CANANDAIGUA, NY — The nearly 13-hour drive from Milwaukee to Canandaigua for author and environmental journalist Dan Egan served as a reminder of the immensity of the Great Lakes and just how amazing they are.
They are the Himalayas of water, said Egan, who spoke on the threats facing bodies of fresh water Nov. 9 at Fort Hill Performing Arts Center in Canandaigua as part of the George M. Ewing Canandaigua Forum series and through the efforts of the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association.
“Sometimes we forget that,” Egan said.
Egan, who grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, authored “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” and “The Devil’s Element” — phosphorus — and is journalist in residence at the Center for Water Policy in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences.
His passion for the Great Lakes, and eventually reporting on the threats facing them, was sparked by a youth spent swimming in Lake Michigan and rekindled after a decade away working at park and journalism jobs out West.
“Water is spectacular. It’s special,” Egan told the crowd. “It’s not always treated that way.”
Here are some takeaways from his talk, which focused primarily on the Great Lakes that he has lived by, swum in and written about.
The phosphorus paradox and freshwater lakes
Phosphorus, because it’s an essential element in fertilizer, is critical to farming and, of course, food. But, too much of a necessary thing leads to the pollution of waterways.
“We need phosphorus to live,” Egan said. “We put more onto our landscape than the landscape can handle.”
The latter leads to excess phosphorus running off into lakes and rivers, resulting in harmful algal blooms. In the 1960s, Lake Erie was a pollution punchline, but efforts to invest in water treatment and elimination of phosphates from laundry detergents led to a revived Great Lake.
A new revival is needed: A harmful algal bloom near Toledo, Ohio, in 2014 resulted in the contamination of the Lake Erie city’s drinking water and renewed water conservation efforts.
Canandaigua Lake, of course, supplies water to residents in several municipalities. Lake Erie serves as bellwether on this issue, as “Toledo’s plight is our plight,” Egan said.
Now, is the time to step in and protect the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes, Egan said.
“We know what to do,” Egan said. “We’re just not doing it.”
What can be done to protect the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes?
Policymakers need to step in with tougher laws on the use of phosphorus and its runoff into lakes, rivers and streams and the “overdosing” of watersheds, said Egan, who is not out to “demonize” farmers.
“They’re having a heckuva time,” Egan said. “We just can’t keep doing what we’re doing. It’s not sustainable.”
Many farmers, some of whom are making efforts toward sustainable practices through use of cover crops and better management of nutrient use, acknowledge the problem, Egan said. They share these concerns but many don’t think they are the problem, pointing the finger at invasive species such as zebra and quagga mussels — and they make a very good point. These mussels “eat all the good algae and leave the bad algae,” Egan said.
On Canandaigua Lake, stormwater runoff, shoreline septic systems and lawn fertilizers also have been cited as factors in toxic algal blooms.
“It’s tricky,” Egan said. “You don’t want farmers to go out of business.”
Another option to help conserve freshwater is to incentivize the reduction of phosphorus and other nutrients in farming. Phosphorus is meant to be used, but if too much leaves the farm fields and winds up in lakes, it’s not helping crops grow, Egan said.
“It’s going to grow toxic algae,” Egan said.
Better technologies, many of which are being studied and appear promising, Egan said, is another avenue toward cleaner water, noting that this is not a time for the federal government to be cutting back on the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency, which already has seen reductions in budget and workforce.
Phosphorus is “gold,” Egan said, and shouldn’t be wasted: “We’re just looking at it completely wrong.”
There are other ways.
Event moderator Andy Zepp, who is president of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, said all lakes are in jeopardy, speaking of the regionwide toxic algal blooms in recent years.
“We will have to work together to address it,” Zepp said.
A sign of hope?
Growing up, Egan was discouraged from swimming in the Fox River, which was close to home and was considered a “liquid dump,” although efforts to improve its water quality have since been successful. He was fortunate his grandparents had access to Lake Michigan and, looking back, those days in the water “did something to me,” Egan said.
Changes in current practices will cost farmers and will cost consumers. But not being able to swim in something so “spectacular” carries a cost, too, Egan said.
Egan. who is researching microplastics and how climate change affects lakeside cities for future works, said the stories of the Great Lakes are not all bad. And he offered what he considers a sign of hope, one he sees on the Great Lakes and one that many here see on Canandaigua Lake.
“Kids at the beach,” Egan said.
Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Author Dan Egan calls for action to protect Great Lakes
Reporting by Mike Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
