Nualgi in Lagoon STPs and dams in Queensland, Australia

http://nualgienviro.com.au/an-overview-of-trials-using-nualgi-in-lagoon-stps-and-dams-in-queensland-australia/

An Overview of Trials Using Nualgi in Lagoon STPs and dams in Queensland, Australia

This entry was posted in CyanobacteriaDiatomsHarmful AlgaeNutrient managementSewage TreatmentToxic AlgaeWastewater Treatment on September 21, 2015 by simonadmint

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This blog post is somewhat more technical than some of the other posts I have done to date. The reason for this is that I am presenting actual data! Yes! The numbers are in and I have graphs, relationships and hypotheses to offer. So if you are interested in the more analytical side of things then I hope you enjoy this post. As we are moving towards summer here in Australia things are warming up so the cyanobacteria are getting more active and the use of Nualgi in these tests is going to get properly tested to see how good it is. I hope you enjoy the report and as always, feel free to contact me if you want to know more.

Nualgi is a nano-silica nutrient mixture that has all the micronutrients required for growth of diatom microalgae adsorbed into the amorphous nano-silica structure. As only diatoms have a requirement to take up silica, they are the only algae that benefit from the micro-nutrient boost. This means that the diatoms successfully out-compete the other algae for nutrients, and reduce blue-green algae growth in a natural way. The process is non-toxic and offers an added benefit in that bacterial activity is enhanced due to the increased dissolved oxygen content from the diatom bloom. This increase in dissolved oxygen and bacterial activity will assist in bringing down the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in the wastewater. 

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Summary

The three trials presented here are each slightly different in regard to the conditions of the STP or the water being treated.  Trials 1 and 2 have both shown a strong change in the percentage of the BGA that make up the Total Cell count.  A similar pattern may slowly be emerging in Trial 3 which has a lower N concentration.

The Total Cell Counts in all trials have been seen to reduce markedly from the starting values.  Trial 2 has shown some recovery of non BGA algae, although this stage may be transitory as the lagoon continues to settle toward having a higher DO and lower BGA population.

Because of the increased activity of diatoms, especially benthic diatoms, induced by the addition of Nualgi there have been several positive changes to the water quality.  In Trial 3, a reduction in the pH and a qualitative assessment that the invertebrate populations in the water have increased suggest that the water is progressively returning to a more stable environment in which algae other than BGAs may proliferate and the nutrients will shift from being retained in algal cycles and may now move up the food chain through the invertebrates and into higher animals such as fish, eels and birds.

Longer trials are needed to assess the long term use of Nualgi in managing nutrients and controlling Blue Green Algae growth, but these three trials are strongly indicative that the use of Nualgi is a simple and effective pathway to achieve this outcome.

This is one of the few reports that clearly state that Diatoms have declined and other phytoplankton have increased.

http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/articles/view/3189

Shift in Arabian Sea Plankton May Threaten Fisheries

Growing "Dead Zone" Could Short-Circuit Food Chain

2014-09-09

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A growing "dead zone" in the middle of the Arabian Sea has allowed plankton uniquely suited to low- oxygen water to take over the base of the food chain. Their rise to dominance over the last decade could be disastrous for the predator fish that sustain 120 million people living on the sea's edge.

The rise of Noctiluca scintillans at the base of the Arabian Sea food chain threatens fisheries in Oman and other countries bordering the sea. (Joaquim Goes)

Scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and their colleagues are the first to document the rapid rise of green Noctiluca scintillans, an unusual dinoflagellate that eats other plankton and draws energy from the sun via microscopic algae living within its cells. Noctiluca's thick blooms color the Arabian Sea an emerald green each winter, from the shores of Oman on the west, to India and Pakistan on the east.

In a study published this week in Nature Communications, the researchers show how the millions of green algae living within Noctiluca's cells allow it to exploit an oxygen-starved dead zone the size of Texas. They hypothesize that a tide of nutrient-rich sewage flowing from booming cities on the Arabian Sea is expanding the dead zone and feeding Noctiluca's growth.

