Over the course of my fall semester at Champlain College, I participated in a semester long group project where myself and five other group members researched and got on-site tours related to the algae and nutrient pollution problems in Lake Champlain. The final components of the project were both a individual reflective research essay, and a professional poster session. Our poster, shown below, came in first place for the poster session judging. Below I am also sharing with you my research paper, enjoy!
Individual Reflective Analysis: Algal blooms in Lake Champlain
Water has become a historical pinpoint for the development of societies and communities. Significant bodies of water provide the majority of natural resources to the city(ies) or town(s) that inhabit them. At approximately 490 square miles, Lake Champlain is the sixth largest fresh water lake in the United States. Providing for communities from the Missiquoi Bay in Southern Quebec, Canada, to Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburg, New York, Lake Champlain has become highly recognized as a valued water resource (Lake Champlain Vacations, LLC). Though fresh water bodies as big as Lake Champlain face numerous environmental issues, one particular phenomenon has become more widespread in the 16 years. Algal blooms are essentially the result of excess nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that come into the water typically via fertilizers applied to the land and farm areas. The fertilizers and excess nutrients that enter the watersheds through runoff eventually end up in the lake, and once they have infiltrated the water they cause algae to grow disproportionately. This overgrowth of algae sucks dissolved oxygen out of the aquatic environment, causing many fish and animal populations to die out, and in extreme conditions release toxins (Science Daily). The specific issues regarding algal blooms in Lake Champlain can be analyzed through the categories of history, science, policy, and ethics. To understand the relevance of this issue in the local Burlington area, let us first examine history.
Vermont has always valued their history in the culture of farming. Unfortunately for water quality, as conventional farming and mass scale agriculture became the common practice, water quality and water use has been degraded as a result. After World War II, farmers began this process of conventional farming, which consisted of new processes for soil property, the use of herbicides, and less manual labor as machinery increased. The reasons conventional farming was so prominent after the war is typically associated with the fact that after the war, there was a surplus of chemicals that the military was then able to sell to American farmers. American farmers were willing to use these chemicals once the discovery was made that the use of chemicals could easily double and triple their crop yields, cut their costs, and reduce their manual labor. This process of conventional farming externalized the costs of farming into the environment, unknown to many farmers at the time (James H. Maroney).
Another common result of conventional agriculture was rural economic decay. The farming was moving from rural areas into the urban areas where the food needed to be supplied to. For the amount of people the rural farmers were feeding, they were not being properly compensated, causing a shift in wealth. This lack in wealth is most likely what caused the degradation of resources; especially water, because of inability to afford small-scale organic farming methods. Specifically in Burlington, the development and population increase were the biggest contributors to the degradation of water quality. In 1860 alone, the agricultural census showed that there were about 111 farms in Burlington with their major produce being cheese and butter (University of Vermont). However, land use in Burlington was altered once it became incorporated as a city in 1865. Burlington lost nearly 10,400 acres of low flat land to South Burlington in the split and with it a majority of its farmland. In the 1870 Agricultural Census Burlington had 54 farms left, half of their number in 1860. It was notable that the individual values of the farms had increased. Land in Burlington was then a commodity (University of Vermont). Because the number of farms was reduced, the significance of those left became a high priority and the local government did as much as they could to reduce the water regulations and costs to Burlington farmers.
To this day Vermont still exports 95% of the goods we produce with farming. The issues regarding water quality were unfortunately encouraged by the government and the push to produce as much food as possible, rather than supplying food for simply the local populations sustainably. Some examples of how the government and politics failed to properly address water quality in regards to farming come in the form of legislation. The main goal of the government was to make sure the people were constantly fed, by making food cheaper to buy and produce. In this case the proper nutrients were not always being met. As part of the Use Value Appraisal Program of 1978, farmers were relieved of property tax, so that they could continue to use mass amounts of land and resources to make the amounts of food the government desired (James H. Maroney). This constant push to make food quicker at a cheaper cost is what has resulted in the increase in herbicide and fertilizer use. NPK fertilizer (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) was a main ingredient in the shift to conventional agriculture. Currently, 600 conventional dairy farmers will use approximately 40,000 tons of NPK each year, that’s a lot of runoff of nutrients that will end up in the lake (James H. Maroney). Overall it was the transition from small-scale farming to conventional agriculture that brought about the beginning of the water quality issues that relate to algal blooms. Once these nutrients have entered the water through runoff, scientifically how do algal blooms occur?
