Phosphorus pollution comes from many sources, mainly sewage treatment plants, storm sewers, and industrial sources. Most of these are point sources.
In rural areas, the sources are sewage treatments from small towns, improper septic systems, storm sewers, manure runoff, nutrient runoff, milkhouse wastes, and eroded soil. Most of these are non-point sources, non-point sources make it extremely hard to pin point exactly where the phosphorus pollution is coming from or how it is getting there.

We know from initial research that the four areas of the lake that are struggling the most to meet desired levels of phosphorus are: Missisquoi Bay, St. Albans Bay, Northeast Arm, and South Lake A. We also know that in these areas the phosphorus levels are either increasing or remaining stable. Water coming from wastewater plants generally meets the target load levels, and that nonpoint phosphorus pollution is the largest contributor to areas not meeting target levels. Areas such as Missisquoi Bay that struggle to meet target phosphorus levels receive the majority of their phosphorus from agriculture. Agriculture only accounts for 14% of the land area, but contributes 38% to the total nonpoint source phosphorus pollution. Phosphorus is easily transferred because it is found in dissolved water and has the ability to attach to soil particles, which is undoubtedly a reason that agriculture is able to contribute so significantly to the phosphorus load. Nutrient rich soil from farmlands, excessive use of fertilizer and erosion are key contributors to the phosphorus load in lake Champlain.

For our first group meeting, we met and discussed the causes of the excess phosphorous. The main pollution causes we found that were agriculture related where discharges from farmsteads & production areas, poorly managed crop land, and poorly managed pastures. There may be more reasons for the phosphorous pollution so the search continues. The image shows phosphorous pollution in different sections of the lake. So the next step is to find reasons for the pollution in those areas.

First Group Meeting: The Lake Champlain Basin Atlas

For our first group meeting, we decided to look at the surrounding area of Lake Champlain to kind of get a general idea of what surrounds the lake. Lake Champlain is surrounded by numerous watersheds, which are areas of land where all of the water under it or drains off it eventually reaches the same location. The Lake Champlain Basin is what the area of watersheds are called that surround Lake Champlain. All of the watersheds act as a drainage area for Lake Champlain, which means any rain, snow, sleet or any kind of precipitation that falls on one of these watershed regions will eventually enter Lake Champlain. The image shows the watersheds as hydrological units. The solid color images are known as 8-digit watersheds, which is used in modeling the influence of major river systems, particularly in terms of land use and phosphorus loads. Eleven digit watersheds are used for research which benefits from a more detailed examination of the landscape.

Phosphorus Loading by Land Use

Trends in phosphorus dumping by area in the Lake Champlain region

(edit: Posting the image broke the blog's tables. Posting link instead. ~dm)

First Group Meeting

For our first meeting, our group met in the library to discuss what we had found about phosphorus. We found that phosphorus comes from point and no point sources. The point sources are easier to control, because we know where it is coming from so we can try to stop it. Some things that are being done to help with the excess phosphorus are storing manure in pits and the laws created about when farmers can use manure as fertilizer. Everybody showed up to the meeting on time and provided information bout the project.

1. Explain the lake shore protection picture(pg. 444)..... And explain why or why not it helps runoff from getting in the lake.

2. Explain nutrient cycles and how we can relate our problems to it.

3. What would be more beneficial: Bioretention or Storm water ponds?