Eutrophication News

WASHINGTON -- Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin will be holding a hearing this week on nutrient pollution of waterways nationwide.

MONTANA - Every community in eastern Montana over the last several years has a costly common concern in local government meetings: DEQ requirements for sewage treatment.

CALIFORNIA - About a month ago, thousands of abalone and other invertebrates washed up along the Sonoma coast, killed by what people thought was probably a red tide, a.k.a. a harmful algal bloom. Phytoplankton—photosynthetic organisms like algae and bacteria—can multiply in number, turning the water red with their bright-colored cells and wreaking havoc on marine organisms. An interdisciplinary team of researchers banded together to find out what was going on along the Sonoma coast.

GHANA - A new technology which will aid in the conversion of agricultural waste into valuable biodegradable products has been presented to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) today in Accra.

CHESAPEAKE BAY - Efforts to restore the Chesapeake could be hampered by the failure of federal and state agencies to agree on clear goals to restore habitats, rebuild fish and wildlife populations and other priorities, according to a congressional report. The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, said that while states and the EPA have clear objectives to achieve Bay water quality goals, there is no consensus for many other restoration objectives.

CHESAPEAKE BAY - From streams whose banks were shredded by floodwaters in New York, to a cascade of chocolate-brown water that spread halfway down the Chesapeake, severe late summer weather delivered a heavy blow to the Bay and its watershed.

TOPEKA | State parks officials are assessing the impact of large-scale, blue-green algae blooms at Kansas lakes and reservoirs that kept people and animals out of the lakes this summer.

TEXAS – Manure, managed correctly, is a valuable natural fertilizer. Researchers and the cattle industry are joining forces to make sure those spreading the manure know how to do so in the “greenest” manner. Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas AgriLife Research and West Texas A&M University cooperatively are conducting the project, titled “Development and Implementation of an Environmental Training Program for Manure and Compost Haulers/Applicators in the Texas High Plains.”

MINNESOTA - Several water bodies in Douglas County are listed as “impaired,” according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), because they do not meet water quality standards. Pollutants entering the water, including nutrients like nitrates and phosphorus, bacteria such as E. coli, and heavy metals like mercury, compromise waters.

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A University of Vermont scientist says tests have found the highest concentrations of potentially toxic blue-green algae in Lake Champlain in seven years. The sample taken from Highgate Springs along the Canadian border contained more than 940,000 potentially toxic cells per milliliter of water as well as high concentrations of a toxin released by the algae.

CAMBRIDGE Fresh water from recent storms has created low oxygen zones from north of the Bay Bridge to south of the Patuxent River, Mike Roman, Horn Point laboratory director, said Thursday.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Rising nitrate levels in the northwest Pacific Ocean could alter the makeup of marine plants and influence marine ecology, U.S. and Korean researchers say. Atmospheric and riverine pollution off the coasts of Korea and Japan that is changing the ratio of nitrate to phosphorus has researchers saying they're concerned about ecological effects.

HARRISBURG, Pa.- The Department of Environmental Protection today announced it has awarded $1.2 million in Coastal Zone Management Grants to organizations dedicated to protecting and preserving Pennsylvania's coastal zones along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary.

HUNTINGTON -- A cap and trade system to protect the Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico is moving along slowly, but it could be in operation in a few years. The idea is to work with farmers to prevent runoff containing nitrogen and phosphorous. As they reduce their pollution, industrial operations could buy credits in order to comply with their own pollution permits.

WASHINGTON - Pattison Lake residents and their pets should avoid any contact with lake water after tests showed that a blue-green algae bloom covering portions of the lake is toxic, Thurston County environmental health officials said Wednesday. The Lacey-area lake joins Black Lake south of Tumwater on the list of lakes with outbreaks of toxic algae in the past two weeks at levels high enough to trigger health advisories, county environmental health director Art Starry said.

SARASOTA, FLORIDA - We might not currently be in a red tide outbreak like we saw on the Suncoast in 2006, but scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory are on on alert. "We know there's Red Tide in high concentration offshore of Sarasota County now," says Gary Kirkpatrick, the manager of Mote's Phytoplankton Ecology Program. "Whether it's going to impact the beaches severely, we don't know that right at the moment."

Local beaches passed with flying colors this week in Heal the Bay's annual beach report card. The nonprofit environmental organization based in Santa Monica analyzes more than 440 California beaches per year, using a grading scale of A to F. Grades are based on water quality, bacteria and pollution.

Today, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) publicly unveiled a new web-based tool designed to help states, municipalities, federal agencies and others quickly and easily assess the most effective ways to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

CAPE MAY - The heavy shipping that produces urban pollution in the Delaware River near Philadelphia usually isn't a problem downstream, at the mouth of the Delaware Bay. But scientists want to know how other activities - including species habitat destruction and overfishing - may be affecting the vast estuary, and how the exchange between the two waterways affects the quality of brackish flow.

REHOBOTH BEACH -- While this year's State of the Inland Bays report shows there has been a vast improvement to the waterways in recent years, there is still plenty of work to be done. At a press conference, the Center for the Inland Bays presented its 2011 report on the state of the watershed.