WC145 NovDec 2025 - Magazine - Page 27
“Notonlycouldphosphorusrecoveryandreuse
contributetoprotectionofwaterquality…itmay
alsobecriticallyimportanttoensuringsustainable
agriculturalproductionandglobalfoodsecurity.”
However, Canada and the U.S. also reported that
there is no evidence of a declining trend in the
actual loads reaching Lake Erie. As governments
and their partners work to reduce the amount of
phosphorus entering Lake Erie, factors including
increasing frequency, intensity of spring rainfall
events due to climate change, continuing agricultural intensification and urban development are
working in the opposite direction.
This begs the question, are current approaches sufficient to achieve Lake Erie phosphorus
reduction targets? And if targets are achieved, are
reduced phosphorus loads sustainable into the
future? Clearly, we need to explore all possible
options. One option that has not yet received the
attention it deserves in Canada is phosphorus
recovery and reuse, the process of extracting phos-
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
phorus from waste streams and repurposing it as a
fertilizer or for other uses.
Not only could phosphorus recovery and reuse
contribute to protection of water quality in Lake
Erie and other waterbodies across Canada, it may
also be critically important to ensuring sustainable
agricultural production and global food security.
Phosphorus is a non-renewable, non-substitutable element essential for the production of food.
Demand for fertilizer and livestock feed is growing
and global reserves of the phosphate rock used in
their production, as well as that of steel, lithium
batteries and other products, are finite and according to some estimates may be exhausted within 50
to 100 years. Already the quality of those reserves
is declining leading to higher extraction, shipping
and processing costs.
WATER C AN ADA • NOV EMBER/ DECEMBER 2025
27
