Morson Report

[JZ]

Hemlock I think the canadians might want to look at all the cattle that are along the rainy to try to curb some of the nitrate dumping in the form of cow poo. As far as the P2O4 mabey we should stop using soap that is loaded with it. Also fertilizing lawns at the lake dosn't help. I don't know what the paper mill would use phosporous for but i don't know how to make paper.

[Wild Thing]

Fisky, the LOTWDPOA on the Canada side has been doing a lot of work on this, hiring scientists and partenring with Ontario resources and Enviro Canada. They've held two major symposiums on it and have volunteers taking data throughout the year in various locations. They also had scientists study sediment samples and core them to see how much algae was around in decades past. The result is we're seeing much more algae now than ever before. Amazingly, the Minnesota DNR, PCA or EPA is doing little or nothing that I know if, which is a crime. Then again, we have no environmental rules any more.

The upshot is that they think they can narrow the sources. But it will be a hard sell politically to do anything about it. There are thousands of septic sysyems lining the lake, and it's likely (based on a Minnesota study from the 90's) that half or more are failing to keep phosphorus and other crud out of the lake. Then there's the upstream mills, agriculture and city sewage plants.

We need to solve this problem our the lake will turn into a big old swamp.

By the way, the associations magazine is absolutely great. Check out their wesbite at www.lowdpoa.com.