Debates Over Lawn Care Fertilizer Regulations

The Madison, Wisconsin City Council has voted to ban the sale, display and use of turf and lawn fertilizers that contain more than a trace of phosphorus. The ban won?EUR??,,????'???t go into effect until January 1, 2005, and will not apply to golf courses, new lawns, park land restoration or phosphorus-deficient soil. The Wisconsin Landscape Federation (WLF) opposed the ban with support from RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment). A similar ban has met opposition in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. According to the Lake County Reporter, representatives from six regional lawn-care companies felt that a ban on lawn fertilizer containing phosphorus would not solve the problem of increased nutrients in Wisconsin?EUR??,,????'???s Pewaukee Lake. In early March Pewaukee village attorney, Tim Garrity, drafted a proposed ordinance similar to an ordinance already approved by the city of Pewaukee that bans the use of phosphorus fertilizer. Charles Shong, superintendent of the Lake Pewaukee Sanitary District, has stated that Minnesota law indicates phosphorous content in fertilizer should not exceed three percent. In areas like the Twin Cities, fertilizers containing any traces of phosphorus are banned. Those in favor of the ban hold the opinion that phosphorus is a nutrient that feeds algae and other invasive aquatic plant species. Landscapers and landscape specialists against the ban state that phosphorus from farms and from goose droppings, grass clippings and leaves contribute more of the unwanted lake nutrients than phosphorus lawn fertilizer. They also believe the fertilizer actually helps keep nutrients out of the lake by maintaining healthy turf that acts like a sponge for other nutrients. Their argument was rooted in the results of a six-year study by Dr. Wayne Kussow, a soil researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose research showed that healthy turf actually reduces phosphorus runoff. Source: Lake Country Reporter, March 17, 2004