$10 Million to Whom Solves the Algae Crisis

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$10 Million to Whom Solves the Algae Crisis

Is it enough to focus just on phosphorous and ignore nitrogen?

Eric Eikenberg, CEO of Everglades Foundation, announced the Foundation is offering a $10 million reward to anyone who can rid fresh water of phosphorus and "help us get rid of the toxic algae."

The Foundation is calling on scientists, engineers and anyone who is interested to come up with breakthrough technology 

"If the technique can be done in a cost-effective way, both in Florida and in Canada, $10 million is going to be awarded to the winner," the story reads. The Foundation will launch the worldwide contest July 21.

Eikenberg, says the technology "must remove phosphorus from fresh water," but neither he nor WPTV mentions a word about nitrogen. Not one.

I'm going to take this so-called contest as a flashy show of the Foundation's muscle and a clever way to keep their faithful worshipping bad science and staging those lucrative fundraisers. 

Eikenberg - the same Eikenberg who was chief of staff for Gov. Charlie Crist, then Crist's Senate campaign manager - will never have to pay out a dime. 

A $10 million reward for making toxic algae disappear by removing only phosphorus from fresh water? Impossible!  The days of limiting pollution to a single source are over! BOTH phosphorus and nitrogen need to be controlled. 

At the University of Florida, IFAS Extension, Karl Havens and Thomas Frazer wrote a paper, "Rethinking the Role of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Eutrophication of Aquatic Ecosystems." They write, "For many years, environmental agencies have sought to improve the water quality of lakes and estuaries by reducing inputs of phosphorus. New research indicates that we must reduce both phosphorus and nitrogen to reverse eutrophication symptoms."

The whole world, not just South Florida, could benefit from an honest campaign to develop technology that might rid all lakes and rivers of toxic algae. However, here are my reasons to doubt the ingenuity of the contest:

  1. The fact that the Foundation employs "scientists" who discredit nitrogen because much of it comes from urban runoff and fecal coliform rather than fertilizer from some sugar farm makes me distrust their objectivity.
  2. The fact that these scientists STILL want to run "fresh" water instead of clean water -- water cleaned of nitrogen -- into Florida Bay makes me distrust them. Scientists have shown over and over again that increased freshwater flows and nitrogen loading to central and western Florida Bay are what caused the massive blue-green algae blooms that developed in the Bay during the 1990s and polished off 40 percent of the coral reef.
  3. The fact that the Foundation misled hundreds of thousands of people on either side of Lake Okeechobee makes me distrust them. They conveniently failed to point out how much dirty water makes its way into the lake from the North, and that even though algae is blooming in Lake O, the sources of the nutrients aren't all from the lake.
  4. They make me fear for completion of the Central Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), particularly if they get their way. I believe the reservoir(s) they want to build south of the lake amount to a pointless land grab that will require massive replumbing and further delay to the CERP timetable.

Source: Sunshine State News

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3 Comments

  1. Florida waters are naturally rich in phosphorous from our geology and soils.  To try and fix the problem with a phosphorous solution is indeed ridiculous because it is a fool's errand.  Florida waters have traditionally been algae free due to low nitrogen which is the result of a lack of polluted runoff and properly functioning wetlands.  If we want a sustainable statewide solution it will have to be focused on first keeping nitrogen out of our waterways, and then removing or diluting nitrogen when levels remain high.  There will be a technology part especially in developed areas, and a natural resources part in more natural areas.  There is no magic bullet or invention that will do it.  We already have the stuff we need.    

  2. We have had very good success at removing Algae in small 1-7 acre lagoons.  We can eliminate odor, reduce Nitrogen (BOD) and phosphorus.   What is the size of this operation ?  How many acres and how deep is the water.  What is the HRT or is it fast moving current ? 

    Joe Massidda  603-501-9730

     

    2 Comment replies

    1. Hello Veronica, I would like to have a phone conf. with you to discuss this further.  I can explain what the capability of our Technology is and perhaps together we can decide it we can help.  My Mobil phone is:

      (603) 501-9730

    2. It's about 50,000 acres of farm (corn and soybean rowcrop farms) being illegally drained both of surface water and tile drains into our aquifers.  These Iowa Aquifers are called the Cedar River Valley Group Aquifers and drain or feed into the Mississippi River and then feed into the Gulf of Mexico and these farm Nitrogen fertilizers like Anhydrous Ammonia are combining chemically with water or H2O.

      They outlet underfiltered tile outlets down by putting a tube straight down into our Source water or Aquifer and call that either an AG drainage well or more recently "French Drains".   The surface water that they channel in floods only through my old farm without getting a 401 or a 404 permits or even an environmental impact statement, overflows the 900 square foot of cross-sectional flow in like a tidal wave after a big rain it is a new river and erodes soil from all the fields before it gets to the Aquifer Recharge Area's Sinkholes.  In the deepest it's been about 6 1/2 feet to 8 feet of raging flow.   But the area they have dug out is always dry with normal rains.  Water does not flow up hill.

  3. My son Adam Michael Lack was killed in July of 2008, by a group of polluting farmers and contractors, he had suggested a Version 3 of the USDA-NRCS RUSLE II equation, that is used to evaluate a farm before the Iowa DNR issues a Permit for the application of CAFO Nitrogen fertilizer.  Adam was the Operations Supervisor at Poet's Hanlontown Ethanol Bio-Refinery.  And had noticed the increasing levels of Nitrogen fertilizers in our Source Waters in Iowa.

    Adam's 2008 NRCS-RUSLE III equation was to cover both Anhydrous Ammonia and CAFO Nitrogen fertilizers before the Iowa DNR could issue a permit for those two very water soluble Nitrogen fertilizers application. 

    The only criteria the old RUSLE II equation has is:  HEL or NHEL soils.

    Adam's RUSLE III had four criteria in his equation to evaluate the land on which an applicant wanted to apply either CAFO or Anhydrous Ammonia Nitrogen fertilizers:  1. NHEL soils where these fertilizers are to be applied,  2. Only land that had LEGAL drainage outlets both for surface and tile drainage,  3. Buffer distances for application from sinkholes, swales, ponds, lakes, farm-through waterways, intermittent streams, and rivers,  4. Minimum soil depth above tile  draining land and bedrock before these fertilizers could be applied.

    Read the "Adam's Voice" Notes and other information in Adam Michael Lack's www.IowaColdCases.org case file, titled, "A Dead Zone Death".  If Adam had not been murdered he might have been able to get this IDNR permitting started to limit the increasing levels of Nitrogen fertilizers in our Source Waters in Iowa.  Instead the Dead Zones are increasing and most of Iowa's rivers and streams are covered in green slime.  Plus our Source Waters are more polluted.

     

     

    2 Comment replies

    1. I am currently working with a huge CAFO Hog operation in NC.  We have eliminated all odors and can do that on a lagoon in a matter of days.  We are currently approaching the reduction of the sludge and Nitrogen with a combination of anaerobic and aerobic microbes with a consortium of Targeted Beneficial Microbes.  We have over 300 species available to attack this problem.   We do control Ammonia.

    2. We need to stop Anhydrous Ammonia and CAFO Nitrogen fertilizers from getting into our Source Waters, so we need to stop Point Source Polluting farmers and strictly enforce Iowa's Drainage Laws and the Clean Water Act's Anti-Degradation Laws. Clean Water is Life.  Nitrogen fertilizers that we are drinking can kill after years of multiple cancers and expensive Chemo.