Editing Lake Erie (section)

====Water quality issues and restoration====
[[File:Buffalo December 2024 34 (Lake Erie).jpg|thumb|Lake Erie at Buffalo in 2024]]

Lake Erie infamously became very polluted in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the quantity of [[heavy industry]] situated in cities on its shores, with reports of bacteria-laden beaches and fish contaminated by industrial waste.<ref name=twsZ36>{{cite news
 |title        = Troubled Waters: Pollution in the Great Lakes: Topic spans: 1959–1996
 |publisher    = CBC Digital Archives
 |year         = 2009
 |url          = http://archives.cbc.ca/environment/pollution/topics/1390/
 |access-date  = January 26, 2011
 |archive-date = December 9, 2010
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20101209012941/http://archives.cbc.ca/environment/pollution/topics/1390/
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref> In the 1970s, patches of the lake were declared dead because of [[industrial waste]] and sewage from runoffs; as ''[[The New York Times]]'' reporter Denny Lee wrote in 2004, "The lake, after all, is where the [[Rust Belt]] meets the water."<ref name="twsX43d"/>

Incidents occurred of the oily surfaces of tributary rivers emptying into Lake Erie catching fire: in 1969, Cleveland's [[Cuyahoga River]] erupted in flames,<ref name="twsX215">{{cite news|date=December 3, 1979|title=Environment: Comeback for the Great Lakes|magazine=Time magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948661,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408152157/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948661,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 8, 2008|access-date=January 24, 2011}}</ref> chronicled in a ''Time'' magazine article which lamented a tendency to use rivers flowing through major cities as "convenient, free sewers";<ref name="twsJanY214a"/> the [[Detroit River]] caught fire on another occasion.<ref name=twsX312a/> The outlook was gloomy:

{{blockquote|Each day, Detroit, Cleveland and 120 other municipalities fill Erie with {{convert|1.5|e9usgal|e6m3|abbr=off|disp=sqbr}} of "inadequately treated wastes, including nitrates and phosphates ... These chemicals act as fertilizer for growths of algae that suck oxygen from the lower depths and rise to the surface as odoriferous green scum ... Commercial and game fish—blue pike, whitefish, sturgeon, northern pike—have nearly vanished, yielding the waters to trash fish that need less oxygen. Weeds proliferate, turning water frontage into swamp. In short, Lake Erie is in danger of dying by suffocation.|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, August 1969<ref name="twsJanY214a"/>|title=|source=}}

In December 1970, a federal [[grand jury]] investigation led by U.S. Attorney [[Robert Jones (Ohio lawyer)|Robert Jones]] began, of water pollution allegedly being caused by about 12 companies in northeastern Ohio.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rojoneswi.wixsite.com/robertjonesjdlibrary/single-post/2018/06/24/REF-51-%E2%80%9CUS-Opens-Probe-Here-on-Pollution%E2%80%9D-The-Plain-Dealer-Cleveland-Ohio-December-1970|title=REF 51 "U.S. Opens Probe Here on Pollution" The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, December 1970.|website=Home {{!}} Robert Walter Jones J.D. Library and Archive|date=June 24, 2018|language=en|access-date=February 24, 2019|archive-date=February 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225161957/https://rojoneswi.wixsite.com/robertjonesjdlibrary/single-post/2018/06/24/REF-51-%E2%80%9CUS-Opens-Probe-Here-on-Pollution%E2%80%9D-The-Plain-Dealer-Cleveland-Ohio-December-1970|url-status=live}}</ref> It was the first grand jury investigation of water pollution in the area.  The grand jury indicted four corporations for polluting Lake Erie and waterways in northeast Ohio. Facing fines were Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., Shell Oil Co., Uniroyal Chemical Division of Uniroyal Inc. and Olin Corp.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rojoneswi.wixsite.com/robertjonesjdlibrary/single-post/2018/06/24/REF-52-US-Jury-Indicts-CEI-on-Ash-Dumping-in-Lake%E2%80%9D-by-Brian-Williams-The-Plain-Dealer-Cleveland-Ohio-December-1970|title=REF 52 U.S. Jury Indicts CEI on Ash Dumping in Lake" by Brian Williams, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, December 1970.|website=Home {{!}} Robert Walter Jones J.D. Library and Archive|date=June 24, 2018|language=en|access-date=February 24, 2019|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802231202/https://rojoneswi.wixsite.com/robertjonesjdlibrary/single-post/2018/06/24/REF-52-US-Jury-Indicts-CEI-on-Ash-Dumping-in-Lake%E2%80%9D-by-Brian-Williams-The-Plain-Dealer-Cleveland-Ohio-December-1970|url-status=live}}</ref> [[United States Attorney General]] John N. Mitchell gave a press conference December 18, 1970, referencing new pollution control litigation, with particular reference to work with the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]], and announcing the filing of a lawsuit that morning against the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation for discharging substantial quantities of [[cyanide]] into the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/legacy/2011/08/23/12-18-1970.pdf|title=Press Conference Attorney General John Mitchell 12-18-1970|access-date=February 24, 2019|archive-date=April 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412070125/https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/legacy/2011/08/23/12-18-1970.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Jones filed the misdemeanor charges in [[United States district court|district court]], alleging violations of the [[Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899|1899 Rivers and Harbors Act]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rojoneswi.wixsite.com/robertjonesjdlibrary/single-post/2018/06/24/REF-53-%E2%80%9CCharges-JL-With-Pollution%E2%80%9D-AP-The-Plain-Dealer-Cleveland-Ohio-December-31st-1970|title=REF 53 "Charges J&L With Pollution" (AP) The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, December 31st, 1970.|website=Home {{!}} Robert Walter Jones J.D. Library and Archive|date=June 24, 2018|language=en|access-date=February 24, 2019|archive-date=February 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225161919/https://rojoneswi.wixsite.com/robertjonesjdlibrary/single-post/2018/06/24/REF-53-%E2%80%9CCharges-JL-With-Pollution%E2%80%9D-AP-The-Plain-Dealer-Cleveland-Ohio-December-31st-1970|url-status=live}}</ref>

