Summer brings many wonderful things, but it’s also peak season for the formation of harmful algal blooms, or HABs, that can harm the environment and present health hazards to people and pets.

In Michigan, HABs typically occur amid warm temperatures, sunshine, and high nutrient levels in water bodies. These spring and summer conditions are ideal for growth of the cyanobacteria, or “blue-green algae,” that form HABs in lakes and ponds of all sizes. A Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) interactive story map provides a wealth of information on HABs.

EGLE staff discover or receive reports from lake associations and the public each year about nuisance algal conditions, including toxic HABs. The state has a new reporting platform: an online form at Michigan.gov/HABs where you can click “Report it to EGLE” to provide details and upload photos of algae you see. Alternately, you can call EGLE’s Environmental Assistance Center at 800-662-9278. A brief EGLE Classroom video shows how to differentiate likely HABs from other plant life.

Algal blooms are not always toxic – and even toxic varieties don’t release toxins at all times – but it’s best to avoid contact with any body of water that is visibly green with a green scum or film on the surface.

EGLE and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) sample for HABs on a limited basis and work with local health departments to protect the public when toxins are discovered, but some affected areas may go undetected. An interactive map provides information on HAB reports.

Focus on western Lake Erie

Lake Erie, which more than 11 million people in the U.S. and Canada rely on for drinking water, has experienced significant HAB events. In August 2014, elevated levels of an algal toxin interrupted drinking water access for hundreds of thousands of people in Ohio and Michigan.

The lake is especially vulnerable to HABs due to its shallowness and relative warmth – the same features that make it the most productive fishery of all the Great Lakes. In these conditions, HABs thrive by feeding on phosphorus that enters the warmest and shallowest part of the lake: the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB). Agricultural fields and wastewater treatment plants are the largest contributors of phosphorus to the WLEB, but nutrient runoff can also come from fertilized lands like lawns or golf courses.

For more than a decade, Michigan has partnered with its neighbors in the WLEB to combat these blooms. The state took a critical step by appointing first-in-the-nation Chief Science Officer Dr. Laura Johnson to lead the new Office of Agricultural Science and Research within the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD).

Dr. Johnson and her office support MDARD divisions and programs in developing and evaluating policies, goals, and metrics related to agricultural resilience and nutrient pollution. They also partner with external organizations on several issues related to science and research, strengthening networks of knowledge and expertise throughout the state.

History of HABs

In the early 2000s, an explosion of HABs in the basin prompted federal, state, and provincial government jurisdictions to refocus their efforts under the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The jurisdictions committed to a 40% reduction in phosphorus loading into the lake from a 2008 baseline and agreed to develop Domestic Action Plans (DAPs) aimed at achieving that reduction.

MDARD, EGLE, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) banded together as the state’s Quality of Life (QOL) departments to develop plans, identify barriers, and implement strategies to reduce phosphorus loading in the WLEB. This led to the 2018 DAP for Lake Erie, which outlined QOL strategies to move the needle on reducing phosphorus levels and set the stage for a 2021 Adaptive Management Plan.

Michigan’s adaptive management approach provides a structured, iterative process that guides decision making by evaluating alternative actions, implementing informed strategies, monitoring outcomes, and using new knowledge to refine policies and targeted projects aimed at reducing phosphorus delivery to Lake Erie.

Progress and next steps

Two broad categories describe where environmental pollution comes from: point sources and nonpoint sources (NPS).  Point sources of pollution are individual, verifiable sources like factory smokestacks or wastewater pipes. NPS can’t be linked to a specific location, such as rainwater runoff that flows over the landscape into streams and lakes.

Under the DAP and Adaptive Management plans, QOL agencies achieved early success in reducing phosphorus from point sources, which, when combined with NPS source reductions, contributed 72% of Michigan’s overall phosphorus loads in the baseline year of 2008. Mitigation at the Great Lakes Water Authority wastewater treatment plant in Detroit and at other four other wastewater treatment plants have contributed to the state’s goal of achieving a 20% reduction in phosphorus loads by 2020.