[All] Lake Erie massive fish and bird deaths due to lack of oxygen

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Hi folks

Currently Lake Erie is seeing the largest die off of near shore fish in recent history. The beaches are littered, and in some cases, covered with tens of thousands of rotting fish. Species found included carp, sheephead, yellow perch, Lake Erie catfish, suckerfish, smelt, whitefish and minnows. 

http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2012/09/06/fish-kill-cause-could-have-huge-implications


Thousands of rotten dead fish and some dead birds are along Lake Erie's shoreline right now, along 40 km of beach.  The cause according to this news story published in the Toronto Star is: Nitrate issues: The lack of oxygen. 

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1253189--lack-of-oxygen-killed-lake-erie-fish-tests-show



As a precaution, Chatham-Kent public utilities increased sampling of the water since the incident. The results show there's no need for additional treatment of the water and quality of drinking water hasn't been affected, according to Dr. David Colby, the Medical Officer of Health for Chatham-Kent.

http://www.am980.ca/news/local/Story.aspx?ID=1770024

Recently this research story came out noting the presence of a pathogen linked to human sewage at Beaches on the US section of Erie. The researchers found Arcobacter at all beeches they tested. 75.2% of 129 samples with occurrence and densities in concordance with the level of fecal contamination. 

http://phys.org/news/2012-08-gi-pathogen-lake-linked-human.html


In my view, I suspect that part of the reason we are having these issues is due to the fact we've had drought conditions most of this summer. Very little water has been circulating in tributaries. Very little groundwater has been available to dilute farm wastes and aquifer contaminates. With the recent heavy rains we had a high flush of manure dust and organic materials introduced into tributaries creating a spike in nitrate issues.  

I'm wondering if the lack of rain over summer months may have gone beyond the design constraints of our sewage discharge processes resulting in the release of higher than normal concentrations of organic manner into the Grand. I have a hard time thinking we actually had enough flow to reasonably dilute the waste materials. The situation might pose serious health risks for private well system owners right now since there is less water to dilute point source contamination.

When you factor in the amount of stress fish face in regards to the elevated temperatures we've been experiencing, it's no wonder they're dying off. 

Lulu
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