Toxic Algae and Red Tide
— The Steep Cost of Factory Farms
·
STORY AT-A-GLANCE Aug.
21, 2018
·
Florida is well-known
for its aquatic wildlife — a natural resource that is now being rapidly
decimated by the influence of factory farms and chemical agriculture
·
Red tide, covering an estimated 100 miles of
Florida coastline and stretching miles offshore, has persisted for 10 months
and shows no signs of abating
·
Thousands of animals,
including manatees, dolphins, turtles, eels, crabs and other marine animals
have washed ashore, dead, killed by the toxic red tide organism Karenia brevis,
which now covers the east and west coasts
·
Turtles are one of the
hardest hit species, including Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, which are on the
critically endangered list
·
Aside from synthetic fertilizers, manure and
glyphosate, biosolids (sewage sludge), which are often used as a “natural”
fertilizer, also play a significant role in the creation of algal blooms
By Dr. Mercola + DJP photos
Florida is well-known for its aquatic wildlife —
a natural resource that is now being rapidly decimated by the influence of
factory farms and chemical agriculture, combined with the unpredictable forces
of nature. Over the past 10 months,
scores of manatees, dolphins, turtles, eels, crabs and other marine animals
have washed ashore, dead, killed by toxic Karenia brevis algae — known as red tide
— which now covers the east and west coasts.
Lake Okeechobee, which is the source of the problem, is also
choked by another algal organism — blue-green cyanobacteria. Both the red tide
organism and cyanobacteria are fed by excess nutrients such as phosphorous and
nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers.
These toxic algae also pose a threat to human
health. Exposure through inhalation may trigger respiratory distress; topically
it may cause skin rashes, while accidental ingestion can lead to vomiting and kidney
failure. As reported by One Green Planet:1
"[T]oxic algae is spreading through the coastal waters of South
Florida, causing what is known as a 'red tide' to form, and it is killing
wildlife at alarming rates due to lack of oxygen. The explosion of
wildlife-killing algae in the area is largely a result of agricultural runoff
linked to the Big Sugar industry."
Largest, Longest Red Tide in Decades
Hundreds of dead manatees and even a massive
whale shark have washed ashore since October 2017, when the red tide began.
Turtles have been hardest hit, including Kemp's Ridley sea turtles, which are
on the critically endangered list. As noted by Bob Wasno, a marine biologist
with Florida Gulf Coast University:2
"Back in 1994 we
had an outbreak and it killed 196 manatees. Everybody was just completely
outraged. They yelled and jumped up and down and said 'This is not going to
happen again.' Here we are 24 years later and this is worse than ever."
In 2016, the Florida algal bloom in Lake Okeechobee drew attention
after persisting from May through midsummer, covering 33 square miles and spreading
to the coasts.3 A
state of emergency was declared in three of the hardest-hit counties on the
Atlantic coast, as well as one county on the Gulf coast.
That was nothing, though, compared to what we're
facing now. The red tide, which covers an estimated 100 miles of coastline and
stretches miles offshore, has persisted for 10 months and still shows no signs
of abating.
What's Happening in Lake Okeechobee?
As noted in the featured video, the waters of
Lake Okeechobee originally drained south into the Everglades, "one of the
most biologically diverse regions on Earth." Over time, however, swampland
was transformed into farmland. Then, in 1928, a massive hurricane hit the area,
causing Lake Okeechobee to overflow, with floodwaters spreading across hundreds
of miles.
Some 2,500 residents were killed in the storm
surge. To prevent a repeat of this deadly event, the Herbert Hoover dike was
built around the lake. Instead of draining south, the lake now drains to the
east and west coasts via man-made canals.
As Okeechobee no longer fed water into the
Everglades, more swampland dried up, and the sugar industry moved in.
Meanwhile, cattle ranches and dairy farms congregated to the north of the lake.4Together, these industries have created a
perfect storm in Lake Okeechobee.
Phosphorous-rich manure is leaching from
the factory farms in the north, while
fertilizer-rich water gets pumped into the lake from the south, and it is these
fertilizer chemicals, primarily phosphorus but also nitrogen, that feed
the toxic algae in the lake.
