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How animal waste from factory farms contaminates Lake Erie

A cyanobacterial bloom on Lake Erie in 2013.
Mark Brush
/
Michigan Radio
A cyanobacteria bloom on Lake Erie in 2013.

 

It's been two years since drinking water in Toledo was contaminated by cyanobacteriain Lake Erie.

Four hundred thousand Toledo-area residents couldn't drink the water for a few days.

 

That fired up Pam Taylor to start tracking how Lake Erie's been getting contaminated.

 

A big driver of the pollution comes down to two words: animal waste.

 

Taylor is a full-time volunteer with the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan. She has been tracking the amount of manure produced by big factory farms in the Western Lake Erie Basin.

 

GUEST Pam Taylor is a full-time volunteer with the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan.

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