Agrarian Pollution in Lake Erie
By Brandon Bishop and Lily Goldberg
Politics, Society, and Law Advocacy Project
Lake Erie Pollution
The staggering presence of pollution caused by agricultural runoff in Lake Erie and the Great Lakes as a whole, which are major sources of freshwater, presents public health concerns for Ohioans. According to the International Joint Commission between Canada and the United States, notable amounts of phosphorus, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and other pollutants existed in Lake Erie (International Joint Commission, 1980). If exposed to these pollutants, a person’s risk of cancer can increase, their reproductive and neurological systems can be affected, and liver and kidney function abnormalities may occur. This puts nearly 12 million people who rely on Lake Erie as a source of freshwater at risk (US EPA, 2015).
One major source of lake pollution is agricultural runoff. Toxic chemicals like nitrogen and phosphorus found in fertilizer often enter Lake Erie after rain allows the chemicals to wash into waterways (“Runoff Risk Decision Support,” 2017). Scientists have observed a stunning number of dangerous blooms of algae in the Great Lakes over the past decade. Phosphorus from agrarian runoff entering watersheds that connect to Lake Erie cause algal blooms to occur. These blooms pose severe water quality and human health concerns to Ohians (“Runoff Risk Decision Support,” 2017). In 1972, the U.S. and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) to reduce the presence of pollution. This agreement has been amended multiple times to adjust for new environmental worries. Despite the fact that this agreement has reduced the amount of many pollutants below the maximum allowable levels, the amount of pollution in Lake Erie remains alarmingly high (“The Great Lakes,” n.d.).
Proposed Solution
Runoff Risk Decision Support systems forecast guidance to farmers regarding when to safely apply fertilizers. These systems are a collection of data from the National Weather Service and farm monitoring data, which allow for regional goals for reduction of runoff to succeed (“Runoff Risk Decision Support,” 2017). We propose to increase the use of these systems across the Great Lakes Region. To do so, the State of Ohio and United States Department of Agriculture must provide more funding directly to farmers specifically for the use of Runoff Risk Decision Support. Farmers will have access to funds specifically for these systems at their request. Unlike other potential options, increasing the use of Runoff Risk Decision Support does not unequally regulate one party and instead allows farmers to make informed decisions about when they should apply fertilizer (“Runoff Risk Decision Support,” 2017). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Runoff Risk Decision systems are expected to grow along with awareness of them, so as long as farmers become more aware of these issues, these systems will become more popular (“Runoff Risk Decision Support,” 2017).
We recommend this option because it helps close the information gap between the farmers and scientists by providing farmers with resources that allow them to reduce pollution. This option does not unfairly impose regulations on farmers who already lack resources. Runoff Runoff Risk Decision Support systems give the agricultural sector the ability to reduce the number of pollutants entering waterways, mitigating public health consequences.Thus, governments should subsidize the use Runoff Risk Decision Support systems.
Building Awareness for Agrarian Pollution
A major barrier to a public policy solution is the lack of public knowledge on the issue. In order to effectively push the solution to government officials, the general public must have a greater awareness of the problem. One way to get people to pay attention to the consequences of agrarian pollution is by emphasizing the public health consequences that it would persist if not addressed and mitigated. These public health concerns include, but are not limited to, an increased risk of cancer, damage to reproductive and neurological systems, and it could lead to liver and kidney problems (Longnecker, Rogan, & Lucier, 1997).These public health consequences should not be taken lightly, and they affect millions of people who rely on Lake Erie for their drinking water. Therefore, these public health implications would be affecting millions of Americans and Canadians who also use the Great Lakes. Because of the impacts on potentially millions of people, it is of utmost importance to make sure everyone is educated on the risks that agrarian pollution would bring. However, the difficult task is making sure everyone is aware of the issue.