The realization of toxic danger from algal blooms in Lake Champlain came about in 1999 when two dogs died after being exposed to the bloom’s toxins. The main sources of nutrients that contribute to algal blooms typically come from sewage, atmospheric deposition, and groundwater flow, as well as agricultural and aquaculture runoff and discharge (Anderson, Glibert and Burkholder). In Lake Champlain, the avid farming culture makes agricultural runoff one of the top contributors. Scientific studies have proven that there is a strong correlation between total phosphorus inputs and phytoplankton production in freshwaters, and between total nitrogen input and phytoplankton production in estuarine and marine waters (Anderson, Glibert and Burkholder). Lake Champlain, being a large freshwater body, experiences mostly phosphorus as an excessive nutrient contributing to phytoplankton and algae over-production. New York being on the other side of Lake Champlain is also a contributor to the nutrient pollution. Algal blooms are no longer simply an issue in a couple of states. In a report from May 2013-September 2013, the National Wildlife Federation found that in New York alone there were 50 toxic algal blooms recorded. Other states such as Kansas with 18, Washington with 12, and Iowa with 10 experienced this problem with severity, and the list goes on much farther (Guilford). The excess phosphorus nutrients have also been shown to attribute to a shift in species composition, affecting the ecology of the lake as well.
With better understanding of strategies within different groups of species as to how these species acquire their nutrients, alternate modes of nutrition are also becoming recognized among harmful algal bloom species (Anderson, Glibert and Burkholder). We are now also more aware of the climate conditions that contribute most to algal blooms. The scientific conditions and weather temperatures that promote the blooming of algae in Lake Champlain have been observed as warm and calm weather, often in the summer months: mid-July through August. The blooms are also more common in the shallower, warmer bays of the lake. This warm water climate with the presence of sunlight is what encourages Cyanobacteria to form. Cyanobacteria, informally known as blue-green algae, are what cause toxins to be released into the water, and potentially harm humans and animals (Lake Champlain Basin Program). Ranging from microscopic, single-celled organisms to large seaweeds, algae are simple plants that form the base of food webs and it is only a small percentage of algal species that contribute and produce those harmful toxins that can kill fish, mammals, and birds, and may cause human illness (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Now that we are more aware of the scientific process of algal blooms, how does policy relate to the attempts at controlling cyanobacteria and nutrient pollution?
The policy involved in algal blooms from Lake Champlain can be categorized into federal, state, and local areas of political regulation and involvement. At the federal level, the United States Environmental Protection Agency is mainly responsible for the regulation of nutrients under the under the Clean Water Act of 1972. Within the Clean Water Act, the EPA requires a TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) plan for specific instances of pollution. TMDL is “a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that load among the various sources of that pollutant” (United States Environmental Protection Agency). Programs set by the EPA are then over-turned to the state government for implementation.
The EPA has created a specific TMDL for Lake Champlain to address the excess phosphorus nutrient levels. The state of Vermont is responsible for implementing TMDLs, and because they have failed to meet their goal from a 2002 TMDL, the EPA has prepared new TMDLs in collaboration with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. The new TMDL plan has just been implemented in October of 2015 and the EPA will continue to monitor the state of Vermont’s progress in reducing phosphorus levels in Lake Champlain (United States Environmental Protection Agency).
Locally, we find the most difficulty with the regulations of these new standards for amount of nutrients allowed in TMDLs, however the involvement of the local community and facilities could be the most important section of policy. Local wastewater treatment facilities in Burlington and South Burlington are going to be held accountable for reducing nutrient levels from chemicals based on the new TMDL plan. The EPA, Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Agency of Agriculture take into account public opinion on the TMDLs regarding Lake Champlain and jointly conducted public outreach meetings to provide an overview of the TMDL and Vermont’s implementation plan. The meetings were hosted by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and took place in St. Albans, Burlington, and Rutland, Vermont in August of 2015 (United States Environmental Protection Agency).
