Page 8 The Skanner June 27, 2018
News
Warming Drives Spread of Toxic Algae in US, Researchers Say
By TOM JAMES
Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — The
words blasted to cell-
phones around Oregon’s
capital city were omi-
nous: “Civil emergency .
prepare for action.”
Within half an hour, a
second official alert clar-
ified the subject wasn’t
impending violence but
toxins from an algae
bloom, detected in Sa-
lem’s water supply in
May.
Across the U.S., reser-
voirs that supply drink-
ing water and lakes used
for recreation are expe-
riencing similar events
with growing frequency.
The trend represents
another impact of glob-
al warming and raises
looming questions about
the effects on human
health, researchers say.
“When water bodies
warm up earlier and stay
warmer longer ... you
increase the number of
incidents,” said Wayne
Carmichael, a retired
Wright State University
professor specializing
in the organisms. “That’s
just logical, and it’s being
borne out.”
Technically called cy-
anobacteria, the ancient
class of organisms that
create the blooms are
present nearly every-
where water is found
but thrive in warm, still
bodies like lakes and
ponds. They also create
a unique class of toxins,
the impact of which on
humans is only partly
understood.
Long linked to animal
deaths, high doses of the
toxins in humans can
cause liver damage and
attack the nervous sys-
tem. In the largest out-
breaks, hundreds have
been sickened by blooms
in reservoirs and lakes,
and officials in some
areas now routinely
close water bodies used
for recreation and post
warnings when blooms
occur.
“
environmental
engi-
neering professor at
Tufts University.
Chapra led a team in-
cluding scientists from
the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology and
the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency in
one of the most compre-
hensive studies of the
interplay between global
warming and the blooms,
published in 2017.
Because they prefer
warm water, higher
summer temperatures
It’s absolutely certain in my
mind that warming tem-
peratures are going to end
up causing more of these
algal blooms
But less is known about
exposure at lower doses,
especially over the long
term.
Small studies have
linked exposure to liv-
er cancer — one toxin
is classified as a carcin-
ogen, and others have
pointed to potential links
to
neurodegenerative
disease. But definitive-
ly proving those links
would require larger
studies, said Carmichael,
who helped the World
Health Organization set
the first safe exposure
standards for the toxins.
“It’s absolutely certain
in my mind that warming
temperatures are going
to end up causing more
of these algal blooms,”
said Steven Chapra, an
and more frequent heat
waves help the organ-
isms. More frequent
droughts also cause res-
ervoirs to be shallower
in summer, causing them
to warm faster.
And more intense rain-
storms, also conclusively
linked to climate change,
can wash more nutri-
ents into lakes and res-
ervoirs, especially from
farms where nitrogen
and phosphorous-rich
fertilizers are used,
Chapra said.
In Utah, a 2016 algae
bloom in a recreation-
al-use lake sickened
more than 100. When
the story made national
headlines, other states
reached out.
“We started getting
AP PHOTO/TOM JAMES, FILE
Cyanobacteria that poisoned Salem’s water supply this spring may become more common
In this May 29, 2018, file photo, supermarket shelves are stripped bare of bottled water in Salem, Ore.,
after officials warned residents that tap water was unsafe for children and the elderly due to an algae
bloom. Researchers and officials across the country say increasingly frequent toxic algae blooms are
another bi-product of global warming. They point to looming questions about their effects on human
health.
calls from other health
departments all over
the country saying, ‘Hey,
we’re dealing with an al-
gal bloom in a lake that
has never ever had one
before,’” said Aislynn
Tolman-Hill, Utah Coun-
ty Health Department
spokeswoman.
Officials only recently
started carefully log-
ging the blooms, but they
seem to be becoming
more intense, said Ben
Holcomb, a biologist for
Utah’s
environmental
agency. “They’re starting
earlier, they’re lasting
longer, and their peaks
seem to be getting big-
ger,” Holcomb said. “I
don’t think any state is
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In Lake Erie, a major
bloom in 2014 caused au-
thorities to warn against
drinking tap water in To-
ledo, Ohio, for more than
two days, cutting off the
main water source for
more than 400,000 peo-
ple.
Now blooms happen
every year in Utah and
Ohio. Officials in both
states say they’ve large-
ly been able to stop them
from toxifying drinking
water. But the blooms
can still sicken people
and pets that go in the
water, and often hit rec-
reation businesses that
depend on lake access.
Other blooms, includ-
ing flare-ups affecting
drinking water, have
been logged in recent
years in New York, Flor-
ida and California.
In Oregon, officials
lifted Salem’s drinking
water advisory after sev-
eral days, but then had
to re-issue the warning.
The water supply serves
a population of just over
150,000 in the city, along
with residents outside
city limits.
Officials also warned
that dozens of other wa-
ter supplies could be
vulnerable, and indeed,
when workers from the
city of Cottage Grove in-
spected another reser-
voir, they found a bloom,
according to a report by
Oregon Public Broad-
casting.
Testing for the blooms
isn’t required by either
federal or state law, offi-
cials noted.
Researchers say that
needs to change because
blooms are likely to be-
come more common, in-
cluding in states where
low temperatures previ-
ously provided a buffer
against them.
“These things like
you’re seeing in Lake Erie
and in Oregon are kind of
like the canary in the coal
mine,” said Chapra, the
Tufts researcher.
“It’s going to get worse,
and it’s going to get
worse in a big way.”
COMING NEXT WEEK:
A Special Report from
The Skanner
Did Aaron Campbell pull a
gun on Portland Police officers
before being fatally shot in
2010? Did Keaton Otis reach into
his car for a gun before being
fatally shot by officers that same
year? A new database by the
Oregon Department of Justice
documenting uses of force by
law enforcement statewide
includes big errors.