How Healthy is Lake Ontario? EPA Wants to Know More
Published: Wednesday, June 28, 2023 12:00 pm
By: Evan Anstey
NIAGARA COUNTY (WIVB) — We’ve seen it look blue, green, brown and all sorts of colors in between. But what’s going on below the surface? The United States and Canada are working together to protect Lake Ontario and learn more about the potential threats it faces.
As part of the 2023 Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been utilizing two research vessels as to collect data on the lake, in order to properly address issues of nutrient pollution, chemical contaminants, habitats and invasive species.
“Our action to collect this data on Lake Ontario will help us identify the most pressing challenges and opportunities and further support our efforts to protect and restore this great lake for current and future generations,” Regional Administrator Lisa Garcia said.
(Lake Ontario, as seen from the Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse in Somerset, N.Y.)
The two vessels, Lake Guardian and Lake Explorer II, are being funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).
“Since 2010, the multi-agency GLRI has provided funding to 16 federal organizations to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem and to accelerate progress toward achieving long-term goals,” the GLRI’s website says.
According to the binational State of the Great Lakes 2022 Report, things haven’t been looking bad, with the immense body of water being assessed as “fair” and “unchanging to improving.”
Even with Olcott Beach’s near-constant closings and reopenings last year, the report says overall, there have been “fewer beach closings and declines in contaminant concentrations in fish.” Beaches on Lake Ontario were actually rated overall as “good and improving” for swimming and other recreation during the swimming season.
“Toxic chemicals monitored in Lake Ontario are assessed as Fair and long-term trends indicate that concentrations are declining, including declines in contaminant concentrations in fish filets,” the report states.
But it’s not all good news. The report detailed the negative impact of invasive species and “rapid urban population growth in the western part of the Canadian side of the basin.”
“Diporeia, an important food source for prey fish, is now rarely found during regular sampling,” the report said. “Invasive species, including sea lamprey, invasive mussels and phragmites, have significantly altered habitat and the food web in Lake Ontario.”
Algae has been a concern in Lake Ontario, too. Although stringy, green cladophora is a native species that serves as a food source for small fish and invertebrates, it sometimes reaches nuisance levels. Excessive levels of cladophora, according to the report, can lead to beach and shoreline fouling, municipal water intake clogging and impacts on fishing.
Not only that, but it could have an impact on the surface, as well.
“Cladophora washed up on shorelines may also harbor pathogens and create an environment conducive to the development of botulism outbreaks, which pose a risk mainly for fish and birds,” the report says.
And regarding the urbanization factor, the report says “human population in the Lake Ontario basin has increased by more than 60 percent over the past 50 years, which is the highest of all the Great Lakes basins.”
“Development, agriculture and road density are stressors on the Great Lakes ecosystem, especially in areas with larger populations,” the report said.
Ontario was the only one of the Great Lakes to not receive a rating of “good and undetermined” for groundwater quality. Instead, it was rated “fair and undetermined.”
“The concentrations of nitrate in groundwater are primarily from agricultural practices. Chloride is mainly from the urban use of road de-icing salt. Elevated concentrations of both of these constituents in water can have detrimental impacts to ground- and surface water quality, aquatic ecosystems, and human health,” the report says. “Groundwater plays an important role as a reservoir of water that, if contaminated, has the potential to become a source of contamination to the Great Lakes.”
This year’s research on Lake Ontario, utilizing the two vessels mentioned above, began in April and will continue through September. More than 70 bi-national activities are part of the plan.
tags: Environmental Impact, Lake Ontario, New York State