A clear information asymmetry exists between scientists, policymakers, and farmers. In order to draw attention to the issue of pollution, it is essential to target those who are creating the problem of agrarian pollution, which would be the farmers. We believe that the most beneficial way to lessen the amount of agrarian runoff in the Great Lakes would be to use a system called Runoff Risk Decision Support. These systems would be extremely beneficial for farmers to use and they target each regionally area individually, making for a personalized solution (“Runoff Risk Decision Support,” 2017). The difficult part about the Runoff Risk Decision Support systems is to get the farmers to actually want to use them.
The recommended way to spread the word about Runoff Risk Decision Support systems is to run an advertisement campaign about these systems on large cable networks in the Great Lakes regions. The ad campaign would be largely emphasizing the effects of agrarian runoff on the Great Lake community, while also telling farmers how to obtain the funding for these systems, which would be the Runoff Risk Decision Support systems, as discussed in the previous section of the paper. An advertisement campaign on television would be more useful than social media because of the demographics of television viewers compared to social media users. When farmers see the ad, they will be able to call a number to get more information and to request to start using these Runoff systems. Ideally, we would like for the U.S. Federal Government to sponsor these ads, further adding to the validity of the public health statement. We would also like the U.S. Federal Government to be able to fund more projects on research for the Runoff Risk Decision Support systems, so that these systems are as refined as they can be and are able to mitigate agrarian runoff to the best of their ability.
With the environment being one of the most controversial topics in politics at the moment, it is of even more importance that we work on the ways in which we present the issues of the environment to the American people. With the potential for a public health crisis in relation to human-induced environmental damage, there is more of an ability to get people to care, because this puts their loved ones at risk.
Overall, we believe that with increased awareness of the issues that agrarian runoff can cause, especially emphasizing the massive public health consequences, demand for these Runoff Risk Decision Support systems is likely to increase. This is in concordance with the same predictions that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has in that these Runoff systems are expected to grow throughout the farming population (“Runoff Risk Decision Support,” 2017). It is of the utmost importance that the awareness of this issue continues to become common knowledge. If it is not able to become common knowledge, then there likely will not be a large enough demand to circumvent these issues that would affect millions of Americans who rely on drinking water from the Great Lakes. Increased knowledge on the issue will create greater political demand for increasing the amount of finances dedicated to supporting farmers to better environmental conditions.
Conclusion
Increased pollution in the Great Lakes affects the health and safety of millions of Americans and Ohians specifically. To reduce pollutants in Lake Erie, the source of pollutants must be addressed. Runoff Risk Decision Support systems allow farmers to know when the best time to fertilize their crops is according to meteorological data. However, a lack of public participation surrounding the issue creates obstacles to enacting a solution. To combat this, we argue for an advertisement campaign emphasizing the public health consequences of water pollution that also provides farmers with information to access funds for these systems. Mitigating the effects of pollution will require the full weight of the community’s support and efforts from all stakeholders involved.
Works Cited
Fryefield, C. B. (2013). The Evolution of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. 46.
International Joint Commission (1980). Pollution in the Great Lakes Basin From Land Use Activities:
Summary. International Joint Commission (IJC) Digital Archive
Longnecker, M. P., Rogan, W. J., & Lucier, G. (1997). The Human Health Effects of Ddt
(dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and Pcbs (polychlorinated Biphenyls) and an Overview of Organochlorines in Public Health. Annual Review of Public Health, 18(1), 211–244. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.18.1.211
Runoff Risk Decision Support : Great Lakes Region. (2017). Retrieved April 11, 2019, from
https://www.regions.noaa.gov/great-lakes/index.php/great_lakes-restoration-initiative/nearshore/nutrient-runoff-risk-advisory-tool/
The Great Lakes. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2019, from Safe Drinking Water Foundation website:
https://www.safewater.org/fact-sheets-1/2017/1/23/the-great-lakes
Tremblay, N. W., & Gilman, A. P. (1995). Human health, the Great Lakes, and environmental pollution: a
1994 perspective. Environmental Health Perspectives, 103(suppl 9), 3–5. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.95103s93
US EPA, R. 05. (2015, March 2). GLWQA Annexes [Policies and Guidance]. Retrieved April 9, 2019,
from US EPA website: https://www.epa.gov/glwqa/glwqa-annexes
