An environmental crisis is unfolding in Lake Erie, where plastic pollution has increased dramatically over the past decade despite widespread conservation efforts – a paradox that left Today in Ohio podcast hosts searching for explanations Monday.
The latest research from freshwater scientist Sherri Mason at Gannon University reveals plastic pollution in Lake Erie has increased by staggering amounts – in some areas jumping from just 16,000 particles per kilometer to a shocking 188,000 particles in just ten years.
As Lisa Garvin explained on the podcast, “It’s actually pretty eye popping…She was actually expecting mixed results. She thought it would be lower in some areas and higher in others.”
The findings are dramatic in Cleveland but more so near the eastern end of Lake Erie, where researchers found up to 700,000 particles per kilometer – up from just 19,000 a decade ago. That’s surface-area plastic and does not account for whatever has sunk to the bottom.
“I’m really trying to understand the why of this, because we have had some much more serious plastic conservation methods in the past 10 years than we had before her 2014 study,” Chris Quinn said on the episode. “How could it go up that much in 10 years when people have moved away from plastic bags and things like that?”
Increasingly intense storms washing more plastic into waterways could be one explanation. Pandemic-related increases in disposable products, and even microfibers from synthetic clothing that enter waterways through laundry wastewater, Garvin said..
Laura Johnston pointed out Lake Erie’s unique vulnerability: “Lake Erie has the biggest, most populated, densely populated watershed in the Great Lakes. Twelve million people live within the Lake Erie watershed. That’s about a third of the total population of the entire Great Lakes watershed… So I think that’s why it gets so densely polluted.”
This combination of factors – Lake Erie’s relatively small volume of water and the massive population in its watershed – creates a perfect storm for pollution concentration. With 12 million people living in the watershed and Lake Erie being the shallowest of the Great Lakes, pollutants have less water to dilute them.
The implications are serious: Lake Erie provides drinking water for millions of people across multiple states and provinces. Plastic particles, especially microplastics that can be smaller than a grain of rice, potentially carry chemical additives and absorb environmental pollutants.
The hosts emphasized the urgent need for further research to identify exactly what types of plastics are causing this dramatic increase, which could help contain the sources more effectively.
Listen to the discussion here.
Listen to full “Today in Ohio” episodes where Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with Editorial Board member Lisa Garvin, Impact Editor Leila Atassi and Content Director Laura Johnston.