WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) has introduced legislation aimed at reducing the harmful effect algal blooms have on the Great Lakes.  H.R. 6017 would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a regional response plan to reduce algal blooms in the Great Lakes and require the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban household cleaning products that contain greater than 0.5 percent phosphorus by volume. 

“Similar efforts have worked at the local and state level, but a piecemeal approach isn’t enough,” Stupak said.  “We need a comprehensive plan to address the harmful effects of the excessive nutrients choking off our Great Lakes ecosystem.”

Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in appropriate amounts, are essential to the health of aquatic systems.  Excessive nutrients, however, can result in harmful or nuisance algal blooms, reduced spawning grounds and habitat, fish kills and public health concerns related to impaired drinking water sources and increased exposure to toxic microbes.  A 2005 study by the state of Minnesota found that approximately 19 percent of phosphorus entering municipal wastewater systems comes from dishwashing detergent.

Recent reports on water quality conditions indicate that phosphorus and nitrogen are the leading causes of impairment in lakes, ponds and reservoirs, and the second leading cause of impairment to bays and estuaries.  In the latest National Water Quality Inventory, states reported that roughly 40 percent of lakes, 22 percent of bays and estuaries and 15 percent of rivers and streams contained excessive nutrients that were causing the body of water to fail to meet its designated uses.  In the Great Lakes, states have identified nutrient contamination as a major cause of water quality impairment.  Widespread outbreaks of harmful algal blooms have occurred throughout the Great Lakes, but most notably at Bear Lake, Muskegon Lake, Saginaw Bay and Western Lake Erie in Michigan.

“Previous efforts to reduce the flow of pollution into the Great Lakes led to a reduction in phosphorus and an improvement in the health of the lakes,” Stupak said.  “But excessive nutrients remain a problem and the federal government must do more to help states combat it.”