'walk the environmental talk'
WeNews (10/23)
Tomorrow's global day of climate activism aims for media and political attention. First Nation women have another way. Since 2003, they've walked the shoreline of a Great Lake or major river, meditating on the needs of an unborn generation.
City making big push for water school
The Business Journal (10/23)
The push is on to convince the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that the best location for its new School of Freshwater Sciences is near the university’s existing Great Lakes Water Institute on East Greenfield Avenue.
What's going on in your neighborhood this month? Meet other people and learn together at recreational and educational events! Our new dynamic calendar is updated daily with current educational events.
What caused the eutrophication of Lake Erie?
from Allen in Wildwood, NJ, Age 15
The eutrophication of a body of water occurs when too many nutrients (in the case of Lake Erie, phosphorous is to blame) become dissolved in the water.
Although nutrients can be helpful to the ecosystem of the Great Lakes in general, there is a delicate balance that must be upheld. Too much of any one substance (or group of substances) can cause toxic contamination and -- as with Lake Erie -- rapid aging and filling in of the lake from the overgrowth of algae. This causes the depletion (lack of) oxygen, which is needed by the lifeforms in the lake to survive.
Eutrophication can be caused by runoff water carrying fertilizers and other organic wastes into a lake or by direct point source pollution, such as the dumping of seawge.
Related references:
TEACH: Water pollution in the Great Lakes
TEACH: Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs)
GLIN: Lake Erie
Thank you for your question!
Answered on August 3, 2001