Author: Nate Drag

Unless you’ve been living under a pile of algal, you know about the toxin laden algal bloom that made Toledo OH’s water undrinkable earlier this month. An overabundance of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen have been running off into the shallow, warm waters of western Lake Erie this spring and summer. These nutrients come from agriculture fields, residential lawns, and sewage treatment plants. With high levels of nutrients available in warm water, algae and bacteria that produce their own food from sunlight grow at tremendous rates. One of these organisms, called cyanobacteria, bloomed this summer and released a toxin…