laundry detergents had lots of trisodium phosphate (TSP, Na3PO4)?

Gale Hartt: TSP was common in laundry and dishwashing detergents, but the phosphate, being a fertilizer, would cause algal blooms in the bodies of water that the drains led to. In the early 1970s the use of phosphate-containing products was limited. Now products sold as TSP Substitute, containing 80â€"90% sodium carbonate, are promoted as a direct substitute.

Brock Anwar: Tsp Laundry

Mitchel Demry: Phosphates were getting into the lakes and rivers and causing an unnatural bloom of algae and other aquatic plants. Phosphates are used as fertilizer. The plants used up oxygen and that harmed fish.