Guys here is some Food for thought

[Fishin Crazy]

This lake drains into the St. Marys River and ends up in Lake Erie, how much gets added along the way? Lake St. Marys was just like Lake Erie years ago a good place to fish and when I first noticed it I didn't think to much about it. But now when I see what has happened to Lake St. Marys I fear what is happening on Erie.


Kudos to our Watershed Hero's
Editorial: Grand Lake Saint Marys is text book mess
By the Dayton Daily News | Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 05:09 PM

The ecological and economic tragedy at Grand Lake St. Marys is stunning. Think of Ohio’s largest inland lake like a bathtub. If runoff loaded with phosphorous from manure and fertilizer keeps flowing into the tub, eventually the water is going to turn so foul, you won’t want to get in it. And anything good in it will die. Cyanobacteria feeds on the phosphorous, which sucks the oxygen — and the life — out of the water. Grand Lake St. Marys is an especially sensitive lake. Water flows slowly through the 13,000-acre reservoir, meaning it only gets “flushed” every 18 months. In addition, the lake doesn’t have a lot of islands or channels, which prevent erosion and filter out bad stuff. Most significant, the state’s largest concentration of animal farms are nearby. Manure-tainted runoff is poison to the lake, and it has been building up over decades. With government now telling people not to go near the water, Grand Lake St. Marys’ tourism business is dead. That’s as much as a $200-million-a-year industry. That business, however, pales in comparison to the local agricultural industry, which is estimated at $675 million. Needless to say, agri-business has intense clout. In a way, Grand Lake St. Marys is Ohio’s BP disaster. The damage isn’t nearly as extensive, but the cleanup will take years. Moreover, people are feeling their way because no one has a formula for fixing something that’s been so violated. Unlike the oil spill in the Gulf, however, Grand Lake St. Marys didn’t get fouled in an instant because a specific piece of equipment failed. It happened because multitudes of people failed — over years. The algae blooms have become more frequent, and even as efforts have been made to limit pollution, there was no sense that time could run out.

Some people are comparing Grand Lake St. Marys to Indian Lake. Indian Lake is also shallow and man-made, vulnerable to similar threats. Even setting aside the differences — that Indian Lake recharges more quickly, that it has more shoreline, that row crops are more prevalent in that region than manure-producing animal farms — it, too, could be on life-support today. But locals came together years ago — the agricultural community and people who valued the lake — and figured out what had to be done differently. One observer notes that both communities live under the same laws, but, in one case, something was preserved; in the other, something was allowed to be destroyed. It’s hard not to see the different results as statements about local leadership.

At this point, experts are still trying to get their arms around the extent of the problem, whether there’s a way to clean up the lake, and how much it might cost. If alum is poured on the water, if dredging equipment is brought in, the fix will be expensive, running into the millions. That money won’t come from the local community, but from the federal and state governments. (Just on Tuesday, the federal government kicked in $1 million.) Whatever is done, all of us will be paying for the fact that the Grand Lake St. Marys community couldn’t come together on how to protect a resource, and neither the federal or state environmental protection agencies knocked heads when people decided to do too little.......The one sure thing is that everyone will have a long time to work out differences. No amount of money can fix Grand Lake St. Marys quickly

[Fishin Crazy]

Was repling to the thread below (allige) got carried away with my posts.

[airshot]

The same scenario may be happening with the asian carp delima in the great lakes. Everone thinks there is plenty of time to study the situation until one day the situation arrives and everyone will wonder "how did this happen"...........

Airshot

[wakina]

Here is a web site that may enlighten us all as to why GLSM needs cleaned up. Part of that poluted water flows out of GLSM and into the Maumee River Water Shed and ends up in Lake erie. Now add to that the runoff of all the farm land in Indiana and Ohio that is drained into Lake Erie besides that that comes from GLSM and you can see that there is a real potential to seriously damage our great Lake Erie. Take the time to run a search on the Maumee water shed and see how many square miles of land is drained into Lake Erie. Now add that to the already vile water which by the way is concentrated that flows out of GLSM. What is your conclusion?


