Managing Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms: Effective