Website makes it easy to report potentially toxic algal blooms in NC
A new online tool will let people more quickly report dead fish and dangerous algal blooms on North Carolina waterways.
The new form will allow state water quality experts to respond faster and issue warnings to stay out of the water if necessary. The public also will be able to follow the progress of the problem on a map and see where algal blooms have formed in other places.
On hot summer days, algae can bloom quickly into a scum on the surface causing changes in water chemistry, raise pH levels and deplete oxygen. They typically turn the water surface green, but can also be brown, blue and red.
Fish and other aquatic life can die. Contact with it can irritate the skin, or if swallowed cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Pets can get sick or die if they drink it.
The state closes swimming areas if tests indicate the algae is toxic.
A state map shows nine blooms were reported in northeastern North Carolina last year. Eight of the nine occurred in July. Five blooms appeared on the Little River along Pasquotank County.
Algae has formed on the Chowan River for the past five years, leaving a green film that stretched for miles. When it appeared in 2015, it was the first bloom of that size in 30 years.
Online reporting has been available for about three years, but the new tool sends the description directly to water quality staff in the field, Daniel Wiltsie, the algal bloom response coordinator for the North Carolina Division of Water Resources, said in an email.
“The new software connects maps with reports and synchs with tablets — which is what our field staff
uses,” he said.
Long hot days of summer raise the chances of algal blooms on stagnant areas of creeks and rivers where the current does not flow well.
Algae are tiny organisms that thrive on nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous flowing into the waterways as runoff from lawns, farm fields, septic systems and pavements.
Cyanobacteria, known as blue-green algae, is the primary type showing up in the Chowan River, according to the state release. Sometimes it produces a toxic known as microcystin,
Wiltsie said.
A sample must be tested in a lab.
“There’s no way to tell from looking at a bloom whether it contains toxins or not,” he said.
For information and to find the reporting tool go to deq.nc.gov/about/ divisions/water-resources/ water-resources-data/ water-sciences-homepage/ecosystems-branch/ algal-blooms