{"id":45671,"date":"2017-07-27T03:34:50","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T07:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=45671"},"modified":"2017-07-26T14:35:50","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T18:35:50","slug":"ut-tracking-lake-erie-harmful-algal-bloom-to-help-water-treatment-plant-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/07_27_2017\/ut-tracking-lake-erie-harmful-algal-bloom-to-help-water-treatment-plant-operators","title":{"rendered":"UT tracking Lake Erie harmful algal bloom to help water treatment plant operators"},"content":{"rendered":"

During a weekly water sampling expedition in late July aboard The University of Toledo Lake Erie Center\u2019s 28-foot research vessel, UT senior Alex Lytten holds the buoy steady as fellow senior Zach Swan sprays and scrubs it clean of algae and bird droppings.<\/p>\n

For the third year in a row, UT\u2019s water quality and sensor buoy floats in Lake Erie\u2019s Maumee Bay providing live data accessible 24\/7 to anyone by smart phone.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Tom Bridgeman, UT algae researcher and professor of ecology, examined a water sample aboard the UT Lake Erie Center research vessel.<\/p><\/div>It\u2019s one piece of UT\u2019s battle plan to track and combat the growing harmful algal bloom in order to sound the early warning for water treatment plant operators as they work to provide safe public drinking water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bloom is on its way,\u201d said Dr. Tom Bridgeman, UT algae researcher and professor of ecology, who has been focused on this problem for nearly two decades. \u201cThe blue-green algae is growing very rapidly right now. It\u2019s growing leaps and bounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearby at the city of Toledo water intake that pumps raw lake water to the plant, Bridgeman uses a pulley to draw a water sample and concentrates it into a jar.<\/p>\n

It holds a mix of bright green and olive green algae. The olive green algae \u2014 \u201cthe good algae called diatoms,\u201d according to Bridgeman \u2014 sinks to the bottom of the bottle. The bright blue-green algae \u2014 \u201cthe bad algae responsible for producing toxins such as microcystin\u201d \u2014 stays at the top.<\/p>\n

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Eva Kramer, UT graduate student pursuing a master\u2019s degree in ecology, lowered the YSI EXO sonde into the water. The instrument is comprised of several probes to measure various water quality parameters, including the amount of blue-green algae present, oxygen levels, water temperature and pH.<\/p><\/div>\u201cLooks like more blue-green algae than we had yesterday,\u201d Swan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s growing exponentially,\u201d Bridgeman said.<\/p>\n

The researchers also spot a spiny water flea, an invasive species from the Caspian Sea, in the water sample. It\u2019s eating the other zooplankton moving in the jar.<\/p>\n

Eva Kramer, a UT graduate student researcher who is pursuing a master\u2019s degree in ecology, mans the big blue wand called a YSI EXO sonde, which is comprised of several probes to measure various water quality parameters, including the amount of blue-green algae present, oxygen levels, water temperature and pH. It\u2019s the same instrument mounted inside UT\u2019s buoy.<\/p>\n

Kramer first lowers the sonde for a surface reading and then even lower for a deeper reading.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Alex Lytten, UT senior, drew a water column sample using a long, white tube.<\/p><\/div>\u201cHere it\u2019s about six meters deep,\u201d Kramer said.<\/p>\n

Swan submerges the black-and-white Secchi disk to measure how far below surface it disappears from view.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 160 centimeters,\u201d Swan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s higher than I thought,\u201d Kramer said.<\/p>\n

Lytten, who also serves as boat captain, uses a long tube that reaches the bottom of the lake to draw a water column sample.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re collecting a plug of water, instead of just on the surface,\u201d Bridgeman said.<\/p>\n

The research team takes the samples collected throughout Maumee Bay and the open waters of the western basin back to the Lake Erie Center lab to process and analyze for algal toxins and chemical signals that will provide clues to help predict future blooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are watching very closely and prepared,\u201d Bridgeman said. \u201cWe expect to get a big bloom this year, but it\u2019s not necessarily going to cause a problem. It\u2019s usual, but it\u2019s not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridgeman and his team will continue these sampling trips throughout the summer as one part of the University\u2019s efforts to address harmful algal blooms.<\/p>\n

In addition to the environmental scientists, UT has experts conducting water quality research in a diverse breadth of areas, including economics, engineering, business, pharmacy, law, chemistry and biochemistry, geography and planning, and medical microbiology and immunology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UT faculty and students are assessing water samples from Lake Erie to track and combat the harmful algal bloom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,1,3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45729,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45671\/revisions\/45729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}