Michigan, Ohio and Ontario, Canada, have signed a joint agreement to reduce phosphorus in the western Lake Erie basin by 40 percent by 2025. The chemical is blamed for algae blooms that degrade water quality in the lake, including one last year that cut off water supplies to about 400,000 people around Toledo and southeast Michigan. Ohio has already passed a new law banning spreading manure and other fertilizers on frozen ground. Michigan, which regulates the practice, will be looking at prohibiting the practice as well. Leaders of the two states and Canadian province signed the Western Basin of Lake
