St. Clair - Detroit River System: Total Phosphorus Mass B alance

This data set was developed in order to estimate the total phosphorus budget for the St. Clair Detroit River system for 1998 through 2016, to support the implementation of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) on reducing Lake Eries phosphorus inputs. This study also identified, for the first time, that loads from resuspended Lake Huron sediment were likely not always detected in US and Canadian monitoring programs, due to mismatches in sampling and resuspension event frequencies, substantially underestimating the load. This additional load increased over time due to climate-induced decreases in Lake Huron ice cover and increases in winter storm frequencies. Given this more complete load inventory, we estimated that to reach a 40% reduction in the Detroit River TP load to Lake Erie, accounting for the missed load, point and non-point sources other than that coming from Lake Huron, and the atmosphere would have to be reduced by at least 50%. Note, this data set was created for a project led by the University of Michigan, and also affiliated with goals of 'Lake Futures: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity and Resilience of Lakes and Their Watersheds'. Lake Futures is a Pillar 3 project under the Global Water Futures Program funded by Canada First Research Excellence Fund.