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DeliciousWashington, DC (global-adventures.us): The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a five-year, $2.2 billion plan to revitalize the Great Lakes, including cleaning up polluted water and beaches, restoring wetlands and fighting invasive species such as Asian carp. At the end of last year, Congress authorized $475 million to be spent on improving the ecosystem that contains 21 percent of the world's fresh water.
The plan seeks to heal the Great Lakes ecosystem from "150 years of abuse" and to ensure that "fish are safe to eat; the water is safe to drink; the beaches and waters are safe for swimming, surfing, boating and recreating; native species and habitats are protected and thriving; no community suffers disproportionately from the impacts of pollution; and the Great Lakes are a healthy place for people and wildlife to live."
“We’re committed to creating a new standard of care that will leave the Great Lakes better for the next generation,” EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said at a news conference in Washington.
It sets a goal to collect or prevent the release of 45 million pounds of electronic waste, 45 million unwanted pills and 4.5 million pounds of household hazardous waste in the Great Lakes basin by 2014. It also sets out to significantly reduce harmful algal blooms and to clean out 9.4 million cubic yards of toxic sediment. It promises a "zero-tolerance policy" toward invasive species, such as Asian carp, that threaten to overrun native plants and wildlife. It calls for a 40% drop in the new detection of such species by 2014.
The US hopes that Canada will actively participate in the cleanup process. “It seems to me critical that we are involved with the Canadian provinces in that so we get the most bang for the dollar,” said Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, co-chair of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.
Hundreds of shipwrecks, some of them well preserved, attract divers from around the world. One invasive species, the zebra mussel, has led to an increase in underwater visibility from 10 to 30 or 40 feet in certain areas of the Great Lakes. Zebra Mussels cleanse the waters, resulting in increased sunlight penetration and growth of native algae at greater depths. This cleansing increases water visibility and filters out pollutants.
However, the zebra mussels have wracked havoc on underwater pipes that pump water to treatment plants. The cost of fighting the pests at power plants and other water-consuming facilities is $500 million a year in the U.S., according to the Center for Invasive Species Research at the University of California, Riverside. Zebra mussels are also believed to be the source of deadly avian botulism poisoning that has killed tens of thousands of birds in the Great Lakes since the late 1990s.
