The truth that necessity is the mother of invention is being confirmed by pockets of progress on the harmful algal blooms that threaten Lake Erie and inland recreational lakes around Ohio.
University of Toledo applied research through the Lake Erie Center has produced a device that determines almost instantaneously whether toxins have been released with the algal blooms.
A $1.4 million research grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created collaboration between UT’s Lake Erie Center and German environment technology manufacturer bbe Moldaenke GmbH on an algae toxin sensor.
The early-warning device has been used successfully at the Toledo Water pump station near Reno Beach. This is the intake for raw water from Lake Erie that is sent to the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant to be processed for use in our homes and businesses. The early detection, protection from the sensor, tells treatment plant operators what must be done to make the water safe for human consumption.
It’s a big breakthrough for UT with important improvements that will be useful well beyond Toledo. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has also been working with environmental manufacturers on technology to attack harmful blooms fouling recreational waters in our state parks.
Harsha Lake at East Fork State Park in southwest Ohio has been testing a device called Algae Harvesting Hydronucleation Floatation Technology. The test device takes in water at 500 gallons a minute and separates the algae from the water. The unit created for ODNR by AECOM turns the toxic blooms into biomass fuel suitable for use in jets.
More importantly for ODNR, it is showing the ability to make a lake that was off limits for park-goers because of harmful algal blooms suitable to use for recreation as expected in an Ohio state park.
Ohio should heed the old military maxim and reinforce success. The return on the water quality technology investments made so far is more than enough reason for Ohio to put these breakthroughs to widespread use as an urgent priority.
First Published October 1, 2022, 4:19 a.m.
