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$77M Project Aims to Cut Farm Runoff Feeding Lake Erie Algae
By: Associated Press
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TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is adding more money for a project in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana to cut farm runoff that feeds harmful algae in Lake Erie.
Federal officials announced Monday that another $41 million will go to farmers who take steps to reduce pollutants washing away from their fields.
The overall project will provide $77 million toward cutting phosphorus runoff in western Lake Erie over three years.
The USDA will work with farmers by developing plans including planting strips of grass or cover crops that help the soil filter pollutants.
Lake Erie continues to be plagued by algae blooms that produce the kind of toxins that contaminated Toledo’s water supply in 2014.
The algae bloom that spread across the lake this past summer was the largest on record.