TIFFIN, Ohio — The National Center for Water Quality Research and the Sandusky River Watershed Coalition, located at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, test water samples to determine the health of rivers and streams, ultimately a reflection of Lake Erie's health.
The center "does a lot of research as far as what’s going on in the rivers and streams for nutrient loading into the rivers, as well as other perimeters that we look at, trying to figure out what’s going on water-chemistry-wise in the river and how that can impact the lake" said Jakob Boehler, the center's field manager and coordinator for the watershed coalition.
Water chemistry and nature's natural cycle can influence the health of the lake he said. However, humans play a major role in pollution in the watershed from dumped trash to agricultural runoff.
The watershed represents the area where rain falls into one singular area, usually a river, which flows into a larger body of water.
“For the watershed coalition side of things, we focus primarily on the education and outreach side of stuff for the lab," Boehler said. "But, we try to get the community involved and understanding what’s going on with rivers and the lake as well and trying to see what they can do to try and help fix problems that are going on in the area."
The primary outreach activities the coalition hosts are river cleanups, which are scheduled multiple times throughout the year at different locations.
The coalition works closely with the cities of Tiffin, Fremont and Bucycrus, where it gets community members involved with the hands-on removal of trash from the river.
Anything from washers to mattresses can be found in the river, and Boehler said the coalition has removed many other oddities over the years.
"The trash itself is really more of an issue for the aesthetics of the river but also for the biology. So things like fish, macroinvertebrates, birds and stuff like that living in the water, that’s not good for them to have that trash in there," he said.
Part of the biology is the food web, which houses all of the major components of the microbiome.
“The biology that’s going on in the streams, so the fish the macroinvertebrates, the algae, the things like that, they all need that water to survive and they’re all very important components of that," Boehler said. "From the algae on up, you have this whole food web of cool stuff going on, from primary producers like the algae up to the macroinvertebrates that eat that, and then the fish eat those and stuff. The birds all eat that sort of thing. That whole food web is really important for the whole ecosystem.”
Boehler said the ecosystem and the food web relate to the water's chemistry, which includes pollution and some of the chemical reactors.
"If there’s too much nitrogen, too much phosphorus, it can lead to algal bloom issues and then that will potentially cause things to disrupt that food web," he said. "You might have too much algae and not enough stuff to take care of it. You get these big blooms and some of them can, unfortunately, be toxic like the type that’s up in the western basin of Lake Erie."
Boehler said the rivers and streams are important, and that many people don't realize they connect to the lake.
"If it is anything from just tossing your trash in the river, or if you’re dumping something like that or even just using your water to flush your toilet, or to take a shower, all of that water ends up back out into our rivers and streams," he said. "Any way that you’re utilizing that water can eventually end up out into the lake. So you have to be aware of the things you’re doing here and how that can impact the lake itself."
Beyond river clean-ups, the coalition works to host events locally to help promote education and outreach in the community with the ultimate goals of making change and creating passion.
“We do a lot of community workshop-type events, we go to local schools and stuff. So for the local schools, we have this watershed model, where the kids actually get to spray water on it and make it rain, and see where the water flows throughout a watershed and explain to them what a watershed is," Boehler said. “For the farming side of stuff, we’ll host workshops and work with other organizations like the farm bureau, the soil and water conservation district to host events where we can help educate farmers on things they can do to help clean up water quality.”
One of the most important things the coalition focuses on is the number of nutrients that are going back into the water. He said dissolved reactive phosphorus is the primary chemical they are concerned about because it's what causes the larger blooms on the lake.
He said the best practices for local farmers is to cover crops, continue to improve soil health and do what they can to keep the nutrients in the soil and out of the water.
Laura Johnson acting director of the center, said finding an appreciation for the river helps with conservation efforts.
“Lake Erie is the southernmost and shallowest and ends up being one of the warmest of the Great Lakes, and also has some of the largest tributary inputs," Johnson said. "The Maumee River we hear about a lot as the largest input, but the Sandusky River is the second largest input of a tributary going in that's not just an interconnecting channel from the upper Great Lakes."
"What that means is that these rivers have a larger influence on Lake Erie than you might see in other Great Lakes just because of the amount of water that’s going into the lake," she added. "Any activities that are happening up in the watershed, even as far away as the very headwaters of the watershed can influence what we see coming out of the very mouth of the watershed and entering Lake Erie.”
Johnson said the inputs leading into the lake can cause algal blooms, which has been observed through both the Maumee and Sandusky bays.
The outreach opportunities don't end once school is out. According to Johnson, the center hosts seminars, along with outreach and education to the public and kids in school.
“We’re trying to reach a wide variety of people," Johnson said. "At the lab here at the National Center for Water Quality Research, our outreach ends up looking a little more like presentations to the public, we’ll try and do some interactive events. We do the harmful algal bloom forecast every summer, so we can have an outreach component there."
However, no matter how far you get from the lake, Johnson said everything is connected.
“It’s interesting, the farther you get away from the lake, and we really can’t get that far away even ... It seems like people forget or don’t realize that that small ditch or that creek will ultimately end up in the lake. Anything you’re doing there can have the potential to carry any of those contaminants all the way out to the lake," Johnson said.
"Just trying to make people realize the wholistic nature of this region and how every little bit of what we’re doing, both good and bad can influence the lake," she added.