Cooperative Water Program
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All Cyanobacteria and HABs Products
Cyanobacteria and associated toxins in the Kansas River, Kansas –USGS, in cooperation with the City of Lawrence, the City of Topeka, Johnson County WaterOne, the Kansas Water Office, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, quantitatively documented the transport of cyanobacteria and associated compounds in the Kansas River during reservoir releases. The Kansas River is a primary source of drinking water for about 800,000 people in northeastern Kansas. Within a week after initial reservoir releases, microcystin, geosmin, and MIB were detected throughout a 173-mile reach of the Kansas River. Losses to groundwater when streamflows in the Kansas River were increasing indicate the potential for reservoir releases to affect groundwater quality as well as surface-water quality. Microcystin and taste-and-odor compounds co-occurred in more than half of the samples collected, indicating co-occurrence was common. Despite frequent co-occurrence, the spatial and temporal patterns in microcystin, geosmin, and MIB were unique and did not necessarily match patterns in cyanobacterial abundance. Use of a single compound or cyanobacterial abundance alone cannot necessarily be used as an indicator of the presence or concentration of these compounds. (Report; Press release)
Taste-and-odor compounds in reservoirs in Spartanburg County, South Carolina –USGS, in cooperation with Spartanburg Water, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, released a report on taste-and-odor compounds in two reservoirs in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The County uses the information to manage harmful algal blooms, such as related to cyanobacteria, in their water supplies.
Sediment, nutrients and cyanobacteria in Clinton Lake, northeast Kansas –USGS, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, released a report on sedimentation and 30-year trends of selected nutrients, other chemical constituents, and cyanobacteria in bottom sediment in Clinton Lake, northeast Kansas using a combination of bathymetric-survey information and bottom-sediment coring. Cyanobacterial akinetes (cyanobacteria resting stage) in the bottom sediment of Clinton Lake, combined with historical water-quality data on chlorophyll-a and total phosphorus concentrations, were used to assess the degree of and changes in eutrophication throughout the life of the reservoir.
Nutrients, algae, and taste and odor issues in drinking water in northwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma –The USGS, in cooperation with the City of Tulsa, evaluated total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations and loads during base flow and runoff for two streams discharging to Lakes Eucha and Spavinaw, which serve as major public water supplies in northwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma. Increases in blue-green algae in the lakes and taste and odor problems in the drinking water from the Eucha-Spavinaw system may be attributable to increases in nutrient concentrations in the lakes and in the waters feeding the lakes. (Full report)
USGS hydrologists in South Carolina discuss the taste-and-odor compound GEOSMIN which can be associated with harmful algal blooms –Emerging in lakes and reservoirs across the Nation are toxic by-products from harmful algal blooms. USGS hydrologists discuss GEOSMIN-a taste-and-odor compound produced by several classes of cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae)-on a podcast -- What is it? What causes it? And will it harm you? Related publications and additional podcasts, such as on pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants in streams and rivers, also are accessible online.