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Disgusting algal
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This years disgusting, green algal bloom in Lake

Erie was the most severe on record
12 / 67
The Washington Post
Angela Fritz
11 hrs ago

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Eric Albrecht/The Blade via AP Mucky, green waves lapped ashore at South Bass Island State Park in
Lake Erie in July.

The algae in Lake Eriewas more severe and more highly concentrated this summer than
in any summer since NOAA began measuring the blooms in 2002. This yearsharmful
greenbloom was due to excessive Midwest rainfall in spring and summer, and the
fertilizer that rain picks up and carries to rivers which emptyinto the lake.
The algae isnt just an eyesore its incredibly harmful to humans. It produces a toxin
called microcystin that,in August of 2014, reached such highlevels that officials
declared a water ban in Toledo you couldnt even drink it if you boiled it. When
swallowed, mycrocystincan cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, severe headaches
and fever.
The toxic algae feed off of nutrients that run into Lake Erie primarily from the Maumee
River, which snakes through the fertile farmlands of Ohio and Indiana. The runoff from
these farms contains nitrogen from fertilizer and phosphorus from livestock manure
and sewage, which sends the algae in Lake Erie into overdrive.
This year the rain over Ohio and Indiana was truly excessive. The Maumee River
watershed received as much as eight inches more than normal in the month of June. It

was also the fourth wettest June in Toledo, Ohio, and one of the top 20 wettest months
since records began in 1880.
It was alsothe Maumee Rivershighest discharge for the month of June, a full 30
percent higher than the previous discharged record in 1980, and third highest
discharge month out of any month on record, according to Rick Stumpf, an
oceanographer and toxic algae expert at NOAA.
The timing was also critical in this years peak the rains came at just the right time for
the algae in Lake Erie to take the most advantage of the nutrients in the runoff.
The algae began to fester in July, and reached peak biomass in mid-August, says
NOAA. Over a 40-day period from lateJuly to the end of August, the biomass
detected from satellite exceeded that of any other time period we have monitored,
except for the first week of October, 2011, Stumpf and his co-author, Tim Wynne,
wrotein NOAAs algal bloom bulletin. On August 5th, dense scum covered up to 300
square miles of the western basin; this occurred again on August 15th.
During that time, the biomass index exceeded the previous record of 10 set in 2011
and peaked at 10.5. The scale itself had been a zero to 10 scale until this year, and the
10.5 index came as a surprise after initial forecasts suggested itwould max out at
aroundnine. NOAA says that a severity above five indicates blooms of particular
concern.

 NASA By Sept. 6, the algal bloom had been transported to the eastern side of the lake, visible in
satellite imagery.

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