Researchers from the University of Windsor are testing water samples from the western basin of Lake Erie, including in Colchester Harbour where an algal bloom has developed.
Wednesday, the researchers from the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research collected 60 samples. The researchers are looking for microcystins, a type of toxin that could threaten the quality of drinking water.
It is the first time Canadian researchers have taken part in the one-day bi-national project, which has doubled in scope this year. American researchers took 115 samples from the lake on their side of the border.
So far so good. Sampling is underway #HABsGrab2019 pic.twitter.com/1DmAz2MhjC
— LakeErieWatch (@ErieWatch) August 7, 2019
Tendrils of the bloom stretch up to the shores of Colchester, but the epicentre is near Toledo, Ohio. That city had to ban the use of tap water in 2014 when toxins from an algal bloom got into the municipal drinking water supply.
At the time, GLIER director Mike McKay was on the faculty at Bowling Green University in Ohio.
"The crisis raised awareness, and made more resources available to scientists," he said. "What satellite images do not tell us, is what's going on inside the bloom itself."
In Ohio, evidence of the bloom is visible on the state's beaches, but on this side of the border, it is further offshore.
McKay said that makes water testing essential.
"Without this, in Ontario, it's out of sight, out of mind," he said.
Earlier this summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. warned of a severe blue-green algal bloom. It estimated the severity would be a seven out of ten, far more significant than last year.
Back in June, the agency blamed phosphorus runoff from the Maumee River.
"Lake Erie's western basin is the perfect breeding ground for algal blooms," explained McKay. "The water is shallow, allowing it to be warmed faster than other parts of the lake. Nutrients flow into the lake from the high population density and agricultural lands that surround it."