Egan’s reporting takes him not only to the Great Lakes, which hold about a fifth of all the freshwater on the face of the planet, but also to Germany, where an alchemist first isolated the combustible element and where traces of phosphorus cast down by World War II firebombers still wash ashore — with alarming results. We follow him to the saltwater beaches of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, once thought safe from the telltale shock of green, and to Ontario’s Experimental Lakes Area, where scientists discovered the connection between phosphorus and algae, much to the chagrin of detergent makers of the era. Along the way, Egan explores the Clean Water Act’s “yawning exemption” for agriculture and how some scientists fear we’ll hit “peak phosphorus” in a few decades.
— Read on www.propublica.org/article/phosphorus-the-culprit-behind-dead-zones-threat-to-water-supply
TheVoiceOfJoyce Because phosphorus is prevalent in our souls, it’s leaching into our lakes and causing toxic algae blooms. Our Agriculture is killing us. The phosphorus in fertilizer is destroying our water supplies. When do we ban phosphorus and at the same time, PFAS chemicals, they’re leaching into our food.
Let’s preserve the cycle of life. We can. We’ve been successful before.
