Calculating The Cost Of Toxic Blue-Green Algae

Algae are an increasingly pricy problem for some water utilities. Look no further than Toledo, OH, where water plants are contending with the consequences of blue-green algae growths, which produce microcystin, a dangerous toxin that can lead to liver damage.

Toledo city council approved a plan to spend $1 million to counteract the toxin, which migrated from Lake Erie into the city’s water supply, The Toledo Blade recently reported. 

The Associated Press painted a bleak picture of the situation: "Toxins from blobs of algae on western Lake Erie are infiltrating water treatment plants along the shoreline, forcing cities to spend a lot more money to make sure their drinking water is safe."

Speaking from a cost-savings perspective, the Blade wanted city officials to take long-term measures to beat back the incursion. Those measures included addressing global warming, which is affecting rainfall patterns, according to the editorial. 

"Otherwise, the new million-dollar bill for Toledo will be just a down payment against inevitable disaster," said the Blade piece, entitled "Algae's Slimy Bottom Line."

Gannett's News-Messenger took a look at how the algae are affecting other utilities. It reported that plant operators "are paying for extra tests and treatment to keep that toxin, called microcystin, from getting into drinking water," according to Kelly Frey, a sanitary engineer in Ottawa County, MI.

“It’s costing considerably more to treat,” he said in the report. “That’s going to have a direct effect on how much people pay for water."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported on the broader costs of harmful algae blooms (HABs), including those found in salt water.

"HABs also have economic and cultural implications, especially in coastal communities dependent on harvesting seafood and tourism. They frequently disrupt the commercial, recreational and subsistence seafood harvesting and cause some to cancel beach vacations," the agency said. 

Harmful algae cost the U.S. at least $82 million each year, according to the agency. 

"These impacts stress the importance of understanding HABs and developing tools to mitigate their impacts and ultimately to control or even prevent them," the agency said. 

Harmful algae have a $37 million/year impact on public health, according to the NOAA.

It also costs commercial fisheries $38 million/per year, the recreation and tourism industries $4 million/year, and requires $3 million/year for additional coastal monitoring and management.