The last, and quite possibly most difficult aspect of analyzing algal blooms in Lake Champlain, are the ethical questions that surround this issue. Approximately 200,000 people, or about 35% of the Basin population, depend on Lake Champlain for drinking water. 4,149 draw water directly from Lake Champlain for individual use, and there are 99 public water systems drawing water from the lake (Lake Champlain Basin Program). A body of water that supplies a human necessity to that many people must have a significant value. So now that we are aware of the humanity-induced nutrient pollution that contributes to algal blooms, do we feel ethically inclined to deal with this problem? Although methods such as TMDLs: taken to reduce nutrient pollution in the water to further prevent algal blooms, are expensive, is the health of the local communities and species more important than the cost it will bear? These are the ethical dilemmas we all face when examining algal blooms in Lake Champlain. In addition to the examination of costs, is the question of who should pay? Farmers currently are the main cause of the nutrient pollution from their fertilizer use, however many argue that it is not the fault of the farmers and rather that of the government for pushing the numbers for higher crop yields and cheaper food. So whom do we blame: the farmers or the government, and who should pay?
After examining the categories of history, science, policy, and ethics, I personally have been able to formulate my own ethical position on the subject of algal blooms in Lake Champlain. Hearing dairy farmer James Maroney speak on the harms of conventional agriculture to the water quality of the lake, I am now a believer in the idea of reforming conventional agriculture to organic agriculture entirely for farming in the state of Vermont. Like Maroney said, addressing a problem at its’ source is really the only way to fully combat it. Maroney alluded to some of the offered solutions of reconstructing municipal wastewater treatment plants, and redesigning local storm-water infrastructure of buildings and homes, however he also proved that these would cost millions in total and only provide limited solutions to what is now a massive problem of nutrient pollution. Ethically, I cannot justify not taking drastic measures to re-design the way we farm for the sake of the lake. With so much at stake in regards to not only health, but economics as well, we have waited far too long and now the reformation of our agricultural system is really our only effective and plausible solution to reducing nutrient pollution and algal blooms in Lake Champlain.
In regards to why I feel we should protect the lake, this for me lies deeper than simply protecting a resource for what it provides, formally known as Conservationism. Instead, I believe that the lake has intrinsic value, meaning that itself as a natural resource is valuable within itself and not simply for its uses. Preserving the quality of the water in Lake Champlain is highly beneficial to our own health benefits, yes, however it is also my belief that we have a natural duty to protect our resources regardless of how much or little they provide to us. I relate my feelings most to the idea of a preservationist movement, and preserving resources because it is our inherent duty to do so.
Works cited:
Anderson, Donald M. , Patricia M. Glibert and Joann M. Burkholder. “Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication: Nutrient sources, composition, and consequences.” Estuaries 25.4 (2002): 704-726.
Guilford, Gwynn. It’s not just Ohio—poisonous algae blooms now plague 20 US states. 04 08 2014. 01 12 2015 <http://qz.com/244387/poisonous-algae-blooms-now-plague-20-states-around-the-us-not-just-ohio/>.
James H. Maroney, Jr. The Political Economy of Milk. Leicester: Gala Books, Ltd., 2009.
Lake Champlain Basin Program. LAKE AND BASIN FACTS. 2015. 17 11 2015 <http://www.lcbp.org/about-the-basin/facts/>.
—. What is the concern with cyanobacteria blooms in Lake Champlain? 2015. 17 11 2015 <http://sol.lcbp.org/Health_cyanobacteria-blooms.html>.
Lake Champlain Vacations, LLC. Lake Champlain. 2006. 17 11 2015 <http://www.lakechamplainvacations.net/lake_champlain.html>.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Harmful Algal Blooms. 11 08 2014. 17 11 2015 <http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/hab/>.
Science Daily. Reference Terms: Algal bloom. 2015. 17 11 2015 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/algal_bloom.htm>.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. Lake Champlain Phosphorous TMDL: A Commitment to Clean Water. 19 10 2015. 17 11 2015 <http://www3.epa.gov/region1/eco/tmdl/lakechamplain.html>.
University of Vermont. The History of Burlington and South Burlington. 2010. 01 12 2015 <http://www.uvm.edu/~hp206/2010/Burlington/history.html>.
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