(Toledo, OH) A team of Ohio and Michigan researchers will look into what causes Lake Erie algae blooms to become toxic.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is funding the three-year study by an Ohio State university researcher based at Stone Lab on Lake Erie. But he'll work with a team of scientists from the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, and three other schools.
The study is focused on providing more guidance to water utilities on when they should plan to treat drinking water for algal toxins by incorporating both computer modeling and hands-on lab experiments.
The $750,000 study is directly prompted by Toledo's toxic water crisis three summers ago. Researchers say forecasting a harmful algae bloom's size is reasonably accurate now, but their study should answer questions about what controls when blooms become toxic and how to predict that toxicity.