"These blooms are massive, appear year after year, and could be devastating to the Arabian Sea ecosystem over the long-term," said the study's lead author, Helga do Rosario Gomes, a biogeochemist at Lamont-Doherty.

Winter blooms of Noctiluca are so vast they can be seen from space. (Norman Kuring, NASA)

Until recently, photosynthetic diatoms supported the Arabian Sea food chain. Zooplankton grazed on the diatoms, a type of algae, and were in turn eaten by fish. In the early 2000s, it all changed. The researchers began to see vast blooms ofNoctiluca and a steep drop in diatoms and dissolved oxygen in the water column. Within a decade, Noctiluca had virtually replaced diatoms at the base of the food chain, marking the start of a colossal ecosystem shift.

Green Noctiluca lives in the tropics while its close relative, red Noctiluca scintillans, whose blooms can sometimes kill fish with their high ammonia content, prefers temperate waters. Green Noctiluca is remarkably willing to eat anything. It feeds on other plankton, living or dead, flushing diatoms and other plankton into its gullet with a flick of its flagellum. It also draws energy from the millions of green algae, or "endosymbionts," living within its transparent cell walls. The algae fix carbon from sunlight and pass the energy, like rent, on to their host.

A varied diet gives Noctiluca its edge. "They can swim down to find nutrients, up to find light, and they can eat other small organisms," said Sharon Smith, a plankton ecologist at the University of Miami who works in the Arabian Sea but was not involved in the study.

To understand the key to Noctiluca's success, the researchers spent three successive winters aboard the Indian research ship Sagar Sampada, starting in 2009. Sailing off the coast of Goa, they sampled blooms and performed experiments. Putting Noctilucaand itsdiatom competitors in oxygen-starved water they found that Noctiluca's carbon-fixation rate rose by up to 300 percent while the diatoms' fell by nearly as much. They also found Noctiluca grew faster in light than in dark, thanks to its sun-loving endosymbiont-algae, which are thought to have evolved 1.3 billion years ago on an oxygen-scarce Earth.

The researchers tried to also identify Noctiluca's predators. They had heard reports of Omani fishermen seeing more gelatinous salps, jellyfish and sea turtles. Could they be eating the Noctiluca? Scooping up several salps from the sea, the researchers dropped them into buckets of seawater thick with Noctiluca blooms. In an hour, the water became visibly clearer. By measuring the drop in chlorophyll, the researchers estimated that one salp can polish off about two-thirds of a bucket of Noctiluca in an hour.  

"They chowed on Noctiluca, like rabbits in a lettuce patch," said Gomes. "This is a creature that few other marine animals want to eat."

Noctiluca is too big for the crustacean grazers that normally feed on diatoms, leading to concerns that it could spawn an alternate food chain lacking the predator fish people like to eat.  Many fisheries in the Arabian Sea are already on a slow decline. Eighty-five percent of fishermen surveyed in the fishing-dependent states of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in India reported a smaller catch from 20 years and 12 years earlier, according to a 2014 study in the journal Oryx. Similarly, a rise in puffer fish off the coast of the Indian state of Kerala has been attributed to a crash in predator cobia fish since 2007, according to a 2013 study in Current Science. In Oman, the catch of large fish fell 18 percent in 2013 from the year before, the Times of Oman reported.

When Noctiluca isn't feasting on plankton, it grabs free energy from the millions of green algae living within its cells. (Joaquim Goes)

Whether Noctiluca or overfishing is to blame, one major factor stands out: massive sewage flows into the Arabian Sea as the coastal population has exploded. As the study authors point out, Mumbai's population has doubled to 21 million in the last decade. The region now sends 63 tons of nitrogen and 11 tons of phosphorus into the Arabian Sea each day. Karachi's 15 million people send 70 percent of their wastewater into the sea untreated. Much of the fertilizer used to boost yields on farms in South Asia also eventually washes into rivers that drain into the sea.

