National Center for Water Quality Research (NCWQR), Heidelberg University
Published January 22, 2019 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Needed: Early-term adjustments for Lake Erie phosphorus target loads to address western basin cyanobacterial blooms

Authors/Creators

  • 1. National Center for Water Quality Research
  • 2. National Center for Water Quality Research, Retired

Description

ABSTRACT

For Lake Erie, it is already time to revise the phosphorus target loads set to address the problem of cyanobacterial
blooms in theWestern Basin. Current targets were proposed by the Annex 4 task group in 2015, adopted by U.S.
and Canadian governments in 2016, and set as objectives of domestic action plans in 2017. These targets, applicable
to all spring discharges below the 90th percentile, set a maximumload for both total phosphorus (TP) and dissolved
reactive phosphorus (DRP) equivalent to 60% of their 2008 spring loads. This essentiallymandates 40% reductions in
both particulate phosphorus (PP) and DRP loading relative to 2008 loads. These targets do not explicitly incorporate
the difference in bioavailability between DRP (~100% bioavailable) and PP (~25% bioavailable). From 2008 to 2017,
DRP comprised 24% of the spring TP load and over half (~56%) of the total bioavailable phosphorus (TBAP) load,
while PP comprised 76% of the TP load but only ~44% of the TBAP load. Subsequent deposition of PP in the estuarine
and nearshore zones further reduces its significance in bloom development. By ignoring differences in bioavailability,
the current targets provide no guidance for choosing among practices based on their relative effectiveness in reducing
DRP or PP and their combined reductions in TBAP loading. Current targets place more emphasis on PP than
needed to efficiently reach targeted cyanobacterial bloom reductions. To clarify appropriate management approaches
and lead to greater success in reducing cyanobacterial blooms, target loads should be based on TBAP.

Notes

The long-term monitoring programs on the Maumee River at Waterville have been supported by many groups over the years, most recently by The Andersons Charitable Foundation and the State of Ohio (ODA/OEPA/ODNR). The authors wish to thank the laboratory and field work of Jack Kramer, Ellen Ewing and Barbara Merryfield for the operation of the NCWQR's Tributary Loading Program. The aid of Ken Baker in reviewing the manuscript and of Margaret Baker in proofreading is greatly appreciated. Preparation of this commentary paper did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Files

Baker et al. 2019 JGLR.pdf

Files (991.7 kB)

