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Nutrients: Final Comments

Nutrients
 
The original GLWQA passed in 1972 was largely a response to the devastating impacts of excess amounts of nutrients being released to some parts of the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie. One of the prime successes of the governments under the GLWQA has been increased controls on nutrients, especially phosphorus, and the dramatic recovery of Lake Erie. Unfortunately, excess nutrients are once again being seen as a major threat. This decade the scientific literature is full of reports on the devastating return of algae problems to Lake Erie and to nearshore areas in the other Great Lakes, except for Lake Superior. These surface blooms include toxin-producing algae. [See for example, Prescription for Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection and Restoration (Avoiding the Tipping Point of Irreversible Changes) 2005 and Ohio Lake Erie Phosphorus Task Force 2010. Unless aggressive actions are taken now, these negative effects of nutrients will become even more widespread as climate change warms the waters of the Great Lakes and creates more widespread shallow areas. Therefore, it is essential that the new GLWQA build upon Annex 3 of the current GLWQA to create a more widespread and aggressive nutrients management program.
 
Recommendations:
 

1.  Annex 3 on nutrients in the GLWQA should be revised and updated.

2.  The annex should contain targets for phosphorus concentrations in the water that must not be exceeded. These should include:

  • Targets for the concentrations that phosphorus should not exceed background conditions of the open waters of the lake. These targets should be specific for each lake.
     
  • Targets for phosphorus concentrations not to be exceeded in nearshore areas, embayments and tributaries. These targets should be developed specific to each area with a particular focus on those areas and tributaries that are the largest sources of phosphorus to the Great Lakes.
     
  • The States and Provinces should be required to adopt and enforce these numeric targets as water quality standards for phosphorus.
3.  The annex should include loading targets for phosphorus and timetables for achieving those targets. These loading targets should be set for:
  • Each lake as a whole; and
     
  • Each priority nearshore area, embayment or tributary.
In reporting on the loading target, the governments should break down the loading by each source of the nutrients, e.g., municipal sewage systems, farm operations, landfill leachate, open netcage aquaculture, etc. This will help us better understand the sources of the problems and help us determine where it is most important to take corrective action.
 
4. The annex should include discharge concentration targets for phosphorus that are not to be exceeded for the following sectors and timetables for achieving those targets:
  • Municipal and industrial sewage treatment plants;
  • Agricultural operations;
  • Other sectors should be added as we gain a more complete understanding of the sources of nutrients.
  • The States and Provinces should be required to adopt and enforce these discharge standards.
 
5. Other comments on targets:
  • As our scientific understanding improves of the significance of other nutrients, targets should be developed for nutrients other than phosphorus, such as nitrogen.
     
  • The governments should report on the status of each of the targets listed above every three years. These reports should provide the actual numbers.
     
  • All the targets listed above should be developed based solely upon the ecological needs of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence system. These targets should not be weakened by economic considerations specific to a nutrient pollution source.
 
6. The governments should commit to develop nutrient management action plans for each of the lakes and priority nearshore areas, embayments and tributaries for which phosphorus loading targets have been set. The Annex should commit to have completed development of these action plans within two years of the signing of the Agreement. These should be developed and implemented in full consultation with the public. These should be integrated through watershed plans coordinated among the tributaries for each lake and the downstream connecting water way.
 
7. The GLWQA should include a commitment to develop and implement basin-wide action plans with timetables for addressing specified nutrient sources. At this point, these should include municipal sewage systems, agricultural operations, including concentrated animal feeding operations, and open netcage aquaculture. The Annex should include a commitment to develop and implement these action plans in full consultation with the public. It also should include a commitment to complete development of each action plan within one year of the time that it has been designated for an action plan.
 
8. Among other items, basin-wide plans and sector specific action plans should include: 1) preventive approaches that reduce the generation of nutrients; 2) use of green infrastructure mechanisms appropriate to the sector, such as wetlands, riparian buffers, green roofs, raingardens, protection of both urban and rural tree cover;  3) landuse planning and land management tools to ensure that development is carried out in such a way as to reduce nutrient discharges to the Great Lakes and its tributaries; 4) pretreatment requirements for pathogens, and 5) movement of open netcage aquaculture operations to landbased operations where the water is treated to meet discharge standards and standards that are to be adopted and enforced by the governments.
 
9. The governments should identify, within their domestic legal and regulatory frameworks, the actual domestic programs that will implement and achieve the nutrient reduction objectives established under the Agreement. Progress on these implementation programs for tributary, embayments and near-shore (coastal) waters, and open lake waters should be incorporated into the status reports noted above in item 5, including levels of funding, agency staffing, and specific projects and activities.
 
10. Commit to develop, finance and implement a research and monitoring system, including on-site field data, to be able to assess whether annex targets are being met;
 
11. Conduct scientific research to deepen our understanding of the changing impacts of nutrients in addition to phosphorus on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. In particular research is needed on the impact of Quagga and Zebra mussels’ impact on nutrient problems, the role that climate change influences will have on water chemistry, biological activity, and physical changes in the lake ecosystem.
 
12. Commit to adaptive strategies if the programs show signs of being inadequate to restore and protect the Great Lakes from nutrient problems.
 
13. Commit to ensure that funding mechanisms, incentives, and enforcement mechanisms will be put into place to achieve the goals of this annex.
 
14. Commit to reducing the airborne transfer of nutrients from agriculture by educating the agriculture community on the benefits of irrigation in the early evening and then using farming equipment so that dust is reduced significantly.

 

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