Stream + Wetlands Partners with Industry Expert for Algal Bloom Research

Stream + Wetlands (S+W) Foundation is proud to have entered into a partnership with world renowned environmental scientist William J. Mitsch, Ph.D. in an outdoor experimental mesocosm project. Dubbed “wetlaculture” – because it integrates wetlands with agriculture – this multi-year project will study the design of wetlands to decrease downstream eutrophication, including harmful algal blooms and hypoxia, while replacing the requirements of additional fertilization for agricultural production with a recycling mechanism that will return those nutrients to the soil.

A mesocosm is any outdoor experimental system that examines the natural environment under controlled conditions. Mesocosm studies provide a link between field surveys and highly controlled laboratory experiments. Baseline studies involve creating wetland compounds in 30 tubs that will be initially planted with local wetland vegetation to simulate larger-scale wetlands in agricultural settings. S + W’s support will allow the research team to install a mesocosm compound at a site in the Great Black Swamp basin near to the Maumee River in Defiance County.

To read Dr. Mitsch’s article abstract “Solving Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms by restoring the Great Black Swamp in Ohio” on the ScienceDirect website, click here. Dr. Mitsch has been generously offered to provide a copy of his paper to those who email him at wmitsch@fgcu.edu.

Stream + Wetlands Provide Mitigation for NEXUS Pipeline Project

Stream + Wetlands is providing compensatory wetland mitigation for unavoidable impacts associated with the construction of the NEXUS Gas Transmission Pipeline.  The 255-mile interstate natural gas transmission pipeline will deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of clean-burning natural gas from receipt points in eastern Ohio to existing pipeline system interconnects in southeastern Michigan. The project will extend from southeast Michigan to Columbiana county in eastern Ohio. The construction of the 36-inch-diameter natural gas transmission line is expected to begin this fall.

The Ohio EPA granted a Water Quality Certification for the project on September 19, 2017 (read the press release here).  The Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project in August 2017.  The Ohio EPA certification requires NEXUS to have and implement very detailed contingency plans for managing unanticipated releases to the environment, such as inadvertent returns and a storm water pollution prevention plan to manage possible storm-water-related impacts to the environment.

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