The following material can be found in the Link that I have provided and I have high lighted the important part.

http://www.clickfindbuyersguide.com/..._st_marys.html

Grand Lake St. Marys is located in west central Ohio. The city of St. Marys is located near the northeast corner of the lake and Celina is on the northwest corner. State Routes 29, 364, and 703 provide access on the north side of the lake; State Route 364 on the east; State Routes 219 and 703 on the south; and US Route 127 on the west.
It is an artificial lake The lake covers 13,500 acres (55 km²) in Auglaize and Mercer counties.
Grand Lake St. Marys is the largest inland lake in Ohio in terms of land area, but is extremely shallow, with an average depth of only 5 to 7 feet (1.5 to 2 m) with a soft bottom of silt. Some isolated areas of sandy or clay bottoms exist where wave action keeps the bottom cleaner. Lots of rock rip rap has been added to reduce shoreline erosion; these rocky shorelines provide cover for several species of fish. Numerous boat docks, shoreline brush, and fallen trees provide cover for fish. It was constructed 1837-1845 as a reservoir for the Miami and Erie Canals. Two earthen dams were built on the headwaters of two major drainage systems flooding the area between them. The spillway on the west end discharges water into the Wabash and Ohio River drainage systems; water from the east end spillway flows into the St. Marys River, and from there into the Maumee River and Lake Erie. In the 1890's oil was discovered in the area, and oil derricks were set up in the lake. These were the first off-shore oil rigs ever constructed.

[wakina]

I thought I would add this so you could see how many square miles (8316 sq. miles) are drained into the Maumee River Basin! It would include the spillway water from the east end of GLSM but that water would also contain some of the water from the Ohio River Watershed. With the present rainy condition I wonder just how much water is actually released into the St. Marys River, Then on to Lake Erie.

http://www.glc.org/raptest/maumee.html

[Fishin Crazy]

Here a link in an effort to raise and seek help from the public for Grand lake.


If you are interested. Havent seen anything like this for Lake Erie Yet?



http://www.lakeimprovement.com/support

Also a link to state actions being taken.

http://www.epa.ohio.gov/portals/47/c...actionplan.pdf

[Fishin Crazy]

I thought I would add this so you could see how many square miles (8316 sq. miles) are drained into the Maumee River Basin! It would include the spillway water from the east end of GLSM but that water would also contain some of the water from the Ohio River Watershed. With the present rainy condition I wonder just how much water is actually released into the St. Marys River, Then on to Lake Erie.

http://www.glc.org/raptest/maumee.html

I think its around 1.2 Billion cubic ft of water in 18 months that drains into the St. Marys river if my math is correct.

[Island Runner]

The lake is in bad shape. I live 5 miles from Grand Lake and have my whole life. Sad to say, but in the last 15 years of owning boats I have never once put my own boat in Grand Lake. And have probably only been out on it a handful of times. Im not here to bash Grand Lake or say bad about it by any means but,to me, it has always been a shallow, dirty lake. I will post some links to pics my friends took last year. The green color is not doctored up! The lake is a bit better this year, but last year the color and stench were almost unreal. I hear the alum treatments have did well controlling the algea and more are scheduled for next year. I would love to see the lake turn around. If it did, I'd be tempted to buy a small boat again just to go out on when time/funds don't let me run on the big water!

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=grand...xoeXkAQ&zoom=1

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=grand...xoeXkAQ&zoom=1

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=grand...xoeXkAQ&zoom=1

[Walleye_Rick]

Someone mentioned asian carp in this thread. The video below should sound an alarm with everyone. The Wabash and Illinois rivers are being overrun by Asian Carp. If these fish find there way into Lake Erie it will be the end of fishing as we know it.

http://youtu.be/x3Bf0WhvsNk