West Olive, Mich.-Ottawa County has become the second county in Michigan to adopt an ordinance that prohibits use of phosphate on lawns. County officials are exempting agriculture and gardening, and are making exceptions for new lawns or in cases where soils test deficient in P, and for most fertilizers consisting primarily of biosolids and compost material. A similar ban on phosphate is in effect this month in Muskegon County, which takes in White Lake, where a recent study concluded that about 15.4 tons of phosphate washes into the waters each year from lawns, golf courses, farm fields, and septic tanks. The Ottawa ban was approved over the objections of two commissioners, one of whom said some residents told him they’ll go to other counties for their fertilizer and will probably purchase most of their lawn care items at the same time. Adam London, Ottawa environmental health director, told Green Markets that his department is creating educational campaigns to focus on these issues. “We want to do more than say, ‘don’t use phosphorus!’ We want to take a balanced approach and include all the messages which are important, including: healthy lawns are good for the environment and good for water quality, too. Hopefully, those in the fertilizer and lawn care business will actually see an increase in business if we are successful with our education campaign.” The White Lake study was done by Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute, which concluded that the amount of runoff is equal to dumping 774 forty-pound bags of pure phosphorus into the lake annually. GVSU scientists and property owners around White Lake said the phosphorus is contributing to rampant weed and algae growth in the lake’s shallow areas.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain