The Michigan Messenger - Latest Comments in Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

Rayne1 — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:03:42 -0000

Might be a lot faster to study this and find the root cause and address that, than try and implement an arbitrary fix that may not solve the problem, may create new problems, and which might take something short of a lifetime to solve the issue of how big a pump, where to put the pump, who'll make and deploy the pump, and who'll pay for the pump you've suggested in your post.

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

John Kannaby — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:41:42 -0000

We seem to be studying this phenomena to death. Have there been any attempts to pump oxygen (air) into it to remedy the main problem? Or, are we just going to study it till it overcomes the whole lake?

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

Karl Schwarze — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:18:30 -0000

Fascinating! I presume this is the reason for the enhanced algae seen on the surface of the water in Sandusky. I have seen this present 10 miles off shore. But would this green algae function like other chlorophorm plants giving off O2. Its been a while since i studied this. Global warming seems like your grabbing at straws since the temperature hasn't changed that much

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

ebrayton — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:13:16 -0000

Oh yeah, my comments apply only to the Lake Erie dead zone. The Gulf of Mexico dead zones may have an entirely different cause. I hope that was clear in the article. I never even spoke about ocean dead zones with any of the scientists I talked to.

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

tspencer — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:04:27 -0000

When I spoke with Iowa Independent editor Chase Martyn in Denver last week we discussed dead zones in the oceans. It is his understanding that runoff (manure) from industrial hog farms along the Mississippi River (many that are in his state) are the main culprit in the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico that are expanding so rapidly.

So bacon is causing them in the gulf.

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

ebrayton — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:37:42 -0000

Both scientists I interviewed for the story think that runoff is not likely the cause this time because runoff levels have been reduced so much since the 1970s, though Prof. Carrick did say that it is possible that there are nonpoint sources that we don't know about.

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

Rayne1 — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:05:20 -0000

Dead zone or just dirty run-off?, you asked -- good question. That's the point. We need to do more research to determine if the run-off is the cause of dead zones.

And what you interpret to be hair growing on Ohio is cloud cover along the Lake Erie shoreline in Ohio, as viewed from a satellite. Note the cutline on the photo: NASA Earth Observatory, that's your tax dollars at work.

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

Phil — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:40:01 -0000

Dead zone or just dirty run-off?

Who is the idiot who took the photo with someones head at the bottom of the photo or did Ohio suddenly start growing hair?

Re: Great Lakes dead zone a mystery

Peter Maier — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:09:48 -0000

As long as EPA does not consider nitrogenous waste (urine and protein) pollution, we will never implement the Clean Water Act, as it was intended. This waste not only, like fecal waste, exerts an oxygen demand, but also is a fertilizer for algae and aquatic plant growth, causing eutrophication and eventually dead zones.

The reason EPA ignored this pollution is caused by a worldwide incorrect applied pollution test that EPA used to base its NPDES discharge permits on.

Although EPA in 1984 acknowledged this incorrect use, in stead of correcting the test, it allowed an alternative test and now officially ignored this type of pollution and by doing so lowered the goal of the CWA from 100% treatment to a measly 35% treatment, without notifying Congress.

Other problems caused by this incorrect applied test are that we do not know the real performance of a sewage treatment plants and have no idea what the effluent waste loading is on receiving water bodies, besides the possibility that such plants are designed to treat the wrong waste in sewage.

Want to know more visit www.petermaier.net and read the description of this test (BOD) in the Technical PDF section.