[All] Alen Marshall re: Lake Erie massive fish and bird deaths

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Hi folks

Here's the views of Biologist & Lake Erie Fish expert Alan Marshall's view on the Lake Erie Fish Kills with issues specific to what's happening here at the local level. 

In a nutshell, it's fecal wastes from cattle, treatment plants, organic wastes.  He wrote:

The bottom line is very simple. Major fish kills are not caused by natural "lake inversions". They are caused by human pollution. This started in the 60's and was responded to sucessfully at first. It's back and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment know full well it's caused by us. The question is whether the M.O.E. will continue to deceive or not. You can fool some of the people some of the time but.... .

http://elmiraadvocate.blogspot.ca/2012/09/anthropogenic-human-causes-of-massive.html


Lulu


________________________________
 From: Ginny Quinn <ginny at kw.igs.net>
To: 'Louisette Lanteigne' <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>; 'gren' <all at gren.ca> 
Sent: Saturday, September 8, 2012 12:26:06 PM
Subject: RE: [All] Lake Erie massive fish and bird deaths due to lack of oxygen
 

Yes  Lulu   and we have to fight   hard with the Region and back them up  ...the developers are taking the Region to the OMB  to try to get across  the COUNTRYSIDE LINE   which we must protect for our future groundwater needs    there’s    HIGH  recharge areas there that we’ll need for community wells.    Prof. Emil Frind has warned repeatedly that  Lake  Erie  will probably not be an option for a pipeline to KW  in 2035  as it is the shallowest and   probably the most contaminated Lake  of the 5.  And with Global warming , there’s the probability of worsening.    The developers have no regard for the next  generations...only to fatten their own pocketbooks.   Ginny
From:all-bounces at gren.ca [mailto:all-bounces at gren.ca] On Behalf Of Louisette Lanteigne
Sent: September-08-12 12:53 AM
To: gren
Subject: [All] Lake Erie massive fish and bird deaths due to lack of oxygen
 
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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