When Gov. Tom Corbett learned of the large toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) bloom that disrupted the drinking water supply for hundreds of thousands of Ohio’s citizens, he expressed confidence his state was proactively planning to mitigate any potential human health impacts from toxic cyanobacteria blooms.
This confidence grew from the Department of Environmental Protection leading a Pennsylvania Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force and Monitoring and Response Strategy piloted in the summer of 2014. Both stemmed from a 2013 National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science HAB Event Response project.
The strategy lists the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a possible partner contributing research on environmental conditions that promote HAB development for predictive purposes and support to address HAB science priorities.
(Reprinted from the Nov. 26 DEP News, Click Here to sign up for your own copy, read back issues.)
