Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Toxic Algae Threatens Drinking Water Across the US
bill-new-mug-002
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 6 years ago on
June 23, 2018

Share

SALEM, Ore. — The words blasted to cell phones around Oregon’s capital city were ominous: “Civil emergency. prepare for action.” Within half an hour, a second official alert clarified the subject wasn’t impending violence but toxins from an algae bloom, detected in Salem’s water supply.
Across the U.S., reservoirs that supply drinking water and lakes used for recreation are experiencing similar events with growing frequency. The trend represents another impact of global warming and raises looming questions about the effects on human health, researchers say.

“These things like you’re seeing in Lake Erie and in Oregon are kind of like the canary in the coal mine. It’s going to get worse, and it’s going to get worse in a big way.— Steven Chapra, environmental engineering professor, Tufts University
“When water bodies warm up earlier and stay warmer longer … you increase the number of incidents,” said Wayne Carmichael, a retired Wright State University professor specializing in the organisms. “That’s just logical, and it’s being borne out.”

Impacts on Humans Include Liver Damage

Technically called cyanobacteria, the ancient class of organisms that create the blooms are present nearly everywhere water is found but thrive in warm, still bodies like lakes and ponds. They also create a unique class of toxins, the impact of which on humans is only partly understood.
Long linked to animal deaths, high doses of the toxins in humans can cause liver damage and attack the nervous system. In the largest outbreaks, hundreds have been sickened by blooms in reservoirs and lakes, and officials in some areas now routinely close water bodies used for recreation and post warnings when blooms occur.
But less is known about exposure at lower doses, especially over the long term.
Small studies have linked exposure to liver cancer — one toxin is classified as a carcinogen, and others have pointed to potential links to neurodegenerative disease. But definitively proving those links would require larger studies, said Carmichael, who helped the World Health Organization set the first safe exposure standards for the toxins.
“It’s absolutely certain in my mind that warming temperatures are going to end up causing more of these algal blooms,” said Steven Chapra, an environmental engineering professor at Tufts University.
Chapra led a team including scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in one of the most comprehensive studies of the interplay between global warming and the blooms, published in 2017.
Because they prefer warm water, higher summer temperatures and more frequent heat waves help the organisms. More frequent droughts also cause reservoirs to be shallower in summer, causing them to warm faster.
And more intense rainstorms, also conclusively linked to climate change, can wash more nutrients into lakes and reservoirs, especially from farms where nitrogen and phosphorous-rich fertilizers are used, Chapra said.

2016 Utah Bloom Sickened More Than 100 People

In Utah, a 2016 algae bloom in a recreational-use lake sickened more than 100. When the story made national headlines, other states reached out.
“We started getting calls from other health departments all over the country saying, ‘Hey, we’re dealing with an algal bloom in a lake that has never ever had one before,'” said Aislynn Tolman-Hill, Utah County Health Department spokeswoman.
Officials only recently started carefully logging the blooms, but they seem to be becoming more intense, said Ben Holcomb, a biologist for Utah’s environmental agency. “They’re starting earlier, they’re lasting longer, and their peaks seem to be getting bigger,” Holcomb said. “I don’t think any state is isolated.”
In Lake Erie, a major bloom in 2014 caused authorities to warn against drinking tap water in Toledo, Ohio, for more than two days, cutting off the main water source for more than 400,000 people.

Blooms Every Year in Utah and Ohio

Now blooms happen every year in Utah and Ohio. Officials in both states say they’ve largely been able to stop them from toxifying drinking water. But the blooms can still sicken people and pets that go in the water, and often hit recreation businesses that depend on lake access.
Other blooms, including flare-ups affecting drinking water, have been logged in recent years in New York, Florida and California.
In Oregon, officials lifted Salem’s drinking water advisory after several days, but then had to re-issue the warning. The water supply serves a population of just over 150,000 in the city, along with residents outside city limits.

Photo of empty shelves in Salem, Oregon, after shoppers bought out all the bottled water
FILE – In this May 29, 2018, file photo, supermarket shelves are stripped bare of bottled water in Salem, Ore., after officials warned residents that tap water was unsafe for children and the elderly due to an algae bloom. Researchers and officials across the country say increasingly frequent toxic algae blooms are another bi-product of global warming. They point to looming questions about their effects on human health. (AP Photo/Tom James, File)
Officials also warned that dozens of other water supplies could be vulnerable, and indeed, when workers from the city of Cottage Grove inspected another reservoir, they found a bloom, according to a report by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Testing for the blooms isn’t required by either federal or state law, officials noted.
Researchers say that needs to change because blooms are likely to become more common, including in states where low temperatures previously provided a buffer against them.
“These things like you’re seeing in Lake Erie and in Oregon are kind of like the canary in the coal mine,” said Chapra, the Tufts researcher.
“It’s going to get worse, and it’s going to get worse in a big way.”

