The Environmental Protection Agency plans to use specialized Army aircraft in a project beginning this month to study eutrophication in lakes and impoundments. The Agency will employ both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters in a nationwide aerial survey of approximately 1,200 lakes. The survey is an integral part of an EPA control program to assist state and local governments, through construction grants, in reducing excess phosphates by additional municipal waste treatment.
Phosphates are nutrients that cause rapid growth of algae in bodies of water.
Lake Erie has been widely cited as a classic example of eutrophication. William D. Ruckelshaus, EPA Administrator, said the survey would determine the present conditions of the lakes, where the overabundance of nutrients is coming from, and where the condition of the lakes can be improved by curbing the phosphorus reaching the water from municipal treatment plants. EPA will use two Huey helicopters and two Otter fixed wing aircraft in the project. The Huey is the Army work horse helicopter, capable of carrying up to 2,600 pounds of equipment, and the Otter is a single-engine utility plane with large wing surface. Airborne scientists will also make use of afield laboratory trailer on the ground.