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Southern Ontario greenhouse boom contributing to algae in Lake Erie
December 18, 2023 By Matt McIntosh, The Narwhal
Dec. 18, 2023 – For a couple of decades at the end of the last century, it seemed like the blue-green algae problem in Lake Erie had been solved, or at least managed, thanks to a concerted cross-border effort. There were many causes to this algae issue: phosphorus pollution from phosphate-laden detergents, nutrient-rich soil runoff from farmland and inadequate municipal wastewater facilities.
As algae reappeared at the turn of the millennium, water quality researchers began noticing additional worrying trends in Essex County waterways with significant greenhouse footprints. First, there was a jump in baseline nutrient loading in waterways such as Sturgeon Creek, which runs through an area with a high concentration of greenhouses. Great Lakes Now reports. | READ MORE
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