Harmful algal blooms can have a detrimental effect on the environment and on human and animal health. As a result of climate change, water utilities are experiencing these events with increasing frequency. Historically, many water monitoring agencies have not had a plan in place to proactively monitor for cyanobacteria, but rather found themselves reacting to the effects of a bloom after the fact.
The US EPA has released a report that addresses concerns within the agency about the lack of a cohesive, agency-wide plan to monitor freshwater bodies for harmful algal blooms (HABs):
"The EPA does not have an agencywide strategy for addressing HABs, despite Congress appointing the EPA administrator as the leader for federal actions focused on reducing, mitigating, and controlling freshwater HABs... By creating an agencywide HAB strategy that addresses these planning areas and issues, the EPA can improve its nationwide ability to reduce HABs and their impacts on human health and the environment"
In one example in the Northeastern US, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health provides cyanobacteria threshold guidelines in recreational and drinking water, but the EPA does not recommend a standard for how to test for the presence of these cyanobacteria, or guidance on how to prevent blooms. Due to this gap in regulations, citizen groups like Massachusetts' Worcester Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative (WCMC) are currently picking up the slack when it comes to monitoring recreational water bodies. Pictured above: WCMC volunteer using a plankton net to collect samples for FlowCam Cyano analysis
In 2017, Jacquelyn Burmeister, together with several other local watershed associations, helped organize this collaborative that has since recruited dozens of volunteers to help expand cyanobacteria monitoring in the area's recreational waters using standard compound microscopes. The collaborative has expanded each year, eventually outgrowing its previous cyanobacteria monitoring process that relied upon using a modified version of the CyanoScope method that was qualitative but didn't allow them to track large populations. They plan to complement this method with more quantitative FlowCam data going forward.
The City of Worcester's Water Department made an investment in the program by purchasing a FlowCam Cyano instrument to aid in these monitoring efforts. They were interested in learning more about the diversity of algae and cyanobacteria, cyanobacteria concentration as it relates to public health, and general water quality. FlowCam allows them to gather data more quickly and more cost-effectively, and they were so happy with the results that they have since added a second FlowCam Cyano instrument as their lab has expanded.
WCMC has integrated FlowCam analysis into their monitoring strategy by collecting counts and concentrations of targeted cyanobacteria that contribute to the closure of Worcester area lakes or ponds. FlowCam Cyano makes it easy to target specific cyanobacteria by allowing Jacquelyn's team to use historic data to create classification templates that automate the categorization of different phytoplankton taxa.
The WCMC's goal is to establish an efficient and cost-effective monitoring method using FlowCam Cyano that is officially recognized as valid by the Massachusetts Department of Health.
Learn how FlowCam can support a variety of plankton research goals in our ebook, The Ultimate Guide to Flow Imaging Microscopy for Aquatic Life Sciences.
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Pictured above: WCMC team, 2021 |
