New monitoring tool tracks nutrients and pollution in Western Lake Erie
The Alliance for the Great Lakes, in partnership with LimnoTech and Michigan State University, has launched a new public dashboard to provide near real-time water quality data in the Western Basin of Lake Erie.
This effort addresses the growing concern of nutrient pollution, which fuels harmful algal blooms, contaminates drinking water, harms aquatic ecosystems, and affects local economies reliant on fishing and tourism.
Historically, no centralized system existed to monitor upstream water quality, making it difficult to track sources of nutrient pollution or direct conservation funding effectively.
To fill this gap, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) provided a $4.86 million grant, with additional support of $600,000 from the Erb Family Foundation. The project focuses on installing water quality monitoring equipment across five priority sub-watersheds.
“To protect Lake Erie from pollution, we have to know where it comes from and how it travels through the watershed,” said Angela Blatt, Alliance for the Great Lakes’ Senior Agriculture Policy Manager.
“This monitoring network and the public dashboard will help agencies, farmers, and communities better target conservation and land management practices to prevent pollution from running off the landscape into our shared water,” said Blatt.
“We applaud the leadership of Director Boring, who has continually emphasized the importance of expanding monitoring and data collection to help guide conservation decision making,” said Blatt.
The monitoring network collects high-density data on phosphorus trends, sediment, and hydrology from 50 locations, including streams and subsurface agricultural drains.
“At MDARD, we're focused on science-driven solutions that improve our understanding of nutrient loss and transport so we can make meaningful progress toward water quality improvements. This expanded monitoring network and the new nutrient tracking dashboard are concrete examples of the innovation that the public and private sectors can deliver when we work together,” said MDARD Director Tim Boring.
“These powerful tools will provide real-time data that helps agencies and organizations – and the farmers and communities we serve – take targeted actions to keep nutrients in fields and out of our waterways. I'm proud to support this work and grateful to our fellow partners for bringing this dashboard to life,” said Boring.
This system spans Lime Creek, Stony Creek, Saline River headwaters, Nile Ditch, and S.S. LaPointe Drain, and has been operational since October 2024. Edge-of-field studies show that phosphorus often leaves fields through tile drainage, and this network helps track it accurately.
“This project uses high tech sensors and sampling methods to get a glimpse of how fast water runs off the landscape and how much sediment and phosphorus is in that runoff at 50 points within these watersheds,” said Ed Verhamme, Senior Engineer at LimnoTech, who is working to maintain the equipment on behalf of MDARD.
“Every rain event is an opportunity to look for signs of progress and improvements in each of these sub-watersheds. We will be able to detect changes faster and report back on progress sooner than downstream monitoring,” said Verhamme.
“Edge-of-field studies show in certain areas that most of the phosphorus leaving farm fields is transported through tile drainage systems,” said Jeremiah Asher, Assistant Director of the Institute of Water Research at Michigan State University.
“By deploying a high-density subsurface monitoring network in the South Branch of the River Raisin, we aim to improve our ability to understand, predict, and ultimately manage nutrient losses from these pathways,” said Asher.
The public dashboard allows viewers to explore real-time conditions, sensor types, and historical trends across all monitoring points. Users can sign in to download data, making it a valuable tool for farmers, conservationists, and local communities working to protect Lake Erie.
Dashboard link: https://greatlakes.org/wlebmonitoring/
Photo Credit: pexels-ron-lach