As Utah Lake battles one of the most serious Harmful Algae Blooms (HAB) in its history, once again the explanations for the outbreak are readily available.
The first? It is shallow. An average depth this year of between nine and ten feet.
The second? Water in Utah County, within which Utah Lake resides, is used primarily for agriculture. Crops that feed the cattle and dairy farms which, according this somewhat dated yet still relevant assessment from Utah Extension, show that Utah County was ranked first in the state in Total Cash Receipts from crop production and ranked third in Cash Revenue from livestock production.
Utah Lake Algae Bloom
As of July 2016, farmers and ranchers were being discouraged from using water from Utah Lake for irrigation and animals. The fact that these agricultural operations are using the very water to which they contribute excessive amounts of phosphorus (and other nutrients), that foster HAB, is ironic.
In this wonderful white paper by Debra Wolf Goldstein, Esq., General Counsel Heritage Conservancy, the many benefits of conservation easements established between municipalities and landowners are presented. In Pennsylvania (PA), as cited in the paper, chief among them is the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards preserving valuable land holds for residents.
The benefit to the public of privately-owned, protected property is indisputable. In the most recent statewide Recreation Participation Survey, Pennsylvanians listed their top recreation activity as sightseeing/driving for pleasure. Easements can provide this visual relief. Easements also can protect wildlife corridors, maintain a sense of community, combat sprawl, assist in farmland preservation, and maintain high quality water sources.
“People are paying a premium to live and work near the water, and this is hugely important as we work to make these rivers better,” said Matt Howard, director of the city’s Office of Environmental Sustainability. “I think there is a more explicit connection between environmental quality and economic vitality.”
To restate the obvious, clean freshwater is incredibly valuable for tourists and landowners alike. With such financial incentive at risk, the decision to clean up always makes sense.
Less than two months ago, Clean Water Warrior (CWW) noted that the Florida Keys, and the fragile coral reef surrounding them, were always at risk from Harmful Algae Blooms (HAB). These blooms are largely caused by hot weather and, just as importantly or perhaps even more so, rain-induced nutrient runoff from agriculture and communities.
Jordan Schwartz, owner of the Ohana Surf Shop, said he wanted to cry when he saw the green slime — a toxic algae bloom — covering his swath of Stuart Beach on Florida’s east coast.
“Animals are in distress, some are dying, the smell is horrible,” he told CNN on Friday. “You have to wear a mask in the marina and the river. It’s heartbreaking and there is no end in sight. The economic impact is devastating,” he said. “This town is 100% driven by tourism but the tourism is empty,” he said. “You go to the beach and it’s the height of summer and we have empty beaches, empty restaurants, empty hotels.”
The typical rogues gallery of offenders, which working in concert typically explain why HAB’s appear,
Algae-covered water at Stuart’s Central Marine boat docks
is again at work. Too much rain,creating too much runoff, flowing with too few natural or man-made restrictions into waterways that eventually pour too much phosphorus and nitrogen into slower moving waters, lakes, and, in this case, ocean shoreline.
Bottom line: the best chance of reducing HABs is to control what can be controlled. Rain? No. Man-made construction to re-route water, dam, or chemically alter? Maybe — but at an often exceedingly high price. Reduction of nutrients applied to land? Yes. Creating large land buffers to capture much more of the nutrients before they enter the waterways? Yes.
And it is with the last two solutions that Florida must start. Cooperation, not finger-pointing, is the key.
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.
Do Not Swim Sign
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.
