Family Farm Fun

Phosphorus Loading Puzzle

Now that the pieces are all put together, will a true picture of the nutrient pollution in our lake be announced to the public? Not if the agricultural lobby can help it. HABs – if corporate agribusinesses can focus the public’s attention on something new, then maybe the public will forget about the decades of unchecked and unregulated agricultural runoff that has already impaired lake waters and choked the shallows with algae and aquatic weeds. Promoting HABs gives them a chance to reset the clock and start doing nothing all over again. The NYSDEC HABs Program Guide proclaims that they are “implementing planned actions that can control impacts from nonpoint sources” and reduce the phosphorus loading of Cayuga Lake Further reading shows that their plan is to target and regulate septic systems (1%), and rely on voluntary guidelines and education reduce Agriculture’s (82%) impact. This plan is just a repackaging of the same worthless policies that have facilitated the increase of agricultural pollution for more than thirty years. The NYSDEC HABs reports [some of which are 125 pages in length] contain so many equivocations, distortions, misrepresentations, and complications that the reader is left with the impression of an insoluble problem, bravely faced and fought. Implementing regulations to stop agricultural pollution is never mentioned, even as a possibility.