CLEVELAND, OH -- Michigan's agriculture chief dismissed the state's decision to formally acknowledge the ecological sickness of Lake Erie, saying she doesn't believe an impairment designation made last fall "makes that much difference" toward improving the water quality in the algal bloom-stricken Great Lake.

"Frankly, as a practical matter, I don't think whether or not Lake Erie is declared impaired really makes a difference for what we're doing," said Jamie Clover Adams, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development. Farmers "see what's happening in the lake and want to be part of the solution, so I don't think at this juncture it really matters one way or the other."

Clover Adams spoke on a conference call with reporters during a meeting of state agriculture departments in Cleveland on Monday, June 19.

During the call, she defended the state's reliance on voluntary rather than compulsory measures to reduce farm fertilizer runoff into Lake Erie, saying such programs are the most "effective, efficient and affordable" way to achieve major improvements to the lake.

That reliance on voluntary measures was intentionally baked into an action plan Michigan released last week as part of a series of plans states around Lake Erie are sending to the Environmental Protection Agency as part of an international agreement with Canada to work toward reducing nutrient pollution entering the lake.

The impairment designation, made by the Department of Environmental Quality in November, generated praise from environmental groups who saw the state as duty-bound to declare the lake impaired based on standards in the Clean Water Act.

The designation is supposed to open the door to stronger protections, enforcement measures and pollution control funding under the federal law, prompting the Michigan Agri-Business Association to slam the designation as "misguided attempt to solve a very complex problem" by relying on the "blunt force of government."

The EPA considers a water body "impaired" if any one of its uses, such as for drinking or recreation, does not meet regulatory standards for water quality. Phosphorus runoff from farms, sewage plants and other sources of nutrient pollution is fueling disgusting and dangerous algae growth in Lake Erie's western end each summer.

A toxin inside the blue-green algae can cause rashes, nausea, headaches and organ damage.

Cia Segerlind with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, which pushed for the impairment designation, said the formal listing "triggers legal requirements to get the lake back on track," including the establishment of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), a regulatory criteria that establishes the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed in a waterbody.

"While Michigan is attempting to create its own state-based plan in lieu of a TMDL, under the impairment designation the onus is still on the state to create a strong plan and prove that its alternative strategy will deliver results similar to or better than what could be achieved from a TMDL," Segerlind said. "Unfortunately, Michigan's current plan still falls short in that regard."

Tom Zimnicki, agriculture policy director at Michigan Environmental Council, said the broader point of the designation is an admission "that Michigan is not adequately protecting drinking water and recreational opportunities for its citizens."

In a Nov. 10 statement announcing the decision, DEQ director Heidi Grether described the designation as required but also symbolic. "Michigan's portion of Lake Erie is small, but in making this determination, we signal the importance of our actions to date and our commitment moving forward to limit the incidences of severe algal blooms that impact aquatic life and wildlife in our waters," Grether said.

Clover Adams said Monday the designation "may" result in some additional resources to help curb excess nutrients entering the lake, but that Michigan has been working on the problem for years and already signed a joint pledge with Ohio and Ontario to cut by 40 percent total phosphorus entering western Lake Erie by 2025, and 20 percent by 2020.

"What the legal standing is I don't think really plays that much into whether or not resources are put to a problem," she said.

Zimnicki agreed that a Michigan impairment alone doesn't carry much weight because the lake is multi-jurisdictional and Michigan cannot, for instance, force Ohio to declare its waters of the lake as impaired -- which the state has, and also hasn't. Ohio has only declared nearshore waters, not open waters, as impaired.

States charting individual courses for tackling nutrient pollution ultimately results in each state point "pointing the finger at one another for not doing enough."

Regional efforts and planning must improve in order to fix the problem, he said.

"Our concern is that the state is unwilling to appropriate the necessary resources and implement stronger regulatory authority to comprehensively tackle water quality issues across the state," he said. "With more and more impairment designations popping up related to nutrients and E.coli, we question if the state will be able to address these designations."

Also on the Monday call was David Daniels, Ohio Department of Agriculture director, and Ted McKinney, Indiana State Department of Agriculture director.

Each director spent several minutes outlining programs Michigan, Ohio and Indiana have taken to reduce nutrient runoff into the western Lake Erie basin. They each noted that nutrients in the lake come from multiple sources like sewage plants, residential fertilizing, urban stormwater runoff and failing septic systems in addition to agriculture.

Scientists who've studied the blooms say non-point source runoff from agriculture is the largest source of nutrients feeding the algae with available phosphorus, which drives bloom size, and nitrogen, which drives bloom toxicity.

The EPA says spring phosphorus loading in the Maumee River watershed is the controlling factor in Lake Erie algal production. The watershed, which includes parts of Michigan and Indiana, is dominated by farm land. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says runoff make up almost 90 percent of the phosphorus and nitrogen entering the watershed.

The agriculture chiefs emphasized that more research is needed to understand how dissolved phosphorus is getting into tributaries.

Daniels said larger rainfall in recent years coupled with changes in water quality due to invasive zebra and quagga mussels are exacerbating the algae problem. Climate change, too, is being considered as a factor, he said. Ohio has noted changing weather patterns and warmer lake temperatures in recent years.

"Yes, we're looking at climate," he said. "We're looking at invasive species -- all different things that could be part of this and could be part of the solution."

In response to calls for stricter controls on agriculture, Clover Adams said relying on regulations would cause farmers to do the bare minimum required by a permit rather than voluntary measures that are going to "spur innovation."

"It's about getting the job done, not about regulations," she said.

She called criticisms of Michigan's allowance of manure spreading on frozen, snow-covered or saturated ground a "red herring."

"There is long standing science that shows it can be done safely."

Ohio, however, has banned the practice. Although "every state has their approach," said Daniels, "we believe that spreading manure on snow-covered ground, the best practice is not to do that."

Michigan's Lake Erie plan was developed jointly between MDARD, DEQ and the Department of Natural Resources. Public comment on the plan ends July 14. A public meeting is scheduled June 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Baer Auditorium at Adrian College.