Citation:

Goodrich, S., Katherine Canfield, AND K. Mulvaney. Management Perceptions on Minimizing Harmful Algal Bloom Impacts. SETAC North America Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY, November 12 - 16, 2023.

Impact/Purpose:

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have long been studied from a biophysical perspective in freshwater settings. Despite scientific understanding of potential impacts and increasing monitoring of these events, there is limited research considering the human dimensions of these events that impact water quality and can be dangerous to humans and animals. This study uses interviews with water managers in Ohio and New England to understand how people highly familiar with treating and monitoring HABs perceive the changing frequency of events and publics' awareness of HABs risk. The study provides important information on the disjointed nature of monitoring across locales, and the need for increased coordination to create improved awareness of risks among publics' and to reduce nutrient impacts that cause these events.

Description:

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are an environmental, economic, and public health hazard due to their ability to degrade freshwater ecosystems with fish kills, decrease recreation and tourism, and cause severe illness or death in mammals.  Monitoring practices and understanding of publics' perceptions of HABs risk are not cohesive across federal, state, and local agencies. This study conducted interviews with various water managers and researchers mainly across Ohio and New England. This provided perspectives of managers facing different HABs concerns from agriculture and drinking water supply in Ohio to wastewater management and recreation in New England. Interviews were transcribed and qualitatively coded through NVivo software to determine common themes. There was a perception of increased public awareness of HABs, due to increased monitoring in New England, and following the Toledo 2014 drinking water crisis in Ohio. There was also a primary emphasis across regions on reducing nutrient inputs to decrease HAB events across all freshwater bodies. Funding was a large concern for maintaining or increasing monitoring efforts in response to more frequent HAB events and longer HAB seasons. Finally, there was a strong concern for people to know that HABs are harmful to humans and should be more widely regarded and communicated as a risk. The research in this study provides perceptions of monitoring priorities and public understanding of HABs, demonstrates opportunities to improve current HAB monitoring efforts, and can be used to better inform those interviewed about potential ways to create a more holistic view of monitoring and HABs risk.

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