Artificial wetlands filtering nutrients from bloom-prone Grand Lake St. Marys

By on October 30, 2013
Wetlands and Estuaries News


Ohio natural resource managers have constructed a wetland to catch excess nutrients and combat algae blooms in Grand Lake St. Marys, Great Lakes Echo reported.

The artificial wetland project began development in spring of 2012, and began operation in June 2013. The 200-acre wetlands are one part of a multi-step filtration system, which also includes an alum dosing station and settlement ponds. About 1.3 million gallons of water from the Prairie Creek watershed flows through the system each day.

The Great Lakes region has been the site of nearly 45 percent of all reported algal blooms this summer. Dissolved reactive phosphorous, one of the primary causes behind the blooms, binds with soil through the use of commercial fertilizers.

 

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