State lays out funding for Grand Lake plans

ST. MARYS — Gov. Ted Strickland came to Celina in July to lay out a plan for tackling the toxic algae blooms in Grand Lake St. Marys.

On Friday, the state laid out how it will begin to pay for that plan.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced $1.5 million from six grants, five in the form of federal money passed through by the Ohio EPA and one from the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

Toxic algae blooms in the lake have prompted state officials to issue no-contact orders for the lake, crushing the lake-centered economies of Celina and St. Marys this summer.

The grants are:

• $250,000 from the EPA for pilot projects involving applying alum in parts of the lake. The alum is designed to pull phosphorus to the bottom of the lake, taking away a key nutrient for the algae.

• $484,000 from the EPA to the Mercer County commissioners to develop a wetlands and treatment approach to reducing nutrients. The project includes restored wetlands along Prairie Creek.

• $60,000 from the EPA to Mercer County to install and evaluate a water aeration device in Franklin Township. The device is intended to improve oxygen levels in the lake.

• $90,540 from the EPA to St. Marys Township for a bed load sediment collector in Barnes Creek, upstream from Grant Lake, intended to reduce nutrients and sediment going into the lake.

• $495,000 to contract between the Ohio EPA and U.S. Department of Agriculture for targeted conservation planning in the Beaver/Coldwater Creek and Grassy/Monroe Creek subwatersheds.

• $25,000 for an Agriculture Department pilot project for a portion of the lake with high levels of the algae. The project involves adding sand to the area, allowing non-toxic, nutrient-rich algae to thrive and out-compete the harmful blue-green algae.

Combined with other state, local and federal funds, more than $6.8 million has been committed to watershed and in-lake improvements in 2009 and 2010, according to the EPA.

The Grand Lake Restoration Commission has appointed Thomas Knapke group facilitator of the commission.

The commission is working to restore the health of Grand Lake St. Marys, including by raising funds.