Reducing harmful algal blooms remains the top priority for protecting and restoring Lake Erie, according to a draft plan released by the Ohio Lake Erie Commission.
鈥檚 2020 plan lists its first priority area as reducing nutrient pollution, . Nutrients in the runoff lead to blooms of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, which then release toxins into the water.
"What we are trying to do is shrink the size of the algal blooms and ensure that they're not toxic," says Joy Mullinex, the commission's executive director. "And obviously that's what's making Lake Erie unsafe for people to come into contact with it or drink it."
Harmful algal blooms have been a particular area of concern for the state since 2014, when . The 2019 bloom on Lake Erie measured about 620 square miles, .
The plan, last updated in 2018, doesn't come with any funding attached, but Mullinex said it can help the state鈥檚 agencies set strategies and track progress.
"The Ohio General Assembly has provided the agencies with the funds to implement [the plan]," she said. "We work with the agencies to pull together their work and promote it in this high level document."
The state's for reducing contamination from farm fields, including creating new wetlands to filter runoff and planting "cover crops" during fallow periods, to hold nutrients in the soil.
Controlling invasive species鈥攊ncluding Asian carp and two types of plants, hydrilla and phragmites鈥攊s another priority. Invasive species often outcompete native species, reducing natural habitat for fish and compromising wetlands' ability to filter water flowing into the lake.
Mullinex said recent shoreline erosion caused by record-high lake levels is something the commission is "watching," but the problem is not specifically addressed in the report. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Office of Coastal Management has
The plan also cites several areas of progress since 2018, including the removal of some "," or points in the Lake Erie watershed where contaminants enter the water.
A related draft plan, the , also names reducing nutrient pollution as its primary goal.
for both plans remains open until February 28.
