Troubled waters: urgent need to tackle harmful algae
of harmful algal blooms in the past decade. Many will remember that five years ago, Toledo residents were told not to drink their tap water because toxin concentrations from Lake Erie’s algae bloom made the city’s water too dangerous to use.
This year is, unfortunately, proving to be another difficult year.
Earlier this summer, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that the harmful algal blooms on Lake Erie would reach a severity of 7.5 with a possibility of reaching a 9. (The largest bloom on record registered 10.5.) Today, there are two large blooms of green, harmful algae pouring out of Sandusky Bay and Maumee Bay, stretching along approximately 40 miles of Lake Erie’s western shoreline and growing in the lake. Both are capable of producing the harmful toxin, microcystin, that can be dangerous.
Harmful algal blooms are fueled by excessive phosphorus that can come from the use of fertilizer and animal manure on cropland as well as pollution from raw and partially treated sewage from cities and septic tanks that is delivered from major rivers during spring storms. Record rainfalls in 2019 are expected to increase the severity of harmful algal blooms this year by further driving phosphorus from these sources to the lake.
But we know this is not just a problem along Ohio’s north coast. This year, harmful algal blooms have been detected across the state, within Buckeye Lake in Licking and Fairfield counties, Grand Lake Saint Marys in Mercer County and Lake White in Pike County.
Simply put, harmful algal blooms increasingly threaten water quality across Ohio and will intensify, given the increasing effects of climate change. We cannot ignore this threat any longer.
Funding proposals like Gov. Mike Dewine’s H2ohio water-quality initiative and the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative signify the need to invest in protecting Ohioans and our waterways long term. The water quality improvement needs are real; the investment is overdue. Funds like these can be a part of the long-term solution by restoring wetlands, increasing agricultural conservation, addressing leaking septic systems, replacing waterlines made with lead and even upgrading aging infrastructure. We also need to invest in strong accountability measures in addition to money so money to improve water quality is well spent.
Through things like the U.S. Action Plan for Lake Erie, Ohio has committed to nutrient reductions largely on a voluntary basis. Ohio will not achieve our goal of 40% reduction in phosphorus entering Lake Erie by 2025 using this approach without substantial state funding from things like H2ohio and the GLRI.
There is no magic bullet. In addition to substantial funding increases, an all-of-the-above approach is needed to truly solve this problem. Fortunately, this work is already underway. We must continue to consider the very best science. We must continue to develop incentives, educational programs and legislative tools. Most of all, we must continue to build trust among environmental, agricultural, academic and regulatory leaders so that we can find solutions that are good for people, good for our environment and good for our economy.
In the face of climate change, the complexity of Ohio’s harmful algal bloom problems becomes even more complex and urgent. Together, we will collaboratively develop and ensure the implementation of forward-thinking, sciencebased solutions in order to protect our waterways for all Ohioans, now and in the future.