318 pp., 6 x 9
Cloth 978-1-884836-57-2; $49.95
Paper 978-1-884836-58-9; $29.95
Technology and the Environment

In Lake Erie Rehabilitated, historian William McGucken presents a comprehensive account of the most notorious international incident of cultural eutrophication—Lake Erie. With the assistance of the International Joint Commission, Canada and the United States diagnosed phosphorus as the primary cause of the problem and, in a unique cooperative effort, reduced input to the lake from municipal and industrial wastewater plants and agricultural lands. Public pressure and government regulation encouraged the reluctant detergent industry to produce alternative detergents and, finally, reduced the input of phosphorus to targeted levels.

Lake Erie is now rehabilitated, but its history over the last three decades demonstrates the importance of maintaining an environmental balance. Meticulously researched and documented, this book will appeal to environmentalists, historians, and readers who seek to understand the Great Lakes ecosystem, environmental issues, and environmental regulation.

William McGucken was chair of the Department of History at the University of Southern Indiana. Born in Northern Ireland, he received his B.Sc., B.Sc. Hons., and M.A. degrees at the Queen's University of Belfast and his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. He published three books, most recently Scientists, Society and State: The Social Relations of Science Movement in Great Britain, 1931-1947 and Biodegradable: Detergents and the Environment.