National experts weigh in on seriousness of situation
Scientists from around the globe have trumpeted the dangers of blue-green algae and its toxins.
John Blakelock would probably agree with them.
Blakelock works in the Wright State University laboratory run by Dr. Wayne Carmichael. Carmichael is widely regarded as one of the world's leading experts on cyanobacteria, otherwise known as blue-green algae.
Carmichael's lab analyzed treated water from the Hillsboro plant. It's a lengthy process that starts with freeze-drying the water samples.
"That takes a week right there," Blakelock said.
When he saw the Hillsboro samples, Blakelock knew the situation was serious.
"What shocked me about Hillsboro was the heaviness of the bloom," he said.
And Blakelock was doubly concerned that the Reservoir was a drinking water source.
"I would have been scared to death if this was happening in a drinking water reservoir," he said.
Not only is a heavy bloom dangerous to drinking water — it's also dangerous for those using the lake for recreation, he said. Fishers and swimmers could come in contact with the bacteria toxins, and even on a powerboat, the spray could contain those toxins.
"I was frightened to have that much potentially toxic material in the water," Blakelock said.
Blakelock says that the U.S. Army Corps has been "lackluster" in deciding when to restrict recreation.
Over at Southwest Missouri State University, Dr. Russell Rhodes is continuing to study water samples from the Marion Reservoir. He's receiving them from Hillsboro on a weekly to biweekly basis, he said.
Rhodes isn't studying the algae toxins — he's just counting the number of cells themselves, he said. And for the past few weeks, that "cell count" has been decreasing.
As samples come in on a regular basis, Rhodes will watch these cell counts closely. Are they decreasing? Are the numbers getting lower and lower?
If the numbers start getting higher and higher, that's when you know a bloom is about to happen, Rhodes said.
"That's how you can begin to predict if a bloom is going to occur," he said.
And a big bloom will most likely hit the Reservoir in September.
That's because September is prime time for a "fall turnover," Rhodes said. When the temperatures drop and the water gets colder, nutrients that were once on the bottom of the lake rise to the top. They "fertilize" the algae, and the algae explodes.
Rhodes has worked closely with blue-green algae blooms in Missouri and Ohio, and the bloom at Marion Reservoir is one of the worst he's seen.
"This was a bad case," he said. On a scale of one to 10, he'd give it an eight or nine.
