The Ghost of Phosphorus Past webinar with Lamisa Malik
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"The Ghost of Phosphorus Past: How decades of phosphorus use is shaping today’s water quality in North America" Webinar Handout
This is a handout from our webinar, "The Ghost of Phosphorus Past: How decades of phosphorus use is shaping today’s water quality in North America". Eutrophication has been a complex problem in Lake Erie since the 1960s. Algal blooms in Lake Erie have increased significantly despite conservation efforts. Legacy phosphorus is stored in the soil and may take several decades to travel before increasing stream-phosphorus concentration. Different strategies may be required to mitigate the problem in the US and Canadian watersheds of the Lake Erie basin.
"The Ghost of Phosphorus Past" webinar with Lamisa Malik
Phosphorus is one of the key nutrients required for crop and food production. However, when it comes to phosphorus, we now have too much of a good thing. Over the century, from fertilizer application, livestock manure, and human waste production, phosphorus has accumulated in the soil and in the stream network – which we call legacy phosphorus. This accumulated excess phosphorus finds its way to the rivers and streams and can pollute our freshwater bodies for decades after phosphorus sources have stopped. While at present, we are adopting conservation practices to limit phosphorus, we remain haunted by the legacy. Join Lamisa Malik to learn more about how past phosphorus is impacting today’s water quality.