water

Conference to feature ‘State of the Science’ in battling Lake Erie’s algal blooms

The 2017 Understanding Algal Blooms: State of the Science Conference is Sept. 14 in Toledo. The event, which is open to the public, features 15 presentations on the latest research on algal blooms in Lake Erie and other waters, their causes, and how to prevent them. The speakers will be from CFAES, Ohio Sea Grant, USDA, National Weather Service and Bowling Green State University, among others. Experts Chris Winslow, Jay Martin, Greg LaBarge and Kevin King, all with ties to CFAES, are co-hosting the event.

Registration is $30, or $10 for students. Register to attend.

Two by boat: Wright State freshwater science profs to speak tonight at Stone Lab

Wright State’s Yvonne Vadeboncoeur headlines Stone Lab’s next guest lecture series event, which is tonight, Thursday, June 29, at 7 p.m. Her bio says she studies the “importance of energy linkages among habitats in freshwater ecosystems.”

Also speaking will be Wright State’s Stephen Jacquemin, whose research, his bio says, focuses on the “ecology and evolution of freshwater fishes and gastropods.”

Stone Lab is Ohio State’s island campus at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. Admission to the event is free. But there’s a charge for a ferry ride to Put-in-Bay and water taxi ride to the lab. There’s an option to watch online. (Photo: Stone Lab dock, Jill Bartolotta, via Flickr.)

Let’s see what’s out there

NOAA has issued its first early season Lake Erie algal bloom bulletin. You can get weekly and, starting in July, twice-weekly updates on the Forecasting webpage of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. You also can sign up to get them by email. (Photo: Lake Erie on May 8, showing sediment plumes from the Maumee River and other tributaries, NOAA CoastWatch.)

To stave off, or not, another water crisis

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which, among its work, keeps the air you breathe and water you drink clean, would see the biggest cut — 31 percent — of any federal agency in the White House’s proposed 2018 budget, according to a Reuters story. EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative would be especially hard hit. It faces a 97-percent cut in the proposed budget.

How would those cuts, if approved, hit home? Jeff Reutter, special adviser to Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program, said in a recent issue of Cleveland Scene, “If we lose the EPA, we lose Lake Erie.”

The lake, among other things, provides drinking water for 3 million Ohioans.

Good news, everyone: Not a cruel summer for Lake Erie

Satellite image of Lake ErieNOAA scientists predicted a smaller algal bloom this summer in western Lake Erie. Tom Jackson of the Sandusky Register reports that the good news is, “Apparently, they were right.” (Photo: Recent Lake Erie satellite image via NOAA’s Lake Erie HAB Tracker.)