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Article: Incinerators could speed decay of Lake Michigan
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- December 22, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Lake Michigan is in danger of eutrophication - premature aging -
as the use of municipal refuse incinerators increases. The culprit
is emissions of phosphorous, the substance found in food, fertilizers
and, of course, in garbage - from apple cores and orange peels to
beet greens.
In 1971, the Lake Michigan Enforcement Conference, at my
suggestion, set up a Phosphorus Technical Committee. Their work and
later research showed an annual input of about 16.6 million pounds or
8,350 tons of phosphorus to Lake Michigan from (a) soil erosion, (b)
sewage plants and (c) dustfall and precipitation.
Sewage plants were required to reduce their phosphorus