DON'T MISS

Nuggets Close to Sweeping Lakers After Game 3 Win

DON'T MISS

Jose Ramirez: ‘I Want to Make a Statement and Put on a Show’

DON'T MISS

‘IDEA’ Is the Latest Career-Oriented Campus on Fresno Unified’s Drawing Board

DON'T MISS

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 6 Shutout Innings Help Dodgers Finish Sweep, Defeat Nats 2-1

DON'T MISS

The 49ers Add Florida Receiver Ricky Pearsall With the 30th Draft Pick

DON'T MISS

Political Stunt, Egg on His Face, Personal Vendetta. Who’s Fresno DA Talking About?

DON'T MISS

Blockchain Expert Unravels Misconceptions and Realities of Bitcoin Documentaries

DON'T MISS

Did Fresno Trustees Violate Brown Act in Superintendent Search Decisions?

DON'T MISS

LA Judge Deals a Blow to Law Allowing Duplexes in Single-Family Tracts

DON'T MISS

US Announces New Patriot Missiles for Ukraine as Part of New $6 Billion Aid Package

UP NEXT

Antony Blinken Meets With China’s President Xi as US, China Spar Over Bilateral and Global Issues

UP NEXT

Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Bill Criminalizing Adults Assisting Minors in Gender-Affirming Care

UP NEXT

US Growth Slows Sharply Amid High Interest Rates and Inflation

UP NEXT

Hamas Official: We’ll Put Down Arms if an Independent Palestine Is Created

UP NEXT

Ex-State Department Official: Israeli Military Gets Preferential Treatment on Abuses

UP NEXT

Ukraine Uses Long-Range Missiles Secretly Provided by US to Hit Russian-Held Areas, Officials Say

UP NEXT

Ancestry Website to Catalogue Names of Japanese Americans Incarcerated During World War II

UP NEXT

Google Fires More Workers Who Protested Its Deal With Israel

UP NEXT

What Do Supreme Court Justices Say About Homelessness?

UP NEXT

Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson Pledged $10M for Maui Wildfire Survivors. They Gave Much More.

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 6 Shutout Innings Help Dodgers Finish Sweep, Defeat Nats 2-1

2 hours ago

The 49ers Add Florida Receiver Ricky Pearsall With the 30th Draft Pick

2 hours ago

Political Stunt, Egg on His Face, Personal Vendetta. Who’s Fresno DA Talking About?

2 hours ago

Blockchain Expert Unravels Misconceptions and Realities of Bitcoin Documentaries

Did Fresno Trustees Violate Brown Act in Superintendent Search Decisions?

Local Education /

4 hours ago

LA Judge Deals a Blow to Law Allowing Duplexes in Single-Family Tracts

5 hours ago

US Announces New Patriot Missiles for Ukraine as Part of New $6 Billion Aid Package

5 hours ago

Andy Reid and Taylor Swift Agree: Fresno’s Xavier Worthy Is a Great 1st-Round Draft Pick

5 hours ago

The Protests Over the Israel-Hamas War Put a Spotlight on College Endowments

6 hours ago

Fed Plan to Rebuild Pacific Sardine Population Was Insufficient, California Judge Finds

6 hours ago

Nuggets Close to Sweeping Lakers After Game 3 Win

LOS ANGELES — With one championship ring and a tenacious veteran core, the Denver Nuggets are a daunting matchup for any opponent in the NBA...

18 mins ago

18 mins ago

Nuggets Close to Sweeping Lakers After Game 3 Win

41 mins ago

Jose Ramirez: ‘I Want to Make a Statement and Put on a Show’

Local Education /
1 hour ago

‘IDEA’ Is the Latest Career-Oriented Campus on Fresno Unified’s Drawing Board

2 hours ago

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 6 Shutout Innings Help Dodgers Finish Sweep, Defeat Nats 2-1

2 hours ago

The 49ers Add Florida Receiver Ricky Pearsall With the 30th Draft Pick

2 hours ago

Political Stunt, Egg on His Face, Personal Vendetta. Who’s Fresno DA Talking About?

Crypto the Wonderdog Show Episode 5 Title Card

Blockchain Expert Unravels Misconceptions and Realities of Bitcoin Documentaries

Local Education /
4 hours ago

Did Fresno Trustees Violate Brown Act in Superintendent Search Decisions?

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend