Improved Agricultural Management and Water Quality in the Lake Erie Watershed

ABSTRACT

To paraphrase the well-known song, "Lake Erie takes in what her tributaries send her". Managing the coastal zone, of necessity, means managing the watershed. Over the last 20 years, the western Lake Erie watershed has seen many research and demonstration projects to promote agricultural Best Management Practices, and important changes have occurred in the way the land is used. These include adoption of conservation tillage on 50% of the row crop acreage, and substantial reductions in fertilizer use (including manure), particularly the phosphorus component. At the same time, substantial and statistically significant downward trends have been detected in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers, in sediment, phosphorus, and some forms of nitrogen. Various lines of evidence argue that these water quality improvements are primarily due to changes in agricultural management.

Recently, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program has been implemented in Ohio, with the goals of 1) protecting 10% of stream miles in the western Lake Erie watersheds with filter strips and riparian buffers, and 2) reducing annual sediment loads from these watersheds by 150,000 metric tons over 10 years, saving 825,000 metric tons of sediment in that time, and 2,325,000 metric tons over 20 years. This project should further reduce loads of sediment and associated nutrients to Lake Erie.