After a record-setting year of harmful algal blooms in New Jersey last year that shut down lakes and had a widespread effect on recreation and businesses, scientists are looking toward this summer to see if the state’s lakes will be facing a similar fate.
Lake Hopatcong, the state’s largest lake, suffered a rash of toxic algal blooms at some of its beaches, eliminating swimming from six of them from late June until mid-August last year. Officials detected multiple blooms in a number of Salem County bodies of water. Statewide, there was a record high of 39 confirmed blooms since the state started keeping track four years ago.
And as late as January of this year, eight blooms were still persisting, despite the cold weather. Currently, two lakes are affected.
But this year, scientists are “cautiously optimistic” the lakes will be relatively safe from the toxic algal blooms, according to Dr. Fred S. Lubnow, the director of aquatic resources at Princeton Hydro, an engineering consulting firm.
The toxic algae blooms are caused by cyanobacteria, which naturally occur in freshwater. However, when sunlight and hot weather hit the cyanobacteria and there are plenty of nutrients in the water, the bacteria can rapidly increase, creating the blue-green algae blooms.
The blooms—which can be harmful to people and fatal for dogs—can cause a variety of health problems, including rashes, abdominal pain, and flu-like symptoms or more serious health effects, like liver toxicity and neurological effects, officials say.
Last summer’s early blooms were due to a weather pattern of sunny days, and short, intense rainfall that transported nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen into the lakes. Sunny conditions allowed them to grow.
According to Lubnow, the harmful algal blooms “really get going in August,” but due to the weather patterns last June, they started much earlier in the summer.
“Right now, we’re not seeing that this year,” he told NJ Advance Media. “So part of that is due to weather, the other part is the lower amount of nutrients in the water column.”
“We’re in a better position now than we were a year ago,” Lubnow added.
There are two active blooms in Mountain Lake in Warren County, where the beach is closed, and Rosedale Lake in Mercer County, a spokesperson for the NJ Department of Environmental Protection confirmed. What remains to be seen is how many more blooms will occur, Larry Hajna, the spokesman, said.
“It’s kind of hard to predict,” Hajna told NJ Advance Media, noting that the main factors for blooms include the nutrients, rainfall, and weather conditions. “That’s the recipe. It’s the nutrients, the sun, and the heat. It’s hard to predict all those things.”
Not only did last year’s blooms curb usual summer activities like swimming and sunbathing, but they also had a detrimental economic impact.
Mount Arlington Mayor Michael Stanzilis said Lake Hopatcong’s shutdown last year “crushed” businesses in the area, from the marinas to liquor shops and pizza places.
“It really hurt all of our businesses that are facing to the general public,” he told NJ Advance Media. “The most obvious is the marinas. (It was) one of the worst seasons for the marinas ever.”
He’s optimistic this summer will be better for the lake, since not only are the lake’s nutrient levels below the acceptable threshold, but the weather has also been accommodating with a cold spring these past few months.
“We’re off to a really good start,” he said.
Swimming in state-owned lakes is still off-limits until the DEP fully reopens state parks under Gov. Phil Murphy’s reopening plans, however a date for that has not been announced. Municipal lakes were allowed to reopen May 22, according to the governor’s executive order.
When swimming resumes, the state plans to use a new color-coded, tiered health alert index to inform the public on the severity of any toxic blooms, and the related recreational activities suggested for each level.
For example, boating may be allowed when lower levels of harmful algal blooms are detected, even if swimming is not.
“We can’t predict with certainty when harmful algal blooms will occur, but with this enhanced communication and color-coded alert index, we hope that the appropriate responses to harmful algal blooms will become much more predictable and targeted,” said state DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe, “which should provide much more certainty as well as flexibility for residents and businesses to make sensible decisions.”
Dr. Meiyin Wu, the director of New Jersey Center for Water Science and Technology and biology professor at Montclair State University, cautioned that DEP’s monitoring program for harmful algal blooms is reactive, not proactive.
“(The state) is not actively going out there, monitoring every single lake in New Jersey. This is a reactive monitoring program,” she told NJ Advance Media.
“If you think there is an ongoing algal bloom or if you just see the water and it’s greener than it tends to be, just contact NJ DEP, alert them,” she added. “Unless somebody contacts NJ DEP and asks them to go out to check, they are not doing it for the lakes in New Jersey, as we have way too many.”
Last year, Murphy announced $13.5 million in funding to local communities as part of a new initiative to stop the pollution that feeds the algae. By March of this year, the NJ DEP announced $2.5 million of that funding had been awarded as grants to nine projects, plus another $1 million for a different grant project.
The remaining $10 million is reserved for Clean Water State Revolving Fund money as grant-like funding for projects that improve communities’ water quality. Government agencies and nonprofits are applying for the funds, and it’s in the process of being awarded, Hajna said.
However, due to the budget shortfalls as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, an additional $2 million of the DEP’s funding for harmful algae initiatives in 2021 were cut, according to the state’s interim budget report released in late May.
Regardless, Hajna said the state is committed to a comprehensive approach to address the blooms, from monitoring to prevention strategies to major infrastructure upgrades paid through the grants.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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After record-setting year of toxic algae in N.J. lakes, how bad will this summer get? - NJ.com
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