The movie explains how too much of a good thing can have very large negative impacts. The troubles area caused by nitrification from too much phosphorus run off, killing the lake, by taking up all the oxygen. Humans have increased the amount of phosphorus in nature through many processes. The site of the lake collects 950,000 square kilometres of land run off, greatly increasing growth rates form the increased levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. This is leading to a much higher biomass, but it is starving the water for oxygen, as the algae takes over. Surrounding marshes are an excellent natural filter, but are now being over whelmed, and marshes are disappearing, turning into lifeless lakes themselves. The number of marshes has dropped from 10% to 0.01% in the red river basin. The blue green algae is taking over from the nitrification, and the end of season die off is starving the entire lake of oxygen, killing fish and other forms of life, overall it creates dead zone. Determining who to blame is to much of the current focus, people need to begin taking action themselves to help in the reduction of phosphorus injection points. An example could be moving cattle further away from, or limiting time near watering/river drinking sources. Water needs to be slowed down, so natural filter systems, like marshes, have a chance to absorb nutrients, and to help solve the overgrowth problem.
This movie and many more effective one like it were released at the Manitoba Eco-Network Environmental Film Festival, this was a great event for spreading the word for problems currently being faced, follow the link in the links menu for future dates.
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