Algae Blooms May Be More Prevalent This Year
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Algae blooms, some of them toxic, are increasing in the Chesapeake.
Alex DeMetrick reports, a new study by the University of Maryland finds algae blooms have been steadily building for the past two decades.
If algae blooms in the bay and its rivers seem to be happening more often, it's because they are.
"Several of the common harmful algal bloom species are increasing or have been increasing over the past several decades," said Dr. Pat Gilbert, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
For example, blooms of blue-green algae. The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science went back through data from 1991 to 2008. It found blue-green algae outbreaks went from 50 a year to 150---and it's a potential risk to human health.
"Liver cancer is associated with long-term exposure to these blooms," Gilbert said.
Gilbert is one of the world's leading experts on algae blooms. She says a familiar cause is fueling the outbreaks.
"Most of this increase is associated with increases in nutrient pollution," Gilbert said.
Every time it rains, nitrogen from fertilizers, sewage plants and even car exhaust heads downstream---and because algae are microscopic plants, nitrogen is food...a nutrient that can trigger so-called mahogany tides that choke the oxygen out of water and the life of anything that can't swim away. Massive fish kills have resulted.
Toxic algae blooms aren't only increasing in the bay.
"Far from it. Worldwide, we're seeing more algal blooms more often in more places and often lasting longer when they do occur," Gilbert said.
With warmer weather, the chance for algae blooms increases. The Department of Natural Resources reports a small bloom has already happened in the Patapsco River.