"All of these cities are growing so rapidly they don't have the capacity to treat their sewage," said study coauthor Joaquim Goes, a biogeochemist at Lamont-Doherty. "The amount of material being discharged is humongous."

From the Gulf of Mexico to Chesapeake Bay, dead zones and degraded fisheries are on the rise globally. Doubling in size each decade, and now covering more than 95,000 square miles, they are "probably a key stressor on marine ecosystems," according toa 2008 study in Science. Shifting ocean currents due to climate change can make the problem worse by dredging up nutrients from the ocean bottom.

The Arabian Sea fishery may already be in decline. In Goa, India, women sort through the morning catch. (Joaquim Goes)

In the Arabian Sea, stronger summer monsoon winds have boosted algae growth by bringing more nutrients from the deep ocean to the surface. In a2005 study in Science, Goes, Gomes and colleagues showed that biomass from summer blooms off Somalia, Yemen and Oman, jumped nearly 350 percent between 1997 and 2004. They hypothesize that receding snow cover in the Himalaya-Tibetan plateau is making the Indian subcontinent hotter in summer compared to the Arabian Sea, strengthening the winds that blow toward India, bringing up more nutrients off Somalia, Yemen and Oman.

The researchers expected gentler monsoon winds in winter, as the process reversed itself, leading to fewer algae blooms. But NASA satellite maps showed just the opposite: more winter blooms. After several years of sampling what they thought were sporadic Noctiluca blooms, the researchers realized in 2006 that the blooms seen from space were not diatoms but recurring Noctiluca blooms.

They wondered if falling oxygen levels could explain the diatom-to-Noctiluca shift. Sure enough, the experiments aboard theSagar Sampada seemed toconfirm their hypothesis.

The study has attributed much of Noctiluca's rise to growing sewage flows into the Arabian Sea, an intriguing connection that should be followed up on, says Andrew Juhl, a microbiologist at Lamont-Doherty who was not involved in the study. "It's unusual for Noctiluca to bloom in the open sea and return year after year," he said "All of these observations suggest that something dramatic has changed in the Arabian Sea."

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, Indian Space Research Organization and India's Council of Industrial Research. Other authors: Prabhu Matondkar, National Institute of Oceanography in Goa; Edward Buskey, University of Texas at Austin; Subhajit Basu, Goa University; Sushma Parab, Kent State University and Prasad Thoppil, Stennis Space Center.

Toxic algae out break in 2013 fooled U.S. experts

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2013/11/09/Toxic-algae-out-break-in-2013-fooled-U-S-experts.html

Toxic algae out break in 2013 fooled U.S. experts

Western Lake Erie’s 2013 toxic algae outbreak was worse than expected, fooling the most advanced scientific prediction model the federal government has developed and covering more of the lake’s open water than any of the recent outbreaks except the 2011 record.

The University of Toledo’s top algae researcher, Tom Bridgeman, an associate professor of environmental science and a researcher at UT’s Lake Erie Center, presented a graphic that reflected that information at the UT College of Law’s 13th annual Great Lakes water-law conference on Friday.

The graphic showed this year’s bloom — while not a record-setter — went well beyond the Lake Erie islands and fanned out across more of the lake than expected. It didn’t get past Cleveland and penetrate the lake’s central basin as did the 2011 outbreak.

“The 2013 bloom was second only to 2011 in the open water,” Mr. Bridgeman told nearly 300 people who attended the seminar.

Another noteworthy feature of this year’s bloom: It was so dense along Lake Erie’s southern shoreline that a lot of it spent extended time underneath the water instead of on its surface.

High winds mixed it deep into the water. The lake’s predominant form of toxic algae, microcystis, tends to bubble up and float to the surface as it releases gases. But the mat was so thick that the weight of it kept a lot of the algae deep under water, Mr. Bridgeman said.

