{"id":203546,"date":"2026-05-27T15:04:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/203546\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:04:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:04:32","slug":"harmful-algal-blooms-pose-health-risks-for-people-and-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/203546\/","title":{"rendered":"Harmful algal blooms pose health risks for people and pets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/a> projects this year\u2019s harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie to be moderate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agency monitors the lake for potentially hazardous algae growth every spring and summer.<\/p>\n

NOAA researcher Rick Stumpf says cyanobacteria thrive in the lake\u2019s warm, shallow environment. He also says they feed on phosphorus, a key ingredient in farm fertilizer.<\/p>\n

Stumpf says rain can wash phosphorus from farm fields in northwest Ohio into the Maumee River, which runs through Toledo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is most of the water into the western basin of Lake Erie, where these blooms form,\u201d he says. \u201cIt warms up quickly, which these algae like, and it allows the phosphorus to stay at a fairly high concentration, which favors them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early rain provides a clue<\/p>\n

Based on the amount of phosphorus already in the lake, Stumpf projects this year\u2019s bloom<\/a> will range between mild (2.5) and severe (5.5) on a scale of 1 to 10. Last year\u2019s bloom<\/a> was mild (2.4). At its peak, it covered more than 400 square miles.<\/p>\n

\"\"Table shows expected severity of harmful algal blooms over the years.<\/p>\n

Lake Erie has not experienced a severe bloom since 2019.<\/p>\n

The key to controlling harmful algal blooms is reducing the amount of phosphorus that feeds them.<\/p>\n

Stumpf says injecting the chemical directly into soil instead of spreading it on top could make a big difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cInjecting phosphorus into the soil help keeps it on,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s also a big push on testing because if there\u2019s enough phosphorus in the soil, you don\u2019t need to add it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blooms can be toxic<\/p>\n

Cyanobacteria can produce microcystin, a toxin capable of sickening people and pets. In 2014, microcystin contaminated Toledo\u2019s municipal water system. That left more than 400,000 people in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan without drinkable water for several days.<\/p>\n

Stumpf says pets are especially susceptible to microcystin poisoning. Many dogs who ingested contaminated water have died.<\/p>\n

He advises people to keep their pooches out of the lake if they see a bluish-green scum or something like sawdust floating on the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep in mind its mouth is going to be right in the water, and then they often lick their fur when they\u2019re done,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Stumpf says if the water looks fine, don\u2019t worry about it.<\/p>\n

NOAA updates its harmful algal bloom projections every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects this year\u2019s harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[89828,136,138,137,260,17614],"class_list":["post-203546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-algae-bloom","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-lake-erie","tag-noaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}