Nutrient Runoff – Page 8 – Clean Water Warrior

Hot, Hotter, Hottest – and here come the blooms.

I’ve been reading lately from sources such as the EPA and NRDC that climate change, in particular the heavy rains and hotter temperatures, is a primary contributor to the increase in toxic algae blooms seen around planet Earth. As I read, I was hoping to discover what percentage of blooms can be explained by hotter temperatures — and the correspondingly warmer waters that stimulate bloom activity.

Unfortunately, it appears that no matter how you try to slice the pie chart, hotter temperatures, more heavy rain, and drought — which I won’t touch on here — all work together to create a nasty cocktail upon which algae greedily gulps. Simply put, wherever Harmful Algae Blooms (HAB) exist, you’ll find at least two of the aforementioned conditions working together.

Which brings me to my point. In the terrific white paper Tides of Trouble from the NRDC website, the first “what to do” item proposed is to implement methods to control nutrient runoff from cities and farms, etc. Proven methods, I might add.

As I’ve said many times before, there is no one solution to the global problem of HAB in waterways. But, wherever HAB’s do exist, controlling nutrient run-off is often cited as the most effective first line of defense.

Been Away? Risks Of Algae Prevail Still ….

blue-green-algae — Algae Bloom Inland Lake

With apologies, I have been away from Clean Water Warrior blogging as our site begins the work of upgrading to the user-friendly, more robust engine that will support CWW’s full-fledged status as a non-profit 501c3. That said, time away from our consistent research of secondary sources and terrific links has unfortunately not been accompanied by a slowing down of the algae blooms that represent a major ecological challenge in all 50 states.

In fact, so long as climate changes bring about warmer temperatures, slower moving water is not assisted with aeration technologies and/or the elimination of dated and unnecessary dams, etc., and there remains excessive nutrient runoff into waterways — largely from unregulated or modestly regulated agriculture operations — blooms will continue to pester and in worst cases destroy thriving lakes and streams.

A nice review of the basics of algae bloom infestations is available by the EPA.

Florida Keys? No Immunity From Nutrient Runoff

It is more than a guilty pleasure. I am an addict for watching the terrific Netflix Original Series “Bloodline.” So much so, that I just had to explore how, or if, nutrient runoff is having an impact on the Florida Keys’ beautiful and environmentally fragile area.

What I found is typical and, at least for me in this case, disheartening.

Despite the myriad abusers of the only continental coral reef in the United States, a reef that is third in size only to those that exist off the coasts of Australia and Belize, its number one threat remains nutrient runoff.

This passage from Reef Relief Founders is particularly unsettling:

Corals require clean, nutrient-free waters to thrive. A healthy coral reef has from 30-40% live coral coverage. However, in the Florida Keys, coral coverage is now reduced to an alarming 3%. Coral spawning has been reduced due to lack of healthy coral colonies and clean water.

The over-abundance of nutrients in the ocean is the single biggest threat to Florida’s coral reefs. Nutrients is a scientific term for organic and inorganic materials that can include phosphates, and/or nitrates, usually from untreated and partially treated sewage, fertilizers and other pollutants. They promote algal blooms which rob the water of oxygen and compete with corals for habitat. Every year, 700 tons of nutrients are discharged into Keys waters from agricultural run-off from the Everglades. Another 33 tons of land-based sources of pollution are discharged from the landbase in the Keys, primarily from inadequately treated sewage and stormwater. Harmful algal blooms can result in eutrophication, when oxygen levels become so low that fish and other marinelife cannot survive.

With a nutrient discharge of 700 tons, Everglades agricultural runoff dwarfs the relatively meager 33 tons coming from land-based communities in the Keys.

As ever, however there is encouraging news. This time coming from a three-year Oregon State University study. The results? Reduce pollution, particularly nutrient runoff — which is relatively easy to accomplish, the study says, through improved sanitation and best farming practices — and the Florida Keys reefs make a dramatic comeback.

In as little as one year.

Buffers – Just Plain Make Sense

I looked online today to identify what are the 10 most polluted waterways in the United States, and I came away from this search with a surprising insight. The pollution list (provided by Mother Jones) wasn’t for my purposes that valuable. It is almost entirely large waterways, like the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and some regional (though still large) rivers like the Rock River which flows between WI and IL.

Of much greater importance, in my mind, are proven methods (as noted in TakePart ) to reduce the farm runoff that ultimately flows into these rivers and – critically – smaller ones. Which then empty into inland lakes, large and small alike, as well as the global treasure that is the Great Lakes.

Often, a big part of a fix includes land buffers between crops and waterways.

Excellent Buffer Space Between Crops & Waterway

Even golf courses which, according to this 2001 article by Jean McCay for Audubon International, may contribute modestly to excess nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways, can by having buffers effectively capture and retain much of what they do possess.

In addition to nutrient capture, the buffers often foster a rebirth in native vegetation, such as milkweed, which support at-risk species like Monarch Butterflies.