The Columbus Dispatch published the following editorial on March 5, 2014, regarding smart farming practices and how they can yield cleaner water for Grand Lake St. Marys and other natural resources.
"Recent actions by state and federal lawmakers, as well as a coalition of groups concerned with farming and clean water, show that a movement is underway to curb the phosphorus pollution that is choking waterways throughout the Midwest with toxic algae.
Recent summers, especially those with heavy rainfall, have seen nasty blooms of algae on lakes and ponds from western Lake Erie to Grand Lake St. Marys in northwestern Ohio, as well as Buckeye Lake and several state-park reservoirs. Depending on the type and concentration of algae, it has made people sick and killed animals. It makes the water unsafe to drink or touch.
More recently this winter, an algae bloom in Hoover Reservoir made Columbus tap water foul-smelling and -tasting, requiring the city to spend more than $720,000 to clean it up.
The problem has been worst in lakes most subject to agricultural runoff…."