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Cultural eutrophication—the pollution of water bodies with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from human activities—and associated harmful algal blooms are key issues facing decision-makers, yet costs are often identified as a barrier to restoration. When designed in collaboration with impacted communities, economic valuation of lake ecosystem services can contribute to informed environmental decision-making by quantifying economic benefits of lake restoration and understanding the trade-offs people are willing to make. Here, we collaborate with the local community, stakeholders, and decision-makers to develop and implement a discrete choice experiment survey to estimate people's preferences and willingness to pay for restoring Elk/Beaver Lake, Canada, which has been experiencing worsening harmful algal blooms and other water quality issues. Over half of survey respondents (66%) indicated that water quality issues impact their use of the lake, and many (52%) indicated they did not feel safe swimming in or allowing their pets to drink from the lake (64%). Responses to the choice experiment are analyzed using choice models which reveal that the annual economic benefits of lake restoration across different model specifications ranged from $141 to $292 CAD per household with substantial heterogeneity across people. The aggregate annual benefits of lake restoration are $27 to $55 million which is notably greater than the estimated costs of restoration plans. This study contributes to the growing literature suggesting that there are substantial benefits to society from restoring lakes, thus the perception of cost as an insurmountable barrier to restoration of bloom-affected lakes requires reconsideration. • Lake degradation and harmful blooms affect community enjoyment of a high-use lake. • Collaboration is useful for informing economic valuation of lake ecosystem services. • Willingness to pay for managing harmful algal blooms and lake restoration is high. • Economic benefits outweigh the costs of lake restoration [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many physical, chemical, and biological processes in freshwater ecosystems mobilize the nutrient phosphorus (P) from sediments, which in turn may contribute to the formation of harmful algal blooms. Here, we critically reviewed internal P loading in Canadian fresh waters to understand the geographic patterns and environmental drivers of this important process. From 43 publications, we consolidated 618 estimates of internal P loading from Canadian freshwater ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and coastal wetlands ( n = 70). Expressed in terms of total P, short-term gross rates in sediment samples ( Lgross) ranged from −27 to 54 mg·m−2·day−1 ( n = 461), while long-term net rates in whole ecosystems ( Lnet) ranged from −1694 to 10 640 mg·m−2·year−1 ( n = 157). The main environmental drivers of this variation were oxygen, pH, geology, and trophic state. Internal P loading tended to be higher during the open-water season and most prominent in small prairie lakes. Priorities for future research on internal P loading should include resolving methodological problems, assessing the relative importance of different mechanisms, examining the influence of anthropogenic activities, and quantifying rates in understudied ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article the author discusses eutrophication, which is a process leading to increased algal productivity in lakes through time, and why nutrient control in aquatic ecosystems requires asking the right questions. Topics include the impact of eutrophication on key ecosystem services, the importance of preventing a state shift into an undesirable state via nutrient control, and the role of nitrogen (N), and N control, in eutrophication.