Another relatively surprising source of
phosphorus is glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup,
which is the most widely used herbicide in conventional farming.
According to University of Miami scientists
Larry Brand and Angela Compton, K. brevis blooms were thirteenfold to
eighteenfold more abundant along the southwest Florida coast between 1994 and
2002 compared to 1954 to 1963, and the reason for this was human-released
nutrients such as fertilizer runoff.5
Lake Okeechobee Destroyed by Industrial Farming
Practices
A major problem with the sugar cane fields is
that they still use the old system of back-pumping excess water from the fields
into Lake Okeechobee. According to Martin County district data, an estimated
8.7 billion gallons of nutrient-rich water from the sugar fields in the south
were back-pumped last year.6
The back-pumping, combined with two serious
storms, Harvey and Irma, created a situation where an unusual concentration of
cyanobacteria formed in the lake, starting around October 2017. The water from
Lake Okeechobee, thick with algae, then flows through the canals to the ocean
on the east and west coasts, slowly spreading outward.
In the video above, you can clearly see it — the
lake water looks like coffee compared to the clear blue ocean water. While red
tide is a natural occurrence, it would typically occur much farther offshore.
With the toxic runoff from Lake Okeechobee, however, the red tide hugs the
shoreline, killing all marine life in its path.
As noted by Heather Barron, head veterinarian at
Florida's Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, "Anything that can
leave has, and anything that couldn't has died."7 According to National Geographic:8
"Background K.
brevis concentrations usually fall below 1,000 cells per liter. Yet in recent
counts, many sites tip the scales at over 10 million cells per liter, says
Richard Bartleson, a biologist at Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, who
has been monitoring the bloom's intensity.
In select spots, he's
seen counts up to 140 million cells per liter. Animals accidentally ingest the
algae while feeding, which makes them 'almost comatose,' says Gretchen
Lovewell, program manager for Mote Marine Laboratory's Stranding Investigations
Program … But most, she says, are already dead."
The concentration of nutrients in the water also
allows the red tide to persist far longer than normal. It’s been 10 months, and
it still shows no signs of abating. Part of the solution would be to
reestablish water flow from Okeechobee to the Everglades.
For this to happen, the state would have to buy
at least part of the land back from the sugar industry. As of yet, this has not
happened, and environmental activists cite "lack of political will"
as a primary reason for this failure.
Algae Blooms Traced Back to Sewage Sludge
Aside from synthetic fertilizers, manure and glyphosate,
there's yet another nutrient source that appears to play a role in toxic algal
blooms: sewage sludge, also known as biosolids. This human waste is frequently
used as a "natural" fertilizer.
A July 15, 2018, article9 in the Florida Times-Union reported a
breakout of algae bloom at the head of St. Johns River — a typically pristine
area — may have been caused by the sludge runoff:
"'We're seeing
green algae throughout the headwaters,' said St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa
Rinaman, who told state officials this spring that algae-feeding phosphorus and
nitrogen might be seeping into the lake from a minimally cleaned variety of
sewage sludge that's spread over nearby ranch land."
While the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection has shied away from blaming sludge, it, along with St. Johns River
Water Management District, has agreed to study the problem, and has placed a
six-month temporary ban on the use of biosolids at a 3,000-acre ranch west of
the lake.
According to the article, "County
commissioners started discussing a six-month moratorium for the entire county
last month, but have moved cautiously to avoid any legal landmines."
According to researchers, there's been a significant increase in the use of
sludge in the area, starting in 2013.
Since 2012, the amount of phosphorous added to
the upper basin has more than doubled. In 2016 alone, 70,000 tons of sewer
sludge were allowed to be disposed in the river’s upper basin.
According to Edith Widder, biochemist and
founder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association, "there's
pretty clear evidence of biosolids" in the St. Johns watershed. The problem with biosolids has been clearly
detailed by David Lewis, Ph.D., whom I interviewed in 2015.
Chemicals known to be problematic in the part
per billion or trillion in water and air are concentrated millions of times
higher in sewage sludge which, when applied to farmland, deposit these toxins
into the soil. Rain and irrigation runoff then transport the toxins into
waterways and groundwater.
