$400k in funding to boost water quality in Lake Erie

Indiana is getting more than $400,000to boost efforts to improve water quality in Lake Erie's western basin.

The State Department of Agriculture will use the funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for workshops for farmers, expanding soil and manure testing and other efforts.

Soil and manure runoff can spark algae blooms in Lake Erie, harming local wildlife and tourism.

Waterways in six northeastern Indiana counties feed into Lake Erie's western basin, which also receives water from tributaries in Michigan and Ohio.

Much of Indiana's money will go toward improving water quality in the St. Marys River and Upper Maumee watersheds, which empty into the lake.

While Lake Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes, it provides drinking water for about 14 million people.