County May Ban Fertilizers

Chautauqua County legislatures are looking into a law to ban the sale and use of certain fertilizers. The ban is meant to reduce the amount of phosphorus making its way into Chautauqua Lake in upstate New York.

Dave Edwards, Farm Bureau vice president, said more phosphorus enters the lake from soil erosion, leaking cesspools, septic sewer systems and the legal discharge from sewage treatment plants than from lawn fertilizer.

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Additionally, he cites studies which say phosphorus levels dropped in other areas, not from the banning of lawn fertilizers, but from education about phosphorus. “I’m not saying the phosphorus law is bad, but it’s not a high priority when it comes to what is detrimental to the lake,” said Edwards. “I still think soil erosion is No.1 – not phosphorus.”