PBS stations throughout the Great Lakes region are broadcasting a documentary film released this year featuring three University of Toledo faculty members explaining the effects of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.
A 60-minute cut of “The Erie Situation” will air on the PBS stations in Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Marquette and Erie at 9 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12.
“The Erie Situation” focuses heavily on the 2014 Toledo water crisis and the aftermath of that event, including advances in monitoring cyanotoxin levels in the lake and new biomedical research aimed at better understanding how harmful algal blooms impact the health of individuals who spend time on or near the lake.
Directed by Michigan-based filmmaker David Ruck, the documentary premiered in April at the Cleveland International Film Festival, where it won the Global Health Competition.
Ruck and his team visited UToledo’s Health Science Campus and Lake Erie Center in 2019. They conducted a series of interviews and observed the annual HABs Grab, where environmental scientists from the U.S. and Canada fan out across western Lake Erie to collect water samples and then return to the Lake Erie Center to analyze what they’ve collected.
The film includes interviews with Dr. David Kennedy, Dr. Deepa Mukundan and Dr. Thomas Bridgeman.
Kennedy, an associate professor of medicine, and Mukundan, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and professor of pediatrics, work together with Dr. Steven Haller, associate professor of medicine, to study how human cells respond to the microcystin toxins produced during harmful algal blooms, and how individuals with preexisting conditions may be more at risk of becoming ill from exposure.
The team is also collaborating with other UToledo investigators to develop new diagnostic testing for microcystin exposure.
Bridgeman, professor of ecology and director of the UToledo Lake Erie Center, has studied harmful algal blooms for two decades. His laboratory is one of the key locations for tracking and providing early warning of harmful algal blooms in the western basin of Lake Erie.
“The Erie Situation” is a production of Plastic Oceans International and Great Lakes Outreach Media.
Kennedy, Haller and Bridgeman are part of UToledo’s Water Task Force, which was formed in response to the city of Toledo’s “Do Not Drink” water advisory in 2014.
The task force is made up of more than 30 faculty members from across the University working to protect water quality and the health of Lake Erie. UToledo scientists, engineers, medical researchers and public health and legal experts collaborate closely to advance ways to improve water quality and inform stakeholders about our latest research findings.
For more information about the PBS stations broadcasting the documentary, visit the Great Lakes Now website.
