Original Content: algae blooms.

As mentioned this is "Phase Two" of this blog project. To understand China's water systems requires an understanding of a great deal of material, including China's ecology, politics, society, economy and more, as well as an understanding of water systems and problems that are likely to occur with or within water systems. Therefore during "phase two" I am going to make more of an effort to educate myself in these subjects.

So, the topic for today is algae blooms. (Heck, if you're reading this it's quite likely you know more about the subject than I do. Should you catch a mistake please leave a comment. I really do wish to understand these things.)

Also as mentioned, although scholars are quite wary of using wikipedia as a source, and with good reason, I find it useful for getting an introduction to many topics. Therefore, please accept my apologies in advance should the source be incorrect or cause offense. As, hopefully, since I covered this before, the subject should come back to me.

According to wikipedia, in some cases a condition occurs called "eutrophication." (See wikipedia for further details.)

Eutrophication is a condition where water become overly enriched with nutrients, causing aquatic plants to grow extraordinarily quickly or densely. Chemical components, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, are common among the offending nutrients. These tend to enter the water either as pollution from manufacturing or else as run off from fertilizers.

It is not uncommon for the extremely growing vegetation to be algae, in which case one has what is known as an "algae bloom."

This increased growth has many effects. To quote from Wikipedia: "Eutrophication generally promotes excessive plant growth and decay, favors certain weedy species over others, and is likely to cause severe reductions in water quality . In aquatic environments, enhanced growth of choking aquatic vegetation or phytoplankton (that is, an algal bloom) disrupts normal functioning of the ecosystem, causing a variety of problems such as a lack of oxygen in the water, needed for fish and shellfish to survive. The water then becomes cloudy, colored a shade of green, yellow, brown, or red. Human society is impacted as well: eutrophication decreases the resource value of rivers, lakes, and estuaries such that recreation, fishing, hunting, and aesthetic enjoyment are hindered. Health-related problems can occur where eutrophic conditions interfere with drinking water treatment."

Although the United States National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, a division of the Department of Commerce, has information on these on-line,
http://www.economics.noaa.gov/?goal=ecosystems&file=events/algae/, and the information seems to emphasize coastal algae blooms, they can occur in both fresh and saltwater.

Now let's go back to the dreaded water magazine, the one I used to work for, and check its archives. We'll use this article, http://www.watertechonline.com/news.asp?N_ID=69322 I'll trust the article because I wrote/ summarized it.

Here's a China article that discusses algae blooms:

"China river pollution cuts off water to 200,000

Monday, March 03, 2008
BEIJING — A spill on the Hanjiang River and three of its tributaries in central China’s Hubei province cut off water last week for a few days to 200,000 people, according to a February 26 Xinhua China government news report carried on sina.com.

Water samples showed high levels of ammonia and nitrogen, as well as a high permanganate index.

A later report from the Associated Press said that Chinese environmental officials had determined the source of the pollution to be algae. The algae bloom was said to have been caused by an abrupt rise in temperature, low water levels and slow currents. Pollution from factories and sewage often leads to eutrophication, the deprivation of oxygen in nutrient rich waters, and is a frequent factor in algae blooms.

The water was described as “red with large amounts of bubbles.” Several schools were closed and residents were forced to drink bottled water and rely on a limited number of wells.

The spill was first reported on February 24 and orders to stop use of river water came soon after, according to the report. On February 26, according to the report, water from Changhu lake was used to dilute the pollutants.


The article also reported that a farmer in southern Yunnan province accidentally contaminated the drinking water of 9,000 people and killed tons of fish at a nearby fishery when he tried to use phosphor-containing waste as a fertilizer in his fields."

I'm going to share this one as well. Although it's set in the USA, it does contain useful information. Again I wrote it. I'm proud of much of the work I did at this magazine and I suspect that's part of the problem. My co-workers there liked to aim low at the things they did and they generally succeeded. Yeah, I'm being snotty. I admit it. Please understand however that during the time I was there, I was the only employee of Water Technology who did not miss a day of work and the prime sabotager of my work missed about 25% of her days although our boss hid it from upper management. Also note the use of multiple sources for a single summary. This was an innovation at that publication.:

http://www.watertechonline.com/news.asp?N_ID=69315

Alum treatment clarifies MI lake
Friday, February 29, 2008

SPRING LAKE, MI — In late 2005, the Spring Lake Lake Board spent $1.3 million to pump more than 1 million gallons of aluminum sulfate, also known as alum, into Spring Lake, reports Mlive.com. The intent was to kill algae that made the lake appear as if covered with bright green paint.

In the two summers since the treatment, there have been no major algae blooms. Phosphorous concentrations have dropped by more than 50 percent, as well, according to a recent report. The report came from Progressive AE, a Grand Rapids, MI, engineering firm.

A separate study from the Grand Valley State University’s (GVSU) Water Resources Institute is reported to have found similar results.

The alum is explained to have bound with phosphorous in the lake sediment. This reduces the amount of phosphorous that is available to feed aquatic plants and algae.

Prior to treatment, the article says, the highest phosphorous concentration in the lake was 786 parts per billion (ppb). In the past two years that has dropped to 132 ppb, the data said. Average concentrations were said to be 101 ppb before the treatment and are now said to be 39 ppb.

“The lake is healthier, in general, in terms of water quality conditions,” said Alan Steinman, director of the GVSU Water Resources Institute. “But as I said before the alum treatment, this was not a panacea. If you continue to put phosphorous into the lake, with fertilizers and storm water runoff, that’s going to create more algae, which will sit on top of the alum and create a whole new problem.”