What's more, biosolids are not counted toward
fertilizer use. This loophole can give the false appearance that agricultural
fertilizers aren't as big a problem as you might think.
Farmers may proudly claim they've cut down on
fertilizers, when in fact they've just switched to biosolids, which aren't
counted, yet deposit even more toxins and result in the same kind of
environmental devastation, including algal blooms in waterways.
Agricultural Changes Are Necessary to Stop Toxic
Algal 'Plagues'
Florida is not alone in its struggle. Not only
are many of the world's lakes at risk due to agricultural chemicals feeding
harmful blue-green algae, but at the bottom of the Mississippi River lies the
largest dead zone on the planet. As reported by MPR News:10
"This particular
dead zone at the Mississippi's mouth is a swath of ocean, big as New Jersey at
its peak, that's choked for oxygen. There, native plants die. Marine animals
move away, or die …
All Midwestern states
drain into the Mississippi. Those states have intensive agriculture, too, which
uses huge amounts of fertilizer … Nitrogen and phosphorus wash into the
watershed during rains … Once in waterways, the nutrients become pollutants …
At the bottom of the
Mississippi, all the excess nutrients wind up in the same spot and dump into
the Gulf of Mexico. There, they form algae blooms, which demand oxygen from the
Gulf's waters. The blooms grow and spread quickly, leaving native wildlife with
less oxygen.
Climate change
exacerbates the problem as warming ocean temps make it easier for algae to grow
— and take up more oxygen in the water. What's left is a dead zone."
That our agriculture is causing such enormous
environmental devastation is inexcusable. There's no reason for this insanity,
as there are solid, proven ways to farm without synthetic fertilizers and
other toxic chemicals, including glyphosate.
On an individual level, you can help by buying
food from organic, or better yet biodynamic, farmers who rely on natural
methods and soil-regenerative techniques, such as no-till, cover crops, composting and livestock integration.
This will naturally help you to eat better too,
since typically only real whole foods are grown this way, while most processed
foods are the product of destructive industrial nitrogen fertilizer-laden and
glyphosate-heavy agriculture.
Biochar Bank Could Be an Important Part of the
Solution
While we certainly need major industry changes,
getting main offenders like Big Sugar to change its ways is not going to happen
easily, or quickly. Still, there are things that could be implemented fairly
rapidly that could make a big difference.
One such technology is described in the Virginia
Tech paper “Denitrifying Bioreactors: An Emerging Best Management Practice to
Improve Water Quality,”11 which essentially involves installing
biochar filtration to catch runoff from agricultural sites and catch excess
nutrients before they’re released from the lake.
If water were released more slowly over time
instead of allowing for the rapid discharge of contaminated water into the
canals that lead to the coastal waters, it could be treated with a biochar
filtration system. Around the lake, the biochar would work as a water filter to
recapture the fertilizers before the water enters the ocean. These biochar
borders or banks could also be set up around major agricultural sites to soak
up runoff nutrients. As noted in this paper:
“Research has shown that
successful nitrogen removal can be obtained in these field scale systems for up
to 15 years even with fluctuating in influent nitrate concentrations and flow
rates.
This tolerance to
variable in influent enables application of DNBRs [denitrifying bioreactors] to
treat a wide range of non-point source pollution, such as that created by
agriculture, where conventional wastewater treatment is cost-prohibitive. Some
of the greatest potential for DNBR use is in agricultural settings, where
nitrogen loss to groundwater is the dominant pathway.”
Stay Out of the Water During Algae Bloom
It's important to note that if you see signs
warning of harmful algae blooms, stay out of the water and keep your pets out
too. Even if there are no signs present, avoid entering water that smells bad,
looks discolored or has foam, scum or algae mats on the surface.
If you suspect there could be a problem, you're
better off safe than sorry, and be aware that algae toxins can be present in
the water even if there's no visible algae on the surface.
In addition, avoid consuming any water that
could be contaminated with algae toxins, even if the water has been boiled.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),12"Boiling water does not remove algal toxins
and can increase the amount of toxin in the water by concentrating it," so
you'll need to find an alternative source of water if an advisory is issued in
your area.
