In recent years, one of the most challenging issue faced by water industries in summer is harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by increasing nutrient loading and other climatic effects. HABs occur not only in inland lakes such as Lake Erie, but also along the coastline of Florida and Pacific Ocean as well as in numerous other places on Earth. Salmon industry has been affected severely by the death of millions of farmed Chilean salmon due to the increasing HABs. The toxins produced by HABs have been proved to be hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, cytotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic. Therefore, it is highly important to find effective solutions to control HABs. On the other hand, the water crisis in Toledo in 2014 revealed the insufficient removal of HAB toxins by certain conventional water treatment processes when formation of HABs is intensive and overwhelming. Thus multi-barriers are needed in water treatment plants to prevent these poisonous compounds from being present in the tap water. In this presentation, an overview of recent progress in HABs formation, controlling strategies, and toxin removal processes will be provided.

Harmful algal blooms: Their effects are global and massive and we need to mitigate them

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.