A study of 235 lakes that hold more than half the Earth’s fresh surface water revealed they have warmed an average of 0.61 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. The Huffington Post reported this study and added while that doesn’t sound like much, that increase is bigger than those recorded in either our oceans or atmosphere.
These rapid temperature swings can severely affect aquatic ecosystems, often leading to algae outbreaks with catastrophic consequences. Contributing to these temperature spikes is upstream runoff laden with unfiltered urban, industrial, and agricultural pollutants that cover these aquatic nurseries with a deadly toxic blanket.
Trout Headwaters Inc article “Restoring Nature’s Water Filter: How Streamside Vegetation Can Save the Gulf of Mexico,” explained how nature’s filters are designed, with diverse, streamside, woody vegetation to slow and purify water before it enters streams and rivers that ultimately flow into our lakes. Threats to these filters from both development and agriculture along the nation’s streams and rivers are harming our lakes, estuaries, and bays worldwide. Restoring these high functioning natural water filters across watersheds that feed lakes, estuaries, and bays is the only permanent, sustainable solution.
