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Impact of Harmful Algal Blooms on Several Lake Erie Drinking Water Treatment Plants
Citation:
Mash, H., N. Dugan, T. Sanan, AND D. Lytle. Impact of Harmful Algal Blooms on Several Lake Erie Drinking Water Treatment Plants. Presented at 58th IAGLR Conference on Great Lakes Research, Burlington, VT, May 25 - 29, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
Climate change, population growth, increased agricultural use of nutrients and anthropogenic stressors are increasing the likelihood of the presence and persistence of harmful algal blooms (HAB) in body resources. Elevated temperatures over prolonged time periods, increased water usage, increased loading of reactive nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) and an aging drinking treatment infrastructure all combine to increase the probability of toxins breaking through to consumers’ taps. This is likely to disproportionally affect small water systems.
Description:
Recent events in Ohio have demonstrated the challenge treatment facilities face in providing safe drinking water when encountering extreme harmful algal bloom (HAB) events. Over the last two years the impact of HAB-related microcystins on several drinking water treatment facilities with source water originating from Lake Erie were measured, during which time multiple bloom events were observed. The propagation of toxins through the treatment train were monitored using both LC-MS/MS and ELISA techniques, allowing for measurement of specific toxin varieties as well as the total toxin level. In addition, water quality parameters were measured to determine if correlations could be observed with HAB occurrence and intensity to provide improved guidance to treatment operators. From the determination of both extracellular and total toxin it appears that certain treatment techniques can effect toxin release prior to removal of intact cyanobacterial cells. Results also showed that effective conventional water treatment designed to reduce turbidity effectively reduces intact algal cells provided the plant is operating properly.
