BEING GREEN PAYS

REDUCED PHOSPHORUS RUNOFF

Over the last few decades, phosphorus from runoff from major municipalities have drastically risen causing increasing problems in lake Champlain.

Water Treatment Plants

Set up more strict guidelines for water treatment facility upgrades

People

Give incentives to people who use low or no phosphorus product, such as, credit vouchers, discounted products, etc…. This would have a big impact on the amount of phosphorous.

Farmers in the county

No just the cities but a major factor is the Dairy industry and there run off. There is regulation past but only the large farmers must comply. You need to start and pass regulation that include smaller farms also. All the small farms added together contribute a very significant amount.

These are some of the farms that are doing there part.

lawns

Limit the use of phosphorous based fertilizers on all lawns including municipal parks and golf courses. Divert run off away from city drains and creeks.

Government funds

We could use government money for rebuilding or upgrading city drain systems, runoff catch basins to treat the water before retuning to the lake . This would also add some needed jobs.

Transition

We could also plant transition areas between open land and the lake or streams . That would cut down on a lot of runoff as well.

Wetlands

Wetland need to be protected from development and reclaimed wet land close to the lake.

In conclusion

By reducing Phosphorus from the city’s runoff and from farmers, we can reclaim what was once a bountiful and beautiful ecosystem that we call Lake Champlain for our future generations.