Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Danger Looms Where Toxic Algae Blooms

Lake Erie is sick. According to assessments by five federal agencies and every state in the Great Lakes basin, Lake Erie is among the country’s most visible examples of waters fouled by toxic algal blooms.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations may be largely to blame. In 2017 alone, these industrial livestock farms spread untreated animal wastes on 1.75 million acres across Michigan and Ohio. That waste runs off farm fields and into nearby waterways, leaving the 11 million people who rely on Lake Erie for drinking water in a constant state of anxiety, waiting to learn every year just how large, and dangerous, the summer bloom will be. 

Hundreds of millions of federal dollars have been spent on cutting-edge technology and potential solutions. Yet, after five months of investigation, Circle of Blue found that—with a few exceptions—much of it isn’t working. 

Powerful resistance to oversight from the $1.1 trillion-a-year U.S. farm sector and surprising public tolerance have made toxic blooms a hazardous summertime mainstay of shoreline communities. An equally powerful shift in America’s approach to overseeing production agriculture is needed to rid Lake Erie of the pollution. 

Still, solving harmful algal blooms may not be as much of a reach as we thought just a few months ago. In approving legislation this year to rebuild infrastructure and fund significant expansion of clean energy and electrified transportation to reduce climate-changing emissions, the U.S. Congress is displaying fresh resolve to fix systemic challenges.

This is the first in a six-part series, “Danger Looms Where Toxic Algae Blooms,” Circle of Blue’s penetrating assessment of the causes, impediments, and solutions to harmful algal blooms that are more numerous and in many cases getting more dangerous in Michigan, Ohio, and the other Great Lakes states. 

As Lake Erie and other Great Lakes face another season of toxic blooms, join Circle of Blue and Bridge Michigan for this virtual event September 14 from 12-1 PM EST to explore the causes and cures to harmful algal blooms with a panel of experts and featured speaker, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. This conversation will be moderated by Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue’s chief correspondent and the author of "Danger Looms Where Toxic Algae Blooms."

The Erie Situation

Join audiences across the Great Lakes for a special simultaneous airing of “The Erie Situation” documentary film about harmful algae blooms from Circle of Blue partner Great Lakes Now. Six PBS stations will broadcast the film, which explains the problem of these toxic blooms and explores solutions. Tune in at 9 pm ET, Monday, Sept. 12. For a preview and to chat with the filmmaker and experts, join the Watch Party on Circle of Blue's Facebook page at 7 pm that day. 

Lake Erie's harmful algal bloom in September of 2009. Photo © T. Archer for Circle of Blue

Great Lakes Drinking Water Fouled by Toxic Algae

On September 4, 2013, Henry Biggert, the superintendent of the Carroll Water and Sewer District, near Toledo, Ohio, got the first clue that he could have a public health crisis on his hands. An analysis of water samples taken from Lake Erie, the district’s only water source, showed that levels of a toxin released by algal blooms had spiked.

In five years of voluntarily testing for the toxin, Biggert and his staff had never seen anything like it.

The September incident put Carroll Township in the unenviable position of being the first Great Lakes community to directly contend with the health risks associated with algae. Algal blooms are now ubiquitous in lakes and oceans around the world, risking human health, and sucking up so much oxygen they suffocate fish and invertebrates. Dangerous blooms have been documented from the Gulf of Mexico to the Baltic Sea.

The cause: industrial and agricultural practices — driven by demand for ever more food, energy and consumer products — that dump nutrients into the water.