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Cleanups planned for Coastweeks
The News-Messenger (9/2)
Ohio's 2008 Coastweeks observance will again focus on the preservation and protection of Lake Erie and its watershed through a variety of cleanup events along the shoreline and throughout its watershed.
Maritime Academy may hike maritime tuition up to 57%
Traverse City Record-Eagle (8/27)
Some of next year's students at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy could face tuition rate hikes of 50 percent or more.
Students build wind turbines
WTVG-TV Toledo (8/27)
Science students at Clay high school will soon have a way to measure the wind and how much power it can produce. This grant-funded project will provide data on how well turbines produce power in the changeable wind environment near the lake.
What's going on in your neighborhood this month? Meet other people and learn together at recreational and educational events! Our new dynamic calendar is updated daily with current educational events.
Do detergents contain a good food for algae?
from Stephanie in Ann Arbor, MI, Age 9
Most of the popular brands of detergents in stores contain chemicals called phosphates. Phosphates are an organic substance (also used in fertilizers) that algae can eat to grow quickly and reproduce rapidly in a process that can lead to the eutrophication of a body of water.
Detergents are often confused with regular soap, but they are actually quite different. They are not natural products and should always be carefully used. Many of them contain very powerful chemicals, bleaches, and enzymes that can be dangerous for you as well as the environment. Detergent residues can even last up to ten times longer than soap in rivers and lakes before being broken down by bacteria! All kinds of detergents destroy the external mucus layers that protect fish from bacteria and parasites. They also lower the water's surface tension, making pesticides and other chemicals more easily absorbed by the fish.
You can ask your shop manager where you can find the available environmentally safe detergents (they should be both bio-degradable and phosphate-free).
Related references:
TEACH: Water pollution in the Great Lakes
TEACH: Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs)
Pennsylvania DNR: Act 31 -- The Phosphate Detergent Act
Thank you for your question!
Answered on August 3, 2001