Application Note: Vertical Profiling Safeguards Drinking Water And Sheds Light On Cyanobacteria

A search for algal toxins in North Carolina reservoirs has evolved into an ongoing early warning system for three important drinking water reservoirs—which serve two large cities—and yielded a greater understanding of the dynamics of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, in the state's reservoir system.

Building on a pair of grants from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to explore key reservoirs for cyanotoxins, the Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology (CAAE) directed by Dr. JoAnn Burkholder at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC has teamed up with the City of Raleigh and the City of High Point to track cyanobacteria blooms throughout the water column.