Label
Office of the Mayor
Title
A Resolution Requesting The Ohio Department Of Agriculture To Require The Two Proposed Pending CAFO Permits That Would Add 14,400 (fourteen thousand four hundred) More Swine To The Maumee Watershed Provide That The Manure From These Facilities Be Treated To Human Waste Disposal Standards; And That Any Manure From These Facilities That Is Land Applied Must Meet The Phosphorous Agronomic Standards That Apply To Commercial Fertilizer.
Summary
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
In 2019 western Lake Erie experienced a severe harmful algal bloom in spite of the fact that we had less commercial fertilizer, phosphorous, and nitrogen field application because many farmers were prevented from planting from the significant spring floods.
These harmful algal blooms cost hundreds of millions of dollars and economic harm to the Lake Erie basin for things such as monitoring, treatment, capital costs for Water Treatment Plant's to deal with algae in the source water, decreased property values and reduction in revenue generated by fishing and boating and loss of enjoyment from beach closures.
In the 1980's the meat and dairy industries changed from pasteurizing animals to confining animals in order to bring them closer to market.
This change to large confined animal feeding operations significantly reduced the number of family farms raising livestock but more importantly radically changed the way manure has been disposed of, putting our lake and bay at risk.
The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Annex 4, identifies the Maumee watershed as the most significant contributor of nutrients to western Lake Erie.
While investments in best management practices to reduce nutrient runoff in the Maumee/Western Lake Erie watershed are helpful, the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in these practices are not showing nutrient reductions, according to former E.P.A. Director Craig Butler.
While improving best farming practices have led to...
Click here for full text