Because of climate change, Lake Eerie will be experiencing a lot of toxic algae blooms throughout this century, with high chances of neon green sludge lining city shores. This isn’t unexpected after Toledo was forced to cut off their entire drinking water supply for the same reason last year.
There is Green Sludge All Over Lake Eerie Shores
The annual American Geophysical Union meeting in San Franciso revealed that the green algae on the shores will likely be the new normal. The new and more severe blooms trace to the Great Lakes of the Midwest and Ontario. When farmers put nutrients into their crops, the excess flushes back to creeks, rivers, and lakes. This gives way for new marine life, like blue-green algae that makes dangerous toxins.
Ohio State University researchers say this comes from climate change and phosphorous runoff. The latter is a serious issue across the Midwest, and several governments have promised to reduce phosphorous runoff by 40%. This may not be enough to prevent toxic blooms becoming more dangerous.
Why Isn’t This Reported to Authorities?
According to Ohio State University‘s Jay Martin declared that historical records on toxic blooms aren’t enough to predict them in the future. For the same reason, they cannot be tied. In fact, algae blooms may be unstoppable. From now on, all that can be done is reducing the amount of nutrients going into crops.
The Midwest is Having Less Snow and More Rain
Because summers are getting hotter, winters are having less snow and spring is having more rain, algae are growing quickly. Even if phosphorous runoff is reduced by 40%, algae won’t be greatly affected.
Algae Blooms Are A Problem All Over the World
Aerial images of Lake Eerie show the extent of the algae blooms. The worst part is that it is a problem all over the world. Water has become warmer everywhere, and this makes cyanobacteria more common. They grow well in these conditions. This is the case especially for places with a lot of pollution, growing urbanization and bad pollution controls.
China is in danger for having algae blooms. They are boosted further from human wastewater.
Maybe Godzilla Will Be A Reality
If this algae blooms become common in China, it may spread to Japan. Animals living in theses shores may feed from this cyanobacteria. One day, the likes of Godzilla could even come to life. Climate change is forcing up to adapt to these conditions. At this point, good and bad change is inevitable. We have no choice but stop the damage from getting worse. For the greater part of this century, we will face many more hardships.
These changes might even bring new animals to the radar, including creatures from deep sea. There is a lot we do not know about the deep sea, and some of those animals may be forced to come up to the surface because of warming seas.
Will the Paris Climate Conference Help?
The Paris Climate Change recently brought together many countries to agree to reduce gas emissions and increase awareness of clean energy. Will this issue be highlighted to them? China, who has not yet peaked their emissions, might take an interest. Meanwhile, the American government has to take measures to fix this.
With more research, we may come closer to finding a solution to algae blooms. On the other hand, we could also look for ways to use them to our advantage. There could be ways for us to use algae like this to help in other industries. More studies on these cyanobacteria may bring us closer to a way to adapt to this situation.
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