Name Size
md5:a497dc67e33c33fb271c6ca891d32e58
991.7 kB Preview Download

Additional details

References

  • Annex 4, 2015. Recommended Phosphorus Loading Targets for Lake Erie. Final Report of the Annex 4 Objectives and Targets Task Team, May 11, 2015.
  • Annex 4 Modeling Subgroup, 2016. Annex 4 Ensemble Modeling Report Prepared for the GLWQA Nutrient Annex 4 Objectives and targets Team. Peer Review Draft, May 2016.
  • Baker, D.B., Confesor, R.B., Ewing, D.E., Johnson, L.T., Kramer, J.W., Merryfield, B.J., 2014a. Phosphorus loading to Lake Erie from the Maumee, Sandusky and Cuyahoga rivers: the importance of bioavailability. J. Great Lakes Res. 40, 502–517.
  • Baker, D.B., Ewing, D.E., Johnson, L.T., Kramer, J.W., Merryfield, B.J., Confesor Jr., R.B., Richards, R.P., Roerdink, A.A., 2014b. Lagrangian analysis of the transport and processing of agricultural runoff in the lower Maumee River and Maumee Bay. J. Great Lakes Res. 40, 479–495.
  • Baker, D.B., Johnson, L.T., Confessor, R.B., Crumrine, J.P., 2017. Vertical stratification of soil phosphorus as a concern for dissolved phosphorus runoff in the Lake Erie Basin. J. Environ. Qual. 46, 1287–1295.
  • Bertani, I., Obenour, D.R., Steger, C.E., Stow, C.A., 2016. Probabilistically assessing the role of nutrient loading in harmful algal bloom formation in western Lake Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. 42, 1184–1192.
  • Boström, B., Persson, G., Broberg, B., 1988. Bioavailability of different phosphorus forms in freshwater systems. Hydrobiologia 170, 133–155.
  • Bridgeman, T.B., Chaffin, J.D., Filbrun, J.E., 2013. A novel method for tracking Western Lake Erie Microcystis blooms, 2002–2011. J. Great Lakes Res. 39, 83–89.
  • Canada-Ontario Agreement Partners, 2017. Partnering in Phosphorus Control: Achieving Phosphorus Reductions in Lake Erie From Canadian Sources (The Canada-Ontario Draft Action Plan). Environment and Climate Change Canada.
  • CAST, 2000. Relevance of Soil Testing to Agriculture and the Environment. Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (Issue Paper #15, June 2000).
  • Christianson, D.R., Harmel, R.D., Smith, D., Williams, M.R., King, K., 2016. Assessment and synthesis of 50 years of published drainage phosphorus losses. J. Environ. Qual. 45, 1467–1477.
  • DePinto, J.V., Young, T.C., Martin, S.C., 1981. Algal-available phosphorus in suspended sediments from lower Great Lakes tributaries. J. Great Lakes Res. 7, 311–325.
  • DePinto, J.V., Young, T.C., McIlroy, L.M., 1986. Great lakes water quality improvement. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 752–759.
  • DePinto, J.V., Verhamme, E., Schlea, D., Reddar, T., 2016. Appendix B-7:Western Lake Erie Ecosystem Model (WLEEM). Annex 4 Ensemble Modeling Report. Annex 4 Modeling Subgroup. Peer Review Draft, May 2016.
  • Dolan, D.M., Chapra, S.C., 2012. Great Lakes total phosphorus revisited: 1. Loading analysis and update (1994–2008). J. Great Lakes Res. 38, 730–740.
  • Elliott, J., 2013. Evaluating the potential contribution of vegetation as a nutrient source in snowmelt runoff. Can. J. Soil Sci. 93, 435–443.
  • Great Lakes Phosphorus Task Force, 1986. A phosphorus diet for the Lower Lakes. Executive Summary of the U.S. Task Force Plans for Phosphorus Load Reductions to Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Saginaw Bay. 1983 Supplement to Annex 3 of the United States/Canada Water Quality Agreement.
  • Ho, J.C., Michalak, A.M., 2017. Phytoplankton blooms in Lake Erie impacted by both long-term and springtime phosphorus loading. J. Great Lakes Res. 43, 221–228.
  • Ho, J.C., Stumpf, R.P., Bridgeman, T.B., Michalak, A.M., 2017. Using Landsat to extend the historical record of lacustrine phytoplankton blooms: a Lake Erie case study. Remote Sens. Environ. 191, 273–285.
