In September 2013, a group of scientists and specialists came together under the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement’s Nutrient Annex 4 Objectives and Targets Task Team to determine how much phosphorus reduction is necessary to restore Lake Erie’s water quality, reduce the occurrences harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie, as well as the extent of the central basin’s hypoxic zone. The Annex 4 task team released their report in late June 2015 and Dr. Jeffery Reutter, task team co-chair, will present the group’s findings and what it means to the lake if the loading and concentration targets are met. Santina Wortman, an official from the U.S. EPA Region 5 office will also be on hand to answer questions and explain next steps for the agency.

1. Adam Rissien
Agricultural & Water Policy Director
arissien@theOEC.org
(614) 487-7506
Preventing Harmful Algal Blooms:
How Much Phosphorus Reduction Do
We Need?

2. Ohio Environmental Council
Our Mission:
To secure healthy air,
land, and water for all
who call Ohio home.

3. About the OEC
 Founded in 1969
 Statewide, non-profit, non-
government
 Membership organization –
3,000+ individuals, 100+ group
members
 Budget of $1.5 million – funded
primarily by grants & donations
 Volunteer Board of Directors;
16 staff members

4. Key Issues
Clean Water Program
 Reduce Nutrient Pollution
 Prevent Spread of Asian Carp
Environmental Health Program
 Protecting People from Toxic
Chemicals
Clean Air Program
 Promoting Renewable Energy
Sources
Natural Resources
 Protecting State Parks & Nature
Preserves
Green Jobs / Green Economy
 Promoting Environmentally
Sustainable Careers
Oil & Gas Drilling
 Fight Fracking

5. PRESENTED BY DR. JEFFERY REUTTER,
Annex 4 Task Team Co-chair, Special
Advisor Ohio Sea Grant College Program
Available for Questions: Santina Wortman,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 5 Office
Annex 4 Objectives and Targets
Task Team Recommendations

6. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Preventing Harmful Algal
Blooms: How Much Phosphorus
Reduction Do We Need?
Dr. Jeffrey M. Reutter
Special Advisor, Ohio Sea Grant College Program

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2015 Lake Erie HAB Forecast, 9 July 2015
Objectives and Targets Task Team
Recommendations

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Lake Ecosystem Objectives
Location Issue Lake Ecosystem Objective
Central Basin Low oxygen issues Minimize the extent of low-oxygen zones.
Eastern Basin Benthic Algae
(Cladaphora)
Maintain the levels of algae below nuisance conditions
Nearshore Blue-Green Algae
(Cyanobacteria)
Maintain algal species consistent with healthy aquatic ecosystems in
the near shore waters of the Great Lakes.
Western basin Blue-Green Algae
(Cyanobacteria)
Maintain cyanobacteria at levels that do not produce concentrations of
toxins that pose a threat to human or ecosystem health in the waters
of the Great Lakes.
Entire lake Maintain mesotrophic conditions in the open waters of the western
and central basins of Lake Erie, and oligotrophic conditions in the
eastern basin of Lake Erie.
8

9. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Objectives & Targets Task Team Report
The draft phosphorus targets are now
available to the public for comment at:
http://binational.net/
“Adaptive Management”
9

10. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Lake Erie and Other Great Lakes
•Southernmost
•Shallowest
•Warmest
•Most agricultural land and least forest
•Most nutrients and sediment
•Most biologically productive

11. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Lake Erie Stats•Lake Erie
•9,906 sq. miles
•11th in area 17th volume
•241 miles long 57 wide
•Western Basin
•Ave. depth 24 ft.
•13% area, 5% volume
•Central Basin
•Ave. depth 60 ft.
•63% area and volume
•Eastern Basin
•Ave. 80 ft., Max 210 ft.
•24% area, 32% volume

12. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
80:10:10 Rule
•80% of water from upper lakes
•10% direct precipitation
•10% from Lake Erie tributaries
•Maumee
•Largest tributary to Great Lakes
•Drains 4.2 million acres of ag land
•3% of flow into Lake Erie

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OSU’s Island
Campus

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Blue-green Algae Bloom circa 1971,
Lake Erie
Photo: Forsythe and Reutter

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What brought about the rebirth
(dead lake to Walleye Capital)?
•Phosphorus reductions from point
sources (29,000 metric tons to 11,000).

17. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY

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Nutrient Loading
•P discharges from sewage treatment plants
vary little from year to year
•P discharges from ag tributaries vary greatly
from year to year depending on rainfall
• Majority of P loading occurs during storm
events
•80-90% of P loading occurs 10-20% of time

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Distribution of annual TP load for the 2008 water year
from the Maumee and Detroit Rivers by source
category (Maccoux unpublished data).

20. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY

21. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORYWhere did the dissolved phosphorus
come from?
Indicators of non-point sources
e.g., land runoff
Example: Maumee River
Indicators of point sources
e.g., effluent
Example: Cuyahoga River
1) Concentration increases during storms
2) Concentration increases with flow
1) Concentration increases during low flow
2) Concentration decreases with flow
Dissolved phosphorus is highly bioavailable to algae

22. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Joe DePinto,
LimnoTech

23. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
• Reference Dose =
amount that can be
ingested orally by a
person, above which a
toxic effect may occur,
on a milligram per
kilogram body weight
per day basis.
Toxicity of Algal
Toxins Relative
to Other Toxic
Compounds
found in Water
Dioxin (0.000001 mg/kg-d)
Microcystin LR (0.000003 mg/kg-d)
Saxitoxin (0.000005 mg/kg-d)
PCBs (0.00002 mg/kg-d)
Cylindrospermopsin (0.00003 mg/kg-d)
Methylmercury (0.0001 mg/kg-d)
Anatoxin-A (0.0005 mg/kg-d)
DDT (0.0005 mg/kg-d)
Selenium (0.005 mg/kg-d)
Alachlor (0.01 mg/kg-d)
Cyanide (0.02 mg/kg-d)
Atrazine (0.04 mg/kg-d)
Fluoride (0.06 mg/kg-d)
Chlorine (0.1 mg/kg-d)
Aluminum (1 mg/kg-d)
Ethylene Glycol (2 mg/kg-d)
Botulinum toxin A (0.001 mg/kg-d)
Toxin Reference Doses

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13 Years of Satellite Bloom Data

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Photos: Jeff Reutter
Microcystis, Stone Lab, 8/10/10

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Photo: NOAA Satellite Image
October 9, 2011

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Microcystis, Stone Lab, 9/20/13

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HABs Goal and Strategy
•Produce HABs smaller or equal to 2004/2012
9 years out of 10
•2008 will be the base year
•Discharge was only exceeded 10% of time
•Approximately equal to discharge during the
wettest years
•Good dataset for loading numbers
•Models were run for that year
•Loading data from the Maumee River is most
reliable, therefore, use it as surrogate for all
tributaries

29. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
HABs Strategy—Continued 1
•Western Basin HABs can be accurately forecast based
on spring P load (1 March to 31 July) from Maumee
River
•Spring TP load of 860 tons & DRP of 186 tons (FWMC
of 0.23 mg/L TP and 0.05 mg/L of DRP) or less
produces desired result. That is a 40% reduction of
Maumee load and FWMC in 2008.
•HABs can be observed at mouths of all Western Basin
tributaries and TT believes that all tributaries
contribute is some way to Western Basin HAB
•Therefore, goal should be to reduce loading from all
Western Basin tributaries by 40% from their 2008
base load

30. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Expect Rapid HABS Recovery in
Lake Erie, but must act quickly
•Due to rapid flush out
rate
•Lake Erie = 2.7 years
•Western Basin = 20-
50 days
•Other Great Lakes
could be over 100
years

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HABs Strategy—Continued 2
•Flow Weighted Mean Concentrations of P should
be used as the indicator to track our progress in
achieving goals.

32. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Hypoxia Goal and Strategy
•Hypoxia occurs in the Central Basin
hypolimnion and can be reduced by reducing
annual P loading
•P loading to the Central Basin comes from
Western Basin and Central Basin tributaries
and point sources
•Reduce P loading to a point where average
hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen will be 2.0 mg/l
or higher

33. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
Hypoxia Strategy—Continued 1
•Focus on annual P loading
•Use 2008 as base year
•All 6 models agree that a load of 6,000 tons will
raise average hypolimnetic D.O. to 2.0 mg/l or
more.
•6,000 tons is approximately a 40% reduction of
the 2008 load
•Hypolimnetic D.O. above 2.0 should result in
reduced internal loading of P from sediment
•Reduce annual P load from all WB and CB
tributaries and point sources by 40%

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13 Years of Satellite Bloom Data

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Maumee spring total P target load

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Maumee spring total P target load and FWMC

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Maumee spring dissolved P target load

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Maumee spring dissolved P target load and FWMC

39. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
- Ann. discharge = 8.0 billion m3
- Spring discharge = 3.4 billion m3
- Ann. P load = 3,812 tonnes
- Spring P load = 1,400 tonnes
- Ann. discharge = 6.2 billion m3
- Spring discharge = 5.0 billion m3
- Ann. P load = 3,007 tonnes
- Spring P load = 2,300 tonnes
- Ann. discharge = 6.1 billion m3
- Spring discharge = 1.0 billion m3
- Ann. P load = 2,411 tonnes
- Spring P load = 400 tonnes

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2015 NOAA Forecast

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Discharge

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TP

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DRP

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HAB on 7/23/15

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High Water and HAB on Stone Lab Dock, 7/25/15
Photo Credit:
Dr. Darren Bade

46. OHIO SEA GRANT AND STONE LABORATORY
For more information:
Dr. Jeff Reutter, Special Advisor
Ohio Sea Grant and
Stone Lab
Ohio State Univ.
1314 Kinnear Rd.
Col, OH 43212
614-292-8949
Reutter.1@osu.edu
ohioseagrant.osu.edu
Stone Laboratory
Ohio State Univ.
Box 119
Put-in-Bay, OH
43456
614-247-6500