Eutrophication of Lake Erie

1
Eutrophication ofLake Erie

• Teela Gaetz

2
Formation of Lake Erie

• Lake Erie was formed originally by glacial
  movement around 1 million years ago
• Lake Erie in its present form is about 4,000
  years old
• Lake Erie started as a a lowland or basin but
  after many glacier advances was formed into the
  lake it now is

3
What Happened?

• In the 1960s plant and animal life in Lake Erie
  started to die off due to pollution
• Run off and sewage was causing there to be too
  many nutrients in the lake disturbing the natural
  balance

4
What happened (cont)

• The extra nutrients in the lake caused an
  increase in the growth of algae, the added amount
  of algae caused a depletion of oxygen which was
  needed by the lakes plants and animals to
  survive

5
What has been done to improve Lake Erie

• All sewage and septic systems surrounding Lake
  Erie were replaced or fixed to reduce the run off
  into the lake
• Debris was collected from Lake Eries shore line

6
What has been done to improve Lake Erie (cont)

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service used money from
  congress to buy land surrounding Lake Erie to
  prevent future pollution
• Millions were spent on waste water treatment
  plants to help prevent future pollution

7
What challenges does Lake Erie still face

• Scientists and lake researchers are worried that
  what happened to lake Erie in the 60s could
  happen again if the conditions of the lake are
  not monitored and lake clean up is not continued

8
Bibliography

• The internet . . . . . . text book a little bit
  and yeah thats it the only web page I can name
  is www.dictionary.com
• TeeLa