The harmful algal blooms that manifest on Lake Erie in the summer can be as murky a concept to understand as they look.
But it’s important to recognize the distinct and sometimes dangerous impact these blooms can have beyond the Great Lakes’ banks: Harmful algal blooms are capable of producing toxins that can cause skin rashes, GI problems and varying degrees of damage to a person’s liver, kidneys and nervous system.
Perhaps the most infamous instance of the excessive growth of microscopic algae organisms, commonly known as blooms, resulted in a three-day shutdown of the city of Toledo’s water supply in 2014.
We asked Ohio State’s own bloom experts — Ohio Sea Grant Director Christopher Winslow and Jay Martin, professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering and also with Ohio Sea Grant — about the perennial problem of blooms, their hazards and what’s being done about them.