Collecting data on toxic algal blooms still novel enterprise

By JOAN KITE

Both the United States and Tennessee have just recently started gathering data about HABs, or Harmful Algal Blooms, and are posting public records to the general public through the Tennessee Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control websites.

Currently, Tennessee is just getting started in participating with the CDC One Health Harmful Algal Bloom reporting system. The collected data from the research project designed by Tennessee State University and EnBiorganic Technologies will be part of that data collection.

In 2019, 14 states voluntarily reported 242 harmful algal bloom events, 63 human cases of illnesses, and 367 animal cases of illness to the One Health Harmful Algal Bloom System (OHHABS).

HAB events occurred predominantly from June through October. For both human and animal illnesses, the most common complaint was gastrointestinal.

People who frequent canals, lakes, and other bodies of water during the summertime may have encountered these algal blooms though not all of them are harmful. The blooms turn the water green, blue-green, or reddish-green, and may cause a foul smell.

Should one encounter water in this condition, it is simply better to avoid it.

TSU graduate student Faith Perry runs tests on nutrients in the wetlands in a TSU laboratory. Photo by Dr. Tom Byl

Professor Tom Byl speaks to county and state official’s about TSU’s innovative research program to contain, and possibly eliminate, harmful algae blooms. Photo by Joan Kite

State University (MTSU), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), and Metro Water.

Tom Byl, Ph.D., a professor in TSU’s College of Agriculture and a research scientist with the USGS, is a member on the working group. Dr. Byl and his students conduct research on harmful algae in surface waters including the TSU wetland.

Dr. Byl was approached by the HAB working group to partner with a Canadian company called EnBiorganic Technologies that advertised a safe, sustainable, and natural way to reduce HABs in waste lagoons. Preliminary tests done by EnBiorganic Technologies indicate there will not be any side effects on the aquatic wildlife, but everyone in the HAB working group desired a third-party evaluation, which TSU is able to provide.

The College of Agriculture also provided a demonstration site accessible to state agencies that incorporated agriculture, offered urban runoff, and had experience to set up a monitoring system. The technology involves the application of environmental science and engineering. EnBiorganic developed a method that exploits common soil bacteria Bacillus to transform and reduce animal wastes in farm lagoons.

EnBiorganic scientists found they could train the bacteria to eat almost any organic waste, including the blue-green algae that blossoms in the wetland and threatens water quality and wildlife. The system involves an elaborate set of pumps, incubators and monitoring systems.

Housed in a simple trailer, the system pumps raw water containing algae from the wetland into a heated chamber. The heats kills the algae and the pasteurized water is transferred to an incubator with Bacillus. The Bacillus culture learns to metabolize the dead algae and toxins as they grow exponentially. Once the culture is adequately enriched, they are released into the wetland to feed on the harmful algae. The Bacillus feast on a thick population of harmful algae.

As the algae and toxins are consumed, the bacteria numbers diminish and by the time the algae population is back to normal, the Bacillus population will have also dropped back to normal.

The TSU demonstration is the first large scale application of this technology, Dr. Byl said. It has been successfully used in smaller bodies of water, but this is a 28-acre wetland that poses many challenges.

TSU faculty and students will evaluate the effectiveness of the technology. They are using instruments to monitor water quality parameters such as oxygen, pH, salinity, temperature, and turbidity every hour, 24-hours a day. Additionally, students collect water samples to measure algae pigments, toxin levels, and nutrients.

This information, derived from the study, will reveal if the technology is working and how far the zone of influence reaches from the injection point. Wetland wildlife such as turtles, fish, and waterfowl will be monitored to make sure they are healthy, especially during the hot summer months when the wetland can get stagnant and stressed due to flash droughts.

The data will be used to determine how effective the approach is and if it has any secondary effects on the wildlife.

A bigger concern is that the zone of influence on HAB remediation might not extend very far from the injection point. If the zone of influence is small, then the information gained from the study can be used to modify the delivery system and expand that influence.

TSU graduate students Champagne Cunningham and Faith Perry measure turbidity with a Secchi tube and monitor water chemistry with a field meter. Photo by Dr. Tom Byl

Above, students lay out what’s left of the Fruit of the Loom underwear to compare decomposition and loosely measure soil health. Vanderbilt Professor Dr. Chris Vanags (left) examines what’s left of the underwear with student Naomi von Bose. The underwear iwas buried six weeks ago. Photos by Joan Kite