Harmful algal blooms pose a unique toxic threat in Lake Erie’s central basin, new research has found. Not only do blooms routinely occur in this area, they can also produce types of cyanobacterial toxins that aren’t typically detected through routine water-safety monitoring, according to a study published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. That’s troubling because water treatment plants aren’t typically set up to look for this bacteria or the toxins they create. It requires more expensive, more sophisticated equipment. The water in the central basin hadn’t been thought of as friendly to cyanobacteria because it isn’t as warm or nutrient-rich as in the western basin, where nitrogen and phosphorus is plentiful because of agricultural runoff brought in by the Maumee River.
a cyanobacterium called Dolichospermum in the central basin during early-season blooms in July. This cyanobacterium is capable of producing a toxin that can attack the central nervous system in humans, and the researchers found genetic evidence that the bloom has the potential for the neurotoxin.
Later in the season, the researchers found the cyanobacterium Microcystis — the chief troublemaker in the western basin, which feeds off of excess phosphorus — in the central basin. The toxins, called microcystins, that it produces are most harmful to the liver and also a threat to the kidneys and reproductive system. Water plant operators routinely look for microcystins.
— source news.osu.edu | May 16, 2019