That helps explain why the water-treatment plant in Ottawa County’s Carroll Township, which serves 2,000 people, became so overwhelmed by the algae’s toxin, microcystin, that superintendent Henry Biggert took the unprecedented action of shutting it down. Mr. Biggert had service switched over temporarily in September to the system that serves the Port Clinton area.

That was the first time in Ohio history that a Lake Erie water-treatment plant was taken offline because of algae.

The Toledo water-treatment plant, northwest Ohio’s largest and most sophisticated, was able to neutralize the algae. But plant operators there also noticed higher-than-normal spikes and ended up getting $1 million more in emergency funds from Toledo City Council to ward off the threat.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, using a newly developed scientific model, accurately predicted the 2013 bloom would be “significant,” but did not anticipate it being as bad as it was.

“They got close, but they underestimated what the bloom actually was,” Mr. Bridgeman said.

In a 110-page report planned for release later this month, a state task force trying to reduce western Lake Erie’s toxic algae will call for a 40 percent reduction in all forms of phosphorus entering northwest Ohio waterways.

The Ohio Phosphorus Task Force’s report, an update to its initial 2010 study, could affect farmers, sewage plant operators, large land-based businesses such as golf courses, and homeowners — anyone who uses or manages large amounts of fertilizers.

State and federal legislators are expected to use the task force recommendations when deciding whether to expand existing laws or adopt new ones.

Efforts could include a stronger focus on mixing nutrients in farm soil to reduce agricultural runoff into waterways, tighter controls on animal manure — including a ban on winter application — and an effort to fix sewage overflows faster.

The recommendations have been anticipated for months. They were made public by Mr. Bridgeman at the conference.

Mr. Bridgeman said the state task force chairman, Ohio Lake Erie Commission Executive Director Gail Hesse, gave him permission to release an excerpt of the report.

The seminar included discussions of similar algae problems in other parts of America, such as Florida, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Cheasapeake Bay.

“In Florida, we focus on the public-health threat,” said Monica Reimer, a Tallahassee lawyer employed by Earthjustice, one of the nation’s largest environmental law groups. “It’s not good enough to say fish are dead. Algae’s a public health threat.”

She said dozens of manatees died in the state in 2013 because they ingested toxic algae.

Emily Collins, an Ohio native who teaches at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, likened the Cheasapeake Bay’s ecology to that of the Great Lakes.

She said people don’t realize how long it can take a system to recover once it’s been fouled: The full benefit of a 2009 executive order to clean the Cheasapeake, signed by President Obama shortly after he entered the White House, could take 20 to 40 years beyond the target date of 2025 for many of the pollution controls, Ms. Collins said.

Former Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Chris Korleski, who leads the U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office in Chicago, was the keynote speaker. He said the task of restoring the Great Lakes will take decades, even with $1.3 billion allocated under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative since 2010 to address issues such as algae and other forms of pollution, as well as invasive species.

Climate change complicates restoration efforts, Mr. Korleski said, noting that scientists now believe the greatest factor for algae is the amount of rain that falls between March 1 and June 30.

“Storms don’t feel like they did when I was a kid. They just don’t. And I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon,” Mr. Korleski said.

“My prediction,” he added, “is we will continue to wrestle with this [algae] issue, we will continue to talk, and — over time — we will make progress.”

A crash course in septic systems and how they’re damaging the environment

http://alldownstream.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/a-crash-course-in-septic-systems-and-how-they%E2%80%99re-damaging-the-environment/#comment-83

A crash course in septic systems and how they’re damaging the environment

Conclusions

Even if you have a septic system in your backyard, your waste ends up in the same place as everybody else’s.  The key difference is that waste flowing to a wastewater treatment plant is more likely to be treated using biological nutrient removal (BNR) technology that dramatically reduces the amount of nitrogen before discharging into a receiving waterbody (source).  Your local wastewater treatment plant is also more likely to be routinely inspected and maintained than your neighbor’s septic system because there are laws that require it.

As for Governor O’Malley’s proposed ban on septic systems in new large housing developments, he’s facing some stern opposition from rural counties and building associations.  Prospectors who have been holding on to agricultural land in the hope of one day selling it to a developer for big bucks are waking up to find their ship may have already sailed.  New residential developments in the middle of nowhere aren’t possible without septic systems.  New growth may actually be focused in existing service districts, otherwise known as Maryland’s Smart Growth areas.  I thought it was funny today when a woman on WYPR (local NPR affiliate) referred to Smart Growth as something the state tried 15 years ago.  Actually, we’ve been trying it every year since; it’s just experienced very marginal success.  A septic system ban would be a huge step in the right direction.

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2013/10/14/40000-oysters-grow-in-baltimore-harbor.html?page=all

Nearly 40,000 oysters to grow in Baltimore's Inner Harbor

The Inner Harbor waters will soon be home to 37,500 new residents — baby oysters.

The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore is teaming up with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to plant five oyster gardens around the Inner Harbor on Tuesday. It’s another step in the Healthy Harbor initiative, the Waterfront Partnership’s mission to make Baltimore’s harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020.

“If we had a clean Chesapeake Bay we wouldn’t have to do any of this stuff,” saidAdam Lindquist, the Healthy Harbor coordinator for the Waterfront Partnership.

The gardens will be located at five points around the Inner Harbor: near the Rusty Scupper restaurant; near the Lightship “Chesapeake,” between Piers III and IV; between Piers IV and V; and in Fells Point.

The 75 oyster cages in the gardens will each hold 500 baby oysters, which will help clean the water as they mature over the next nine months. After they reach adulthood in June 2014, the oysters will be transported to the Fort Carroll Oyster Sanctuary.

The project costs about $15,000 per year for the materials and use of the Snow Goose, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s boat used to transport the oysters. The cost doesn’t include volunteer hours to maintain the gardens, Lindquist said. A grant from the Abell Foundation will help fund the initiative.

About 12 volunteers each from Brown Advisory, Legg Mason, BGE/Constellation Energy and T. Rowe Price, as well as students from Digital Harbor High School and the Green School of Baltimore, will be responsible for maintaining the oyster cages. That requires pulling them to the surface once a month to scrub off any barnacles, mussels or microorganisms.

If the program is successful, Lindquist said he hopes to repeat it next year with new oysters.

Oysters are filter feeders, meaning they clean the water as they feed on the algae that suffocates aquatic life. The Chesapeake Bay once had enough oysters to filter the entire volume of the bay in three days; today’s oyster population is only 1 percent of historical levels.

But oysters alone can’t clean the Inner Harbor. Stormwater runoff polluted with excess nutrients is the root cause of the harbor’s algae blooms, so Lindquist said the Waterfront Partnership will continue to focus on other measures outside the oyster program to get the harbor to a swimmable, fishable state.

“Oysters are not the only solution,” Lindquist said. “It’s just one more thing we can do to help restore the ecosystem, but really the harbor is just a reflection of the health of our neighborhoods.

http://www.dailytownsman.com/breaking_news/222971371.html

Koocanusa algae bloom kills thousands of salmon

Two weeks ago there was a mass die-off of Kokanee Salmon in Lake Koocanusa. Thousands of fish floated on the surface near the Canada-US border.

Area B Director Heath Slee brought up the subject at the Regional District of East Kootenay meeting Friday, Sept. 6.

"Some of the local people complained that they saw all these carcasses of kokanee salmon floating upside down on the lake and in the reservoir," Slee said. That was the first thing he's heard about it happening two weeks ago.

He found that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists attributed the die-off to a blue-green algae bloom.

The kokanee, 8-10 inches in size, came to the surface because of the long stretch of hot, dry weather this summer on Koocanusa.

"The two-year-old salmon came up to feed on this algae, which they typically do, and once they ingest this algae, it affects their bladder and so they are not able to dive down into the cooler waters again,"

he said, adding that unless they can reach those cooler depths, they cannot thrive.

"So consequently there was a huge die-off. It hasn't affected the over-species, from what I've been told, it's not harmful, it's not going to affect the wildlife," Slee said, adding that if you're out there fishing and catching salmon there's also no concern about eating the salmon.

Slee said it has happened before and biologists believe it is the algae that caused it.

The salmon would be becoming mature and spawning in the fall of 2014, so it may have an effect on future stock.

"Unfortunately a lot of those salmon have died," Slee said. "I don't know what the end result will be or how it will affect the salmon fishery next summer, but it has been a major die-off at this stage and it has hurt in the past."

According to an article in the Tobacco Valley News, Montana biologist Mike Hensley estimated that 10,000 juvenile kokanee were dead as a result of the algae bloom.

Slee said he hadn't heard of any local biologists looking into the situation, but said they were probably aware of the die-off.

The kokanee were introduced into Koocanusa a number of years ago and this year's salmon will begin spawning in the creeks and rivers in the next few weeks.

Lake Ontario algal bloom is big enough to be seen from space

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/lake-ontario-algal-bloom-big-enough-seen-space-145539313.html

Astronauts on board the International Space Station spotted something unusual as they flew over North America on August 24th — the normally blue waters of Lake Ontario had changed to a vibrant green hue!

The reason for this was a population explosion blue-green algae in the lake water. These 'algal blooms' are seen quite often in the Great Lakes during the summer months, but ones of this extent are usually seen in Lake Erie (you can even see that the western part of Lake Erie has a smaller bloom going on at the same time). According to NASA's Earth Observatory, the Aqua satellite captured a view of this at the same time (you can see it here).

Algal blooms happen when there's a combination of warm water and lots of nutrients, from sources like sewage and fertilizers making their way into the lakes. The algae feast on the nutrients, spurred on by the warmth, and multiply rapidly.

Algal blooms can cause health problems for anyone drinking the water or swimming in it, as the algae, called cyanobacteria, can produce toxins as they eat. Even without the toxins, the blooms also threaten life in the lake, as the algae consume all the oxygen in the water, causing the fish to suffocate.

[ Related: Experimental Lakes Area saved with funding from Ontario, Manitoba ]

Although these blooms still happen due to other sources, it was scientists working at theExperimental Lakes Area, in northwestern Ontario, that discovered the link between these blooms and phosphates in our cleaning products. The future of the ELA was in jeopardy until recently, but the scientists there will now be continuing their world-renowned work, thanks to new commitmentsby the Ontario government and the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Manitoba.

Brown Tide in Florida - Aureoumbra lagunensis.

http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/habs/nccos-responds-to-harmful-algal-bloom-event-threatening-important-florida-lagoon/

NCCOS Responds to Harmful Algal Bloom Event Threatening Florida’s Indian River Lagoon

Posted on August 22nd, 2013 (1 day ago) in Ecosystem Management, Harmful Algal Blooms,Monitoring & Event Response, Rapid Response, Seagrasses, Sponsored Research

The NCCOS Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response Program approved a request supporting rapid response to a harmful algal bloom (HAB) in the Indian River Lagoon system of East Central Florida. Dr. Chris Gobler from Stonybrook University will work with the St. Johns River Water Management District to map the extent of the 2013 Brown Tide bloom in Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons. Dr. Gobler and his team will assess bloom effects on zooplankton grazing and the role of nutrients in promoting blooms, and help convene a September public forum hosted by the not-for-profit Marine Discovery Center. This follows a 2012 NCCOS Event Response effort that documented the brown tide in these Florida lagoons, previously found only in Texas, and that produced a new rapid, quantifiable genetic detection method.

http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/habs/harmful-algae-from-brown-tides-in-texas-now-appearing-in-florida-waters/

Harmful Algae from Brown Tides in Texas Now Appearing in Florida Waters

Posted on June 28th, 2013 (2 months ago) in Harmful Algal Blooms, Marine Biotoxin Impacts,Monitoring & Event Response, Sponsored Research

Chris Gobler Lab team member sampling the Florida brown tide in the Indian River Lagoon system. Credit: Florian Koch

A recently available in press research publication authored by NCCOS-supported Stony Brook University Professor Dr. Chris Gobler confirms the novel brown tide bloom that occurred in 2012 in the Indian River Lagoon system along the east coast of Florida was caused by the algal species Aureoumbra lagunensis.

The in press article provides results from a NCCOS funded HAB response project led by Dr. Gobler to document the first-ever occurrence of a bloom of A. lagunensis bloom in Florida, consider possible causes, and determine environmental and ecological impacts.

Dr. Gobler also developed a new rapid, quantifiable genetic detection method for A. lagunensis. Previously such blooms had only occurred in the Texas estuaries of Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay where they persisted for decades and caused major disruption.

Among the potential ecological impacts reported, juvenile northern hard clams (a.k.a. quahog) and eastern oysters filtered brown tide bloom water at lower rates than usual and juveniles that settled out to grow were significantly smaller than prior years.

Both cultured and wild populations of these shellfish species suffered mass die offs during the 2012 bloom.  The decline of the bloom was linked to near hypoxic conditions and an unusually high number of fish kills.

Brown tide in the Florida Indian River Lagoon system. Credit: Florian Koch

The study discusses the potential for further expansion of the range of A. lagunensis blooms in Florida and Georgia and for the likely re-occurrence of blooms once established in an estuary. In line with these findings, Dr. Gobler and Florida officials began tracking the return of brown tide to the Indian River Lagoon system in May of 2013.

This publication and study was supported by NCCOS Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response Program.

Lake Erie algae bloom intensifying

http://www.13abc.com/story/23224481/lake-erie-algae-bloom-intensifying

Lake Erie algae bloom intensifying

A new report this week shows the algae bloom in Lake Erie is intensifying.

It's more than just unsightly.  It's a big threat to the multi-billion dollar tourism industry.

Captain Rick Unger is one of hundreds of charter boat operators on Lake Erie.

"We've been seeing a lot of blooms," says Unger, the owner of Chief's Charters. "They're out there."

A new report this week warns the algae bloom has intensified.  There may be patches of green scum from the Bass Islands west to Maumee Bay.

Meanwhile, the state warning remains in effect at Maumee Bay State Park where it looks like green paint is washing ashore.

The health advisory at the beach means the level of bad bacteria in the water has reached unsafe levels there and could make you sick.

"It's a threat to every business in Northwest Ohio," says Unger.

"The algal bloom in Maumee Bay, particularly, is very large, very intense right now," says Dr. Thomas Bridgeman who works at the University of Toledo and studies these types of blue-green algae blooms in the Great Lakes.

Bridgeman says this year's bloom isn't as large as the massive blob that stretched all the way to Cleveland in 2011, but it's larger than last year.    

"If 2011 becomes the new normal, Lake Erie would be in serious, serious trouble," says Bridgeman.  "It's already in trouble. But if 2011 became the new normal then I would fear for the potential collapse of our fisheries and recreational industries along Lake Erie."

Tourism in Ohio is an $11 billion industry.  $1.2 billion of that is from fishing.

"This is a problem we can fix," says Unger.

Unger is also the President of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association which has been working with lawmakers for years to fight the fertilizer run-off into the water.

"All of them understand the resource is too valuable to lose and they're all working hard for a solution," says Unger.

Hydroponics - Micronutrients and algal blooms

Hydroponics - Micronutrients and algal blooms

Micro nutrients and algae in Hydroponics -

http://www.maximumyield.com/inside-my-com/features-articles/item/635-troubleshooting-in-the-hydroponic-garden

However, iron, calcium and magnesium deficiencies on leaves and fruit occur even when there is more than a sufficient amount of these elements in a solution. 

.....

Most hydroponic growers come across algae sooner or later.

Donald Lester

http://www.maximumyield.com/inside-my-com/features-articles/item/703-understanding-phosphorous-acid-products

Phosphate fertilizers are used in large amounts in horticultural, agricultural and turf applications and they are often blamed for algae blooms in rivers and lakes (water carries phosphates and nitrogen fertilizers to these bodies of water). The rapidly growing algae blooms suck oxygen from the water, thus resulting in large fish kills

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/04/05/Russia-seeks-Baltic-pollution-partnerships/UPI-56841365134700/

Energy Resources

Russia seeks Baltic pollution partnerships

Russia's push to create public-private partnerships as a way to help clean up the polluted Baltic Sea is the focus of an environmental summit this week in St. Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, April 5 (UPI) -- Russia's push to create public-private partnerships as a way to help clean up the polluted Baltic Sea is the focus of an environmental summit in St. Petersburg.

The meeting, to be attended by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and premiers from 10 other Baltic and northern European nations, is being called in part to strengthen international cooperation on tackling the chronic environmental woes of the Baltic, which is plagued by nitrates and phosphates from waste run-off.

The nutrients, contained in fertilizers and sewage, enter the sea from large "spot" sources such as wastewater treatment facilities and also from diffuse sources, such as scattered farm fields.

Environmentalists say the pollution is causing the "eutrophication" of the Baltic Sea, though which algae blooms deplete oxygen from the water, triggering fish die-offs and creating a 25,000-square-mile-wide "dead zone" the size of Latvia.

A 2007 action plan developed by the Helsinki Commission of nine Baltic Sea nations has achieved a 40 percent reduction in direct nitrogen and phosphorus discharges as well as a 40 percent decrease in airborne nitrogen emissions.

Some 200 Baltic Sea anti-pollution commitments have been at previous summits, including 11 by sovereign states.

But to achieve its stated objective of eliminating the Baltic's algae blooms, direct phosphorous and nitrogen inputs must be cut by a further 42 percent.

Nitrate-reduction targets adopted under the Helsinki Commission agreement cover the Baltic proper, the Gulf of Finland and Bornholm Basin. Targets have been set for oxygen "debt," which is a measure of a lack of oxygen caused by eutrophication. The ultimate aim is to reach a level of oxygen debt that was prevalent in the 1950s to 1970s.

Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, has indicated it will use the prime ministerial conference to promote its top priority of establishing international public-private partnerships to tackle environmental challenges.

A release from the Russian delegation, headed by Igor Vdovin, board chairman of the National Agency for Direct Investment, said they will be focused on building such partnerships for environmental projects in two pilot regions -- Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg/Leningrad Oblast.

The Russians said they will be also be seeking to create a "common space" for public-private partnerships in the Baltic Sea region as well as a regional investment fund among the 11 Baltic Sea states attending the event as well as the European Commission.

Finland, which launched the environmental summit process in 2010 and takes over the Council of the Baltic Sea States presidency this year, says it's aiming to speed up the implementation of the Helsinki Commission's clean-up action plan.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Minister of the Environment Ville Niinisto were both set to travel to St. Petersburg, the government said Tuesday.

Katainen in November called for closer links between the Baltic Sea countries to combat maritime pollution at an address in Jyvaskyla, the Finnish daily Keskisuomalainen reported.

"The question is to save the Baltic Sea," he said, calling it the biggest challenge facing the surrounding nations. "For it to achieve good ecological status will require closer cooperation and, above all, the cutting down of (nutrient) load factors."

Niinisto, meanwhile will also be present at the Russian-hosted public private partnership forum, the governing National Coalition Party reported in its Verkkouutiset.fi online magazine.