  • Iho, A., Ahlvik, L., Ekhyolm, P., Lehtoranta, J., Kortelainen, P., 2017. Optimal phosphorus abatement redefined: insights from coupled element cycles. Ecol. Econ. 137, 13–19.
  • IJC, 1979. Biological availability of phosphorus. Report to the Science Advisory Board by the Expert Committee on Engineering and Technological Aspects of Great Lakes Water Quality. International Joint Commission, Windsor, Ontario.
  • IJC, 1980. Phosphorus management for the Great Lakes. Final Report of the Phosphorus Management Strategies Task Force. International Joint Commission's Great Lakes Water Quality Board and Great Lakes Science Advisory Board. July 1980, Windsor, Ontario.
  • IJC, 2012. Protocol Amending the Agreement Between Canada and the United States of America on Great Lakes Water Quality, 1978, as Amended on October 16, 1983, and on November 18, 1987. 978-1-100-21204-3.
  • IJC, 2014. A Balanced Diet for Lake Erie: Reducing Phosphorus Loadings and Harmful Algal Blooms. Report of the Lake Erie Ecosystem Priority.
  • IJC, 2016. The United States and Canada Adopt Phosphorus Load Reduction Targets to Combat Lake Erie Algal Blooms. (2016/02/22). https://binational.net.
  • IPNI, 2012. 4R Plant Nutrition. International Plant Nutrition Institute, 3500 Parkway Lane, Suite 550, Norcross, GA 30092, USA.
  • Jarvie, H.P., Johnson, L.T., Sharpley, A.N., Smith, D.R., Baker, D.B., Bruulsema, T.W., Confesor, R., 2017. Increased soluble phosphorus loads to Lake Erie: unintended consequences of conservation practices? J. Environ. Qual. 46, 123–132.
  • Kane, D.D., Conroy, J.D., Richards, R.P., Baker, D.B., Culver, D.A., 2014. Re-eutrophication of Lake Erie: correlations between tributary nutrient loads and phytoplankton biomass. J. Great Lakes Res. 40, 496–501.
  • King, K.W., Williams, M.R., Macrae, M.L., Fausey, N.R., Frankenberger, J., Smith, D.R., Kleinman, P.J., Brown, L.C., 2015a. Phosphorus transport in agricultural subsurface drainage: a review. J. Environ. Qual. 44, 467–485.
  • King, K.W., Williams, M.R., Fausey, N.R., 2015b. Contributions of systematic tile drainage to watershed-scale phosphorus transport. J. Environ. Qual. 44, 486–494.
  • King, K.W., Williams, M.R., Johnson, L.T., Smith, D.R., LaBarge, G.A., 2017. Phosphorus availability in Western Lake Erie Basin drainage waters: legacy evidence across spatial scales. J. Environ. Qual. 46, 466–469.
  • King, K.W., Williams, M.R., LaBarge, G.A., Smith, D.R., Reutter, J.M., Duncan, E.W., Pease, L.A., 2018. Addressing agricultural phosphorus loss in artificially drained landscapes with 4R nutrient management practices. J. Soil Water Conserv. 73, 35–47.
  • Kleinman, P.J.A., Sharpley, A.N., McDowell, R.W., Flaten, D.N., Buda, A.R., Tao, L., Bergstrom, L., Zhu, Q., 2011. Managing agricultural phosphorus for water quality protection: principles for progress. Plant Soil 349, 169–182.
  • Kleinman, P.J.A., Sharpley, A.N., Withers, P.J.A., Bergstrom, L., Johnson, L.T., Doody, D.G., 2015. Implementing agricultural phosphorus science and management to combat eutrophication. Ambio 44, S297–S310 (Suppl.).
  • Kreis, R.G., Richards, R.P., Dolan, D.M., Griesmer, D.A., Warren, G., 2014. An Overview of Great Lakes Phosphorus Loading with an Emphasis on Lake Erie. (Power Point Presentation) GWQA Annex 4. Nutrients Subcommittee. NOAA-GLERL, Ann Arbor, MI (October 29, 2014).
  • Lake Erie LaMP, 2009. Status of Nutrients in the Lake Erie Basin. Prepared by the Lake Erie Nutrient Science Task Group for the Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan. U.S. EPA and Environment Canada (December 2009).
  • Lee, G.F., Jones, R.A., Rast, W., 1980. Availability of phosphorus to phytoplankton and its implications for phosphorus management strategies. In: Loehr, R.C., Martin, C.S., Rast, W. (Eds.), Phosphorus Management Strategies for Lakes. Proceedings of the 1979 Conference, Cornell University and the International Joint Commission. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, MI. 48106.
  • LimnoTech, 2013. An Approach for Determination of Phosphorus Objectives and Target Loads for Lake Erie. Annex 4 Planning. Draft Prepared for Environment Canada, Under Contract to Environment Canada.
  • Liu, J., Khalaf, R., Ulen, B., Bergkvist, G., 2013. Potential phosphorus release from catch crop shoots and roots after freezing-thawing. Plant Soil 371, 543–557.
  • Logan, T.J., Oloya, T.O., Yaksich, S.M., 1979. Phosphate characteristics and bioavailability of suspended sediments from streams draining into Lake Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. 5, 112–123.
  • Maccoux, M.J., Dove, A., Backus, S.M., Dolan, D.M., 2016. Total and soluble reactive phosphorus loadings to Lake Erie: a detailed accounting by year, basin, country and tributary. J. Great Lakes Res. 42, 1151–1165.
  • Matisoff, G., Carson, M.L., 2014. Sediment resuspension in the Lake Erie nearshore. J. Great Lakes Res. 40, 532–540.
  • Matisoff, G., Ciborowski, J.H., 2005. Lake Erie trophic status collaborative study. J. Great Lakes Res. 31 (Supplement 2), 1–10.
  • Matisoff, G., Kaltenberg, E.M., Steely, R.L., Hummel, S.K., Seo, J., Gibbons, K.J., Bridgeman, T.B., Seo, Y., Behbahani, M., James, W.F., Johnson, L.T., Doan, P., Dittrich, M., Evans, M.A., Chaffin, J.D., 2016. Internal loading of phosphorus in western Lake Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. 42, 775–788.
  • Michalak, A.M., Anderson, E.J., Beletsky, D., Boland, S., Bosch, N.S., Bridgeman, T.B., Chaffin, J.D., Cho, K., Confesor, R., Daloglu, I., DePinto, J.V., Evans, M.A., Fahnenstiel, G.L., He, L., Ho, J.C., Jenkins, L., Johengen, T.H., Kuo, K.C., Laporte, E., Liu, X., McWilliams, M.R., Moore, M.R., Posselt, D.J., Richards, R.P., Scavia, D., Steiner, A.L., Verhamme, E., Wright, D.M., Zagorski, M.A., 2013. Record-setting algal bloom in Lake Erie caused by agricultural and meteorological trends consistent with expected future conditions. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 110, 6448–6452.
  • Obenour, D.R., Gronewold, A.D., Stow, C.A., Scavia, D., 2014. Using Bayesian hierarchical model to improve Lake Erie cyanobacteria bloom forecasts. Water Resour. Res. 50. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WRO15616.
  • Ohio EPA, 2010. Ohio Lake Erie Phosphorus Task Force (Final Report). Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Surface Water, Columbus, Ohio.
  • Ohio Lake Erie Commission, 2018. State of Ohio's Domestic Action Plan, 1.0 (February 2018).
  • Richards, R.P., Baker, D.B., 2002. Trends in water quality in LEASEQ rivers and streams (Northwestern Ohio), 1975–1995. J. Environ. Qual. 31, 90–96.
  • Scavia, D., Allan, J.D., Arend, K.K., Bartell, S., Beletsky, D., Bosch, N.S., Brandt, S.B., Briland, R.D., Daloglu, I., DePinto, J.V., Dolan, D.M., Evans, M.A., Farmer, T.M., Goto, D., Han, H., Hook, T.O., Knight, R., Ludsin, S.A., Mason, D., Michalak, A.M., Richards, R.P., Roberts, J.J., Rucinski, D.K., Rutherford, E., Schwab, D.J., Sesterhenn, T.M., Zhang, H., Zhou, Y., 2014. Assessing and addressing the re-eutrophication of Lake Erie: central basin hypoxia. J. Great Lakes Res. 40, 226–246.
  • Scavia, D., DePinto, J.V., Bertani, I., 2016. A multi-model approach to evaluating target phosphorus loads for Lake Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. 42, 1130–1150.
