What Is Lake Erie Polluted

Introduction: The purpose of this research is to determine whether there has been a change in the overall water quality of the Lake Tarpon Basin, and if so, whether the quality has improved or worsened. The variables that will determine whether the quality has changed are: nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) and dissolved oxygen (DO). The expected changes are lower dissolved oxygen levels (from the already low levels), higher nitrogen levels (from the already high nitrogen levels), and the state qualifications still are not met for nutrients and dissolved oxygen (Levy, Flock, Burnes, Myers, Weed, River 2010). This topic relates to environmental management because the changes in water quality would be due to pollution, which relates to the question “How does human activity lead to the pollution of water stores?” The hypothesis that will be tested is that Lake Tarpon’s water quality will have worsened since the last measurements by Levy, Flock, Burnes, Myers, Weed, and Rivera in 2010.

Onondaga Lake has brought many things to this area.One of them being getting polluted as said in Document 1. The sewage was dumped into onondaga creek, whichs happens to lead into the lake. That is one of the factors that has increased the pollution. It was the simplest and closest way to dispose of the waste. There was about 55 years of dumping into the lake. In Document 2 the industry Solvay Process Company quickly took its place in the salt city industry alongside the lake. The company helped pollute the lake because they were a main company that dumped into the lake with their sewage.The

Economically speaking, these algal blooms are responsible for millions of dollars in losses annually. Local economies prosper thanks to the millions of recreation tourists who benefit from this vacation destination, but in 2011 alone, Lake Erie algal blooms cost Ohio’s recreation fishing industry and Maumee Bay State Park an estimated combined total loss of 3.7 million dollars US (McLean et al., 2014). Not to mention, treating the toxic water to make it potable again has costly demands, as well (Yeoman, 2011).

Many contaminants settle out of the atmosphere, such as acid rain, the pollutants and nutrients will transport from distant places by air depositing into the lake as the form of rain. The first pollutants as atmospheric deposition on the Great Lakes were phosphorus. It is found that about 20 percent phosphorus entering Lake Michigan comes from the atmosphere by determination of rain, snow and dust. Since phosphorus pollution generated by this approach cannot be controlled, so it is more urgent to reduce the phosphorus content of detergent, sewer and effluent fertilizers. People found fish in a lake of Lake Superior in a remote island containing PCBs and toxaphene, and this place isolated with no direct way to pollution. This determines the long-range transport of pollutants through the atmosphere and settlement in the lake. In fact the processes of material transport through atmospheric was very complex. For instance PCBs was insoluble in water, so as to re-enter the atmosphere during evaporation or connected together into small particles. A lot of PCBs volatilize from the lake, meanwhile, PCBs coming from various parts of the air mass experience the sedimentation on the lake. Other than that the contaminated sediment is another way to cause pollution of the lake. This is problems of the most urban industrial areas. Even if there is likely to remove severely contaminated sediments in

The Great Lakes have been under threat for the last two centuries, but the situation is the far worse today. It use to be believed that dumping sewage or chemicals into rivers and lakes was a great way to dilute and disperse it. As it turns out, it's not a good idea since those are the very rivers and lakes that we get our drinking water from. In recent decades, a lot has been done to stop that practice, but the sources and amount of pollution keeps skyrocketing each year. This pollution in the lakes must be stop at once or else bad consequences will be appond us because of it

The Great lakes have had many struggles throughout the years. Such as, invasive species, pollution, and habitat loss. All of these affected the lake in a bad way and here is how.

Although the amount of pollutants from a single town or construction site may seem insignificant, the combined concentrations of contaminants threaten our lakes, streams and wetlands. When things such as: human and animal waste, decaying plants and animals, discarded litter, or food waste enter surface waters, either dissolved or suspended in stormwater runoff, they can deplete the supply of dissolved oxygen in the water. When dissolved oxygen is reduced below a certain critical level, it can impair or kill aquatic plants and animals (CNYRPDB, 2011).

“Lake Erie is Dead”, something that was said about Lake Erie almost 40 years ago is still true right now. Lake Erie had tons of pollutants in the sixties, and algal blooms now; it needs us to clean up our act. The amount of pollution in Lake Erie in the 1960’s forced Michael Rotman of Cleveland Historical to say “As a result of these pollutants, Lake Erie contained increased levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, which contributed to eutrophication - a process that encourages the development of algal blooms”. Because the Cuyahoga River caught on fire multiple times it was called the “burning river”, and Lake Erie was called “Dead Lake” The pollution was so bad it was used in Dr. Seuss’ book, The Lorax.

Water pollution, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, “happens when toxic substances enter water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and so on, getting dissolved in them, lying suspended in the water or depositing on the bed.”1 In 1948, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act was passed by congress, but was later amended in 1972 in response to great public outcry—this amended document is what is now known as the Clean Water Act.2 Despite these national efforts, in a report released by the Environment America Research & Policy Center in 2014, Virginia was listed as one of the top five states with the largest discharge of toxic substances into waterways, documented at over eleven million pounds.3 Furthermore, in a 2014 report conducted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, it was found that the water pollution has spread throughout sixteen-thousand miles of the state’s rivers.4

In the article, “Water Pollution: A Surefire Story in Your Community,” from IRE Journal, Robert Mcclure, investigates waterways that were supposedly “cleaned up” by the federal government. Factories and large businesses are the main contributors to water pollution in seas and oceans. The Clean Water Act was supposed to help clean oceans and ocean fronts from pollution and polluters, but the act was never initiated. Mcclure mentions that “The result today: Beaches, streams, and bays across the country are not being protected enough for people to safely swim and fish there” (1). He has performed many studies, starting with a Statewide look of investigation of water pollution. In his research, he revealed, “all the factories, sewage treatment plants and other

In spite of the fact that the earth is their home, they treat its streams and rivers as a sewer for their own personal gain. USS-Clairton Works Iron and Steel Mill, for example, dumped a reported 2,213,136 pounds of toxic chemicals into the Lower Monongahela River. This pollution will adversely affect the environment for years to come, even if we do our best to remove the chemicals. Studies have shown that most pollution incidents are due to negligence and bad practice. Obviously, this means that the pollution could have been avoided if these companies strictly adhered to a comprehensive pollution prevention program. Certainly there are a number of companies who have such a program in place and are committed to limiting their pollution, but the vast majority do not. As a result, the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory 2012 shows that various watershed regions in Pennsylvania are ranked among the top twenty most polluted in the United States.

water that is unpleasant to drink due to bad odor, taste, and algae. Also, acid

Pollution is also a problem with the impact of the ecosystem. People also can cause pollution which impacts the ecosystem. When people put DDT on their grass it gets into the Great Lakes ecosystem. The runoff carries the DDT into the Great Lakes water then it gets into the Phytoplankton,

Stormwater carries pollution from cities into rivers and lakes, yet most cities do not take sufficient measures to prevent run-off. According to the EPA, 40 percent of US rivers and lakes surveyed do not meet water quality standards. Urban runoff is one of the key culprits.

That is where most of the cities running water is obtained. “This was some pretty toxic stuff that was being dumped,” said Jason Ulseth of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. He was the one that found the pollutant in the river and told the company's manager to explain the issues and suggested ways to fix it. Ulseth said the pollutant is still there today. “The toxic pit is still there,” he said. “The polluted and contaminated soil is still there, and we still have the pollution leaving the site everytime it rains, because of the stormwater runs off pairing these pollutants.” The city has sued the company for millions of dollars and effectively got rid of the company. Even though this will only put a small dent in these major industries it is good to know the the government cares about the environment and the