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First, what are harmful algae flowers – like HABs?

While HABs along our ocean shores – like red tide events in Florida – are getting more media attention, HAB events are also occurring in our nation’s freshwater bodies. As I wrote last year, HABs occur when excess nutrients make their way into aquatic ecosystems. Nutrients are foods for the cyanobacteria that are normally present in freshwater ecosystems. But when excess nutrients are paired with other activating factors such as warmer weather and stagnant water, cyanobacteria proliferate. Some types of cyanobacteria release cyanotoxins, which can be harmful to humans, especially children, as well as dogs. The increased summer recreation in the summer, and the fact that the capacity of some states is limited due to COVID-19 response (as in Utah and Kansas), make it more important to be aware of these events and how they affect us. can affect. For states such as Maine, Minnesota and Wisconsin, which are home to tens of thousands of freshwater bodies, funding constraints could severely impact efforts to prevent exposure to HABs.

Results of the updated assessment of NRDC

Last year, NRDC mapped freshwater HAB events in all 50 states from 2008 to 2018 because no such map exists at the federal level. This week, we updated that map to include 2019 freshwater HAB data and revised the state of the state freshwater HAB program scorecard. These updated scorecards provide a basic understanding of each state’s wastewater HAB program. They also indicate when states are ready to proactively prevent exposure to, and respond to, freshwater HAB events. As the graph below shows, there have been noticeable improvements in state-of-the-art freshwater HAB programs from last year, but the general outlook remains the same: State agencies do not have the resources to tackle HABs effectively.

Some of the improvements observed from our updated scorecards include:

• Seven more states (California, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming) scored an overall ‘excellent’ rating compared to last year.
• Five states (Georgia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee) have created new websites that share information about freshwater HABs in their states.
• Seventeen states improved the information made available on their websites.
• Six additional states (Connecticut, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin) have taken cyanotoxin thresholds since last year.
• Nine additional states (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) developed and / or developed response protocols for how to respond to HAB outbreaks. Of this list, unfortunately only Arkansas and Michigan have their protocols available online.
• Nine additional states claim to make relationships with NGOs and local organizations to communicate HAB information to the public compared to last year.
• We found 11 new states using social media to communicate HAB information to the public.

Some shocking trends from our updated analysis include:

• 36 states do not collect comprehensive HAB data.
• 34 states do not make HAB data readily available to the public.
• 29 states do not make their response protocols available online.
• 24 states do not provide proactive sampling for cyanobacteria or cyanotoxins.
• 20 states claim they do not have the authority to issue recreational advice.

The role of data in decisions

The adage “you can not control what you do not measure” plays out every day in my work. The difficult trends highlighted in NRDC’s assessment have common discussions: lack of data collection and inaccessibility of data.

I firmly believe that comprehensive data collection is a necessary pillar for effective decision making. Data show trends that can help address the causes of problems, help us understand what we know and disclose what we do not know, clear gaps in program management and efficiency, and provide information to hold decision makers accountable. If states do not collect comprehensive data and do not yet make data available to the public, it is difficult to achieve any of those goals.

The Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately crystallizes what happens when decision – makers politicize and withhold data. Decisions about public health and emergency response are underpinned by politics rather than promoted by evidence.

Double down on prevention

The federal government could prevent the kind of excessive dehydration of nutrients that contributes to HABs by enforcing the Clean Water Act, but it does not, so states bear the costly burden of testing, researching, responding to, monitoring and reducing freshwater HABs. -barrens. Now, with the health and economic crisis arising from the pandemic, state agencies responsible for responding to HAB freshwater events are being asked to do more with less.

According to the updated NRDC assessment, 62 percent of states did not allocate financial resources to respond to or investigate HAB events, which means that state agencies mandated to respond with HAB response funding from environmental sanctions such as water quality protection funds, competing with other funding agencies, reduce funding for one area of ​​HAB activity to complement another, or simply forget to proactively test. Climate change will increase the frequency and duration of HAB events nationwide, so the reactive approach to freshwater HAB response will only increase the future costs of states.

While we will all do our utmost this summer to keep our families and loved ones safe, NRDC will continue to hold states and the federal government accountable. Prevention is the smartest and most underutilized tool in our toolbox to combat HAB events, so we will continue to fight this administration to the Clean Water Act. We will continue our commitment to healthy soil management, as we know that building healthy soils addresses one of the root causes of freshwater HAB outbreaks – dehydration of nutrients.

What you need to know for the summer recreation of 2020

I understand the need to go outside this summer – I also feel the urge. If you are looking for lakes, rivers, ponds, reservoirs and streams, please look for HAB indicators (eg blue-green colored water, a funky smell, dead fish, as well as caution signs, such as the one below) and keep these things in mind :

• Dangerous HAB toxins that can be harmful to your families and pets are not visible to the naked eye. Removing blue-green algae or fivers scum from the top of a freshwater body is not enough to keep your loved ones safe.
• If you see anything suspicious, stay out of the water and report the potential incident to the appropriate state bureau. If you need help figuring out how to report a HAB event, you can download your state scorecard.
• Keep your eyes peeled for caution signs that inform you when the water is safe to refill.
• Finally: the lack of a caution sign does not mean that the water chamber is not experiencing any HAB event. Your state may not have the resources they need to proactively test every single freshwater body, especially with COVID-19 still growing throughout the United States. Call the appropriate state bureau as water chamber administrator to inquire whether that water member has been tested for cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins.

We have posted this new sign in collaboration with the Wyoming Department of Health & Wyoming Livestock Board to provide information on #HCBs is close by for people shopping again #Wyoming. Visit https://t.co/eXIVjPp6SU for information on advice and further FAQs. #WDEQ pic.twitter.com/HBIDP9Flqy

– Wyoming DEQ (@Wyoming_DEQ) June 15, 2020

Reinstated with the permission of the Council for the Defense of Natural Resources.