Researchers at U-M have been awarded a three-year, $3-million grant from the Erb Family Foundation to determine the Detroit River’s contributions to algae blooms that plague Lake Erie each summer.
The grant to the U-M Water Center also will allow scientists to measure the effectiveness of “green infrastructure” projects in Detroit designed to manage stormwater overflows, which can send algae-promoting phosphorus into the Detroit River and western Lake Erie during large storms.
U-M researchers will use computer models that simulate hydrology and water quality in the Detroit River watershed to calculate the contributions of various upstream phosphorus sources, both urban and agricultural.