  • Scavia, D., Kalcic, M., Muenich, R.L., Read, J., Aloysius, N., Bertani, I., Boles, C., Confessor, R., DePinto, J., Gildow, M., Martin, J., Reddar, T., Robertson, D., Sowa, S.,Wang, Y., Yen, H., 2017. Multiple models guide strategies for agricultural nutrient reductions. Front. Ecol. Environ. 15, 126–132.
  • Science Advisory Board, 2017. SAB Review of Lake Erie Nutrient Load Reduction Models and Targets ((PDF, 58 pp., 363,402 bytes), EPA-SAB-17-006).
  • Sekaluvu, L., Zhang, L., Gitau, M., 2018. Evaluation of constraints to water quality improvements in the Western Lake Erie Basin. J. Environ. Manag. 205, 85–98.
  • Smith, D.R., King, K.W., Williams, M.R., 2015. What is causing harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. J. Soil Water Conserv. 70, 27A–29A.
  • Smith, D.R., Wilson, R.S., King, K.W., Zwonitzer, M., McGrath, J.M., Harmel, R.D., Haney, R.L., Johnson, L.T., 2018. Lake Erie, phosphorus, and microcystin: is it really the farmer's fault? J. Soil Water Conserv. 73, 48–57.
  • Sonzogni, W.C., 1983. Phosphorus Bioavailability. Appendix IV to the Nonpoint Source Control Task Force Report to the Water Quality Board. International Joint Commission.
  • Sonzogni, W.C., Chapra, S.C., Armstrong, D.E., Logan, T.J., 1982. Bioavailability of phosphorus inputs to lakes. J. Environ. Qual. 11, 555–563.
  • Stumpf, R.P., Wynne, T.T., Baker, D.B., Fahnenstiel, G.L., 2012. Interannual variability of cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Erie. PLoS ONE 7 (8), e42444. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0042444.
  • Stumpf, R.P., Johnson, L.T., Wynne, T.T., Baker, D.B., 2016. Forecasting annual cyanobacterial bloom biomass to inform management decisions in Lake Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. 42, 1174–1181.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1979. Lake Erie Wastewater Management Study, Methodology Report. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, Buffalo, NY.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2014. Influence of Open-Lake Placement of Dredged Material on Western Lake Erie Basin Harmful Algal Blooms, Final Study Report. Prepared by Ecology and Environment Inc., Lancastor, NY and LimnoTech, Ann Arbor, MI for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, August 2014.
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2017. U.S. Action Plan for Lake Erie (Draft Domestic Action Plan). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes National Program Office, Chicago, IL.
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018. U.S. Action Plan for Lake Erie (February 2018 Final). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes National Program Office, Chicago, IL.
  • Verhamme, E.M., Redder, T.M., Schlea, D.A., Grush, J., Bretton, J.F., DePinto, J.V., 2016. Development of the Western Lake Erie Ecosystem Model (WLEEM): application to connect phosphorus loads to cyanobacteria biomass. J. Great Lakes Res. 42, 1193–1205.
  • Williams, M.R., King, K.W., Ford, W., Fausey, N.R., 2016. Edge-of-field research to quantify the impacts of agricultural practices on water quality in Ohio. J. Soil Water Conserv. 71 (1), 9A–12A.
  • Wilson, R.S., Beetstra, M.A., Reutter, J.M., Hesse, G., DeVanna-Fussell, K.M., Johnson, L.T., King, K.W., LaBarge, G.A., Martin, J.F., Winslow, C., 2018. Commentary: achieving phosphorus reduction targets for Lake Erie. J. Great Lakes Res. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/jglr.2018.11.004.
  • Young, T.C., DePinto, J.V., 1982. Algal-availability of particulate phosphorus from diffuse and point sources in the Lower Great Lakes. Hydrobiologia 91, 111–119.
  • Young, T.C., DePinto, J.V., Martin, S.C., Bonner, J.S., 1985. Algal-available particulate phosphorus in the Great Lakes Basin. J. Great Lakes Res. 11, 434–446.