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May 29, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Three experts from The Ohio State University will talk about the battle for Lake Erie, and for all of Ohio’s water, at next week’s Columbus Metropolitan Club Luncheon.
Bruce McPheron, Jeff Reutter and Eugene Braig will present “What the Muck? Managing Ohio’s Freshwater Assets” from noon to 1:15 p.m. June 3 at the Athletic Club of Columbus, 136 E. Broad St.
McPheron is Ohio State’s vice president for agricultural administration and dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. In the wake of last summer’s Toledo water crisis, he and others from the college started Field to Faucet, a new program meant to ensure safe water for all Ohioans while keeping the state’s farms productive and profitable.
Reutter recently retired as director of Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program and Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie. He was a frequent media source during the Toledo crisis and is a widely quoted expert on such topics as harmful algal blooms and phosphorus pollution.
Braig is the aquatic ecosystems program director for the college’s School of Environment and Natural Resources and is an expert on fisheries and invasive species, including the Asian carp threatening to wreak havoc in the Great Lakes.
Moderating the discussion will be David Chesebrough, president and CEO of COSI, which has been ranked by several sources as one of the best science museums in the U.S.
Registration for the event is open to club members and the public at a range of costs. Find details and a link to online registration at columbusmetroclub.org/event-1942787.
Last August, toxins from a harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie caused a two-day water use ban in Toledo. Scientists say phosphorus from farm fertilizer runoff is a cause of such blooms, which have plagued western Ohio’s Grand Lake St. Marys and other lakes, too.
McPheron explains Field to Faucet in a video at go.osu.edu/5Jq. The program last week received a major gift from seed retailer Beck’s Hybrids. Details on the gift are at go.osu.edu/becksgift.
Reutter’s career accomplishments are featured in a video prepared for his retirement celebration at go.osu.edu/5Js.
Braig talks about the Asian carp threat in a 2010 WOSU interview at go.osu.edu/5Jv.
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