CELINA, OH (AP) -- An Ohio newspaper reports that the toxic blue-green algae choking the state's largest inland lake is part of a much wider farm pollution problem that a state official says must be addressed.
The Columbus Dispatch reports Sunday that nitrogen and phosphorous in manure and commercial fertilizers wash off farmland and into streams and lakes including Grand Lake St. Mary's and Lake Erie and feed the algae.
The poisonous algae has led state officials to warn people to avoid direct contact with the water in the 13,500-acre Grand Lake St. Marys in western Ohio.
Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Robert Boggs says the state has to be aggressive and assertive in handling the pollution problem.
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