Cleveland's director of public utilities Ben Stefanski pursued a massive effort to "scrub the Cuyahoga"; the effort cost $100&nbsp;million in bonds, according to one estimate.<ref name="twsJanY214a" /> New sewer lines were built.<ref name="twsJanY214a" /> Clevelanders approved a bond issue by 2 to 1 to upgrade Cleveland's sewage system.<ref name="twsJanY214a" /> Federal officials acted as well: the [[United States Congress]] passed the [[Clean Water Act]] of 1972,<ref name="twsX215" /><ref>Ashworth (1987), pp. 143–44.</ref> and the United States and Canada established [[water pollution]] limits in an international water quality agreement. The Corps' LEWMS was also instituted at that time.

The clearing of the water column is partly the result of the introduction and rapid spread of zebra mussels from Europe, which had the effect of covering the lake bottom, with each creature filtering a liter of fresh water each day, helping to restore the lake to a cleaner state.<ref name=twsX43d/> The 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement significantly reduced the dumping and runoff of phosphorus into the lake. The lake has since become clean enough to allow sunlight to infiltrate its water and produce algae and sea weed, but a dead zone persists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/lakeerie/eriedeadzone.html|title=Lake Erie|website=US Environmental Protection Agency|date=August 20, 2015|access-date=December 16, 2005|archive-date=January 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108040642/http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/lakeerie/eriedeadzone.html|url-status=live}}</ref> There have been instances of beach closings at Presque Isle because of unexplained E. Coli contaminations,<ref name=twsX22a>{{cite news
 |author       = Don Hopey
 |title        = Mystery lurks in Lake Erie: E. coli pollution has closed beaches the past two summers; experts can't determine where it comes from or how to stop it
 |newspaper    = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 |date         = August 27, 2006
 |url          = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06239/716416-85.stm
 |access-date  = January 24, 2011
 |archive-date = November 24, 2011
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111124074008/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06239/716416-85.stm
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> possibly caused by sewer water overflows after heavy downpours.

Since the 1970s environmental regulation has led to a great increase in water quality and the return of economically important fish species such as [[walleye]] and other biological life.<ref>[http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10366_46403_46404-145852--,00.html Recovery of Lake Erie Walleye a Success Story]. ''Michigan Department of Natural Resources.''  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011160409/http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0%2C1607%2C7-153-10366_46403_46404-145852--%2C00.html |date=October 11, 2012 }}</ref> There was substantial evidence that the new controls had substantially reduced levels of [[DDT]] in the water by 1979.<ref name=twsX215cc/> Cleanup efforts were described in 1979 as a notable environmental success story, suggesting that the cumulative effect of legislation, studies, and bans had reversed the effects of pollution:<ref name=twsX215cc/>

{{blockquote|The globs of oil, the multicolored industrial discharges, the flotsam from shoreline cities, the fecal and bacterial wastes are no longer dumped in the lakes in vast quantities.|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, 1979<ref name=twsX215cc/>}}

Joint U.S.–Canadian agreements pushed 600 of 864 major industrial dischargers to meet requirements for keeping the water clean.<ref name=twsX215cc/> One estimate was that $5&nbsp;billion was spent to upgrade plants to treat sewage.<ref name=twsX215cc/> The change toward cleaner water has been in a positive direction since the 1970s.

There was a tentative exploratory plan to capture [[Carbon dioxide|CO<sub>2</sub>]], compress it to a liquid form, and pump it a half-mile (800 m) beneath Lake Erie's surface underneath the porous rock structure.<ref name=twsZ62>{{cite news
 |author       = Tyler Hamilton
 |title        = Risky business
 |newspaper    = The Star
 |date         = July 9, 2007
 |url          = https://www.thestar.com/business/article/233699--risky-business
 |access-date   = January 26, 2011
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121023100125/http://www.thestar.com/business/article/233699--risky-business
 |archive-date = October 23, 2012
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref> According to [[Chemical engineering|chemical engineer]] Peter Douglas, there is sufficient storage space beneath Lake Erie to hold between 15 and 50 years of liquid {{CO2}} emissions from the 4,000 megawatt Nanticoke coal plant.<ref name=twsZ62/> But there has been no substantial progress on this issue since 2007.