Researchers in Ohio are beginning a three-year study, looking for keys to predicting, mitigating, controlling or even preventing harmful algal blooms in rivers and streams all over the country.
An Ohio State University team led by assistant professor Mazeika Sullivan of the environmental and natural resources school got the grant from the EPA. They’re to analyze, and categorize algae activity throughout the upper Ohio River basin.
Sullivan says the goal is to create a standardized system for evaluating algae issues in any watershed.
“Rivers are very dynamic and can respond in very different ways than lakes, so the focus of this research is really thinking about inland systems. Our focus is on watershed, so from smaller streams all the way up to the Ohio River, including reservoirs that are in the system.”
The federal grant is $681,000 and in announcing it, EPA Director Scott Pruitt called the project innovative science.
