Ypsilanti could be the next of several Washtenaw County municipalities to regulate the use of manufactured fertilizer.

The City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance on Tuesday and will likely revisit the issue at its next meeting.

Local ordinances are part of a United States Environmental Protection Agency mandated effort to reduce excess levels of phosphorus - which is part of most manufactured fertilizers - from the middle Huron River by 50 percent.

Laura Rubin, executive director of the Huron River Watershed Council, said higher levels of phosphorus in waterways are responsible for excess vegetation and algae blooms that choke off oxygen supply in the water. Phosphorus is a nutrient that helps plants grow.

This file photo shows algae blooms in Ford Lake.

The blooms are most significant in Gallup Pond, Ford Lake and Belleville Lake, producing slimy, blue-green sheen and emitting a strong, unpleasant odor. The blooms are highly unpleasant for boaters and swimmers. Because the blooms deplete the water’s oxygen supply, they often lead to one or two large-scale fish kills per year and are particularly problematic in late summer, Rubin said.

All communities in the middle Huron River area are required by the EPA to reduce phosphorus levels because they are upstream from Ford and Belleville lakes. Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti Township and Pittsfield Township have already passed similar ordinances to the one Ypsilanti is considering.

Most of the communities in the middle Huron, including Ypsilanti, are also under contract with the HRWC for a separate partnership aimed at meeting reduction goals and measuring phosphorus levels.

Rubin said excess phosphorus comes from two sources - non-point and point source. Point source includes a facility like the waste water treatment center, while non-point sources include run-off from lawns and sewers or other non-direct avenues.

Ypsilanti's ordinance would target non-point sources and prohibit residential, industrial and commercial application of manufactured fertilizers on lawns before April or after Nov. 15 because the frozen ground can't absorb fertilizer.

It would also require residents or businesses to water any lawn on which manufactured fertilizer is applied within 14 hours. The fertilizers can't be stored on driveways, streets or other impervious surfaces for more than hour and can't be applied within 25 feet of a waterway or stormwater retention center.

Exempt from the proposed ordinance are gardens, farms, areas where soil tests have concluded phosphorus levels are low or surfaces where turf or grass seed is laid for the first season.

City Manager Ed Koryzno said enforcement will come on a complaint-driven basis. The city will seek to inform residents, lawn care companies and other businesses of the new ordinance by using the city’s e-mail list, contacting neighborhood associations and notifying as many lawn care companies in the city as possible.

“We won’t have the fertilizer police out … but we will make every effort to inform as many residents as possible,” Koryzno said. 

Residents and companies will then be expected to comply with the ordinance, and those who don't face a fine of up to $250.

Council Member Bill Nickels questioned whether any data was available from Ypsilanti soil samples. He said he believes phosphorus is an issue, but asked staff to have someone speak to council and “demonstrate the need for this ordinance.”

In a phone interview Wednesday, Rubin said Michigan State University Extension Service has found 85-90 percent of the soil tested in Washtenaw County contains sufficient levels of phosphorus and nitrogen.

The problem first became visible in the area in the mid-1990s, Rubin said, and legislation to address the issue at the state level has been introduced in each of the last seven years. It has died due to opposition from the agricultural industry, but Rubin said local municipalities  put pressure on state lawmakers by creating ordinances.

“Commercial applicators hate having different regulations because it’s a pain for them, so the more of these local level ordinances we have, the more likely we are to get statewide legislation,” she said.

Commercial applicators would be required to register with the city in Ypsilanti and comply with the same rules as residential users.

Rubin said progress has been made in reducing phosphorus levels in recent years, though continued efforts are still needed.

“The news is going in the right direction,” she said.

Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.