{
  "id": 10149918,
  "title": "Lake 227 algae blooms continued decades after nitrogen was removed",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/lake-227-algae-blooms-continued-decades-after-nitrogen-was-removed",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-27T05:22:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/discovery/in-1969-scientists-began-fertilising-ontarios-lake-227-with-nitrogen-and-phosphorus-they-stopped-adding-nitrogen-in-1990-but-annual-algal-blooms-continued-for-decades-as-phosphorus-additions-remained/articleshow/134515060.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "For over 50 years, researchers have studied a tiny lake in northwestern Ontario to understand why freshwater ecosystems develop harmful algal blooms. Known as Lake 227 and part of the Experimental Lakes Area, it received precise amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus starting in 1969. In the 1970s, researchers began decreasing nitrogen inputs and stopped adding it entirely in 1990 while continuing phosphorus additions. Despite these changes, the lake remained eutrophic, with algal blooms recurring year after year. The International Institute for Sustainable Development calls Lake 227 the world's longest-running whole-lake experiment, and a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria compensated for the missing nitrogen. This long-term experiment taught a crucial lesson: controlling phosphorus is key to managing freshwater eutrophication.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}