Grand Lakes St. Marys is dying, and residents of Mercer and Auglaize counties, understandably, are pointing fingers at area farmers who allow manure runoff to feed the toxic algae blooms destroying the lake. Strict state control of agricultural runoff seems an obvious solution to repairing the health of the lake.

But it’s unclear whether Ohio lawmakers will be too fearful of upsetting the economically and politically powerful agricultural interests to enact needed regulations.

What happens to the Ohio lake should concern Hoosiers because Indiana is dealing with some of the same agricultural and environmental issues. Indiana had a chance to enact some important legislation on this matter a few years ago, but didn’t.

Saving the lake is going to require action and sacrifice. If the battle is portrayed in strictly economic terms – tourism versus agriculture – tourism will likely lose.

Grand Lakes St. Marys brings in $160 million annually in tourism dollars and provides thousands of jobs to area residents. But according to the U.S. Census Bureau, agriculture in Mercer and Auglaize counties generated $675 million in 2007. The land near the lake is some of the most productive and profitable farmland in Ohio.

Livestock manure and most farm fertilizers contain phosphorus, which feeds algae in the lake. Not all species of algae release toxins. Some lake algae is necessary for maintaining aquatic life. But when water becomes overburdened with nutrients and algae growth depletes the water of oxygen, fish die.

This summer, as Stacey Stumpf’s commentary on Sunday explained, Ohio officials had to close the lake because of the algae. Grand Lake St. Marys is especially vulnerable to algae blooms because it is a relatively shallow and still reservoir. It takes about 18 months for the water in the lake to cycle through the watersheds (the toilet gets flushed only once every 1 1/2 years). Another issue is that while a sewage system was installed years ago to ensure raw sewage didn’t enter the lake, development has eliminated the lake’s “kidneys.” Marsh and wetland areas that used to filter the lake water are no longer there.

Homeowners trying to keep their lawns green have a role to play in decreasing the amount of phosphorous polluting the lake. But the proliferation of large livestock farms, particularly large confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, are the largest contributors to the problem.

Ohio officials are considering several options for improving the water quality in the lake, including adding alum to kill the algae, dredging the lake and sending excess manure to Indiana for disposal. All alternatives are expensive, and improvement is not going to happen quickly. Ohioans are right to be annoyed that the agricultural community was not more willing to change its practices years ago to prevent the closure of the lake.

Hoosiers should use the Ohio lake as an early warning to take action now before Indiana lakes are closed. And farmers should consider whether they would prefer to help craft measures to control runoff or wait until the state is forced to adopt strict regulations.

Environmental groups in Indiana have long advocated stricter regulations on manure disposal. A few years ago, legislation to create two-mile setbacks from state lakes and reservoirs for manure application was thoughtlessly squashed. The destruction of Grand Lake St. Marys should give Indiana farmers ample reason to increase their efforts to protect the environment. It should also give Indiana lawmakers the incentive necessary to take action to ensure Hoosiers can continue to swim in Indiana lakes.