NOAA Releases Report On Harmful Freshwater Algal Blooms; Plan To Minimize Impact

August 4, 2008 12:50 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday released a new interagency report that presents a plan for dealing with harmful freshwater algae blooms.

Recent freshwater algal blooms in America have given drinking water sources a foul taste and bad odor, killed farm-raised fish, domestic and wild animals, reduced recreational opportunities and made humans sick when large toxic blooms occurred in recreational waters.

Despite those types of problems, there hasn't been much research before on harmful algal blooms.

This is the first comprehensive look at harmful algal blooms in U.S. freshwaters, Paul Sandifer, Ph.D., who served as co-chair of the Interagency Working Group on Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia and Human Health that produced the report, said in an emailed statement Monday.

NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science and the Technology Council have figured out a way to minimize the impacts of algal blooms.

NOAA officials explained why minimizing the impact of such events was important and what the report revealed to officials.

"Freshwater HABs pose serious threats to human and ecological health. This report assesses the state of knowledge about freshwater HABs in the U.S. and sets research priorities to improve our ability to minimize or even prevent impacts of these events," retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, said in an emailed statement.

Sandifer, who is a former member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, and a current senior scientist with NOAA's Oceans and Human Health Initiative, also gave a more succinct explanation of why controlling algae blooms in freshwater was important.

"Freshwater algal blooms are equally as important and problematic as those found in marine waters. They can affect drinking water for the millions of people across the country who rely on surface fresh water supplies such as the Great Lakes," Sandifer said.

The report, Scientific Assessment of Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms, sets some priorities for minimizing the impact of harmful algal blooms on America's freshwater ecosystems.

• developing methods for detecting freshwater HAB cells and toxins
• understanding causes in order to better predict blooms
• improving environmental monitoring for early warning
• understanding how toxins are taken up and how they affect humans and animals
• improving risk assessments for humans and the environment
• developing bloom prevention and control methods
• supporting HAB research and response infrastructure

Freshwater HABs are caused by algae that produce toxins or accumulate excessive biomass, NOAA officials said.

In addition, many of the algal blooms are preventable by altering human activities that cause them.can be avoided because they are caused by human activities. Human activities, such as nutrient pollution, which includes runoff from using fertilizers on lawns, home gardens and farm crops, as well as septic tank seepage and runoff waste from farm animals, along with alteration of water flow, and introduction of invasive plant species, are thought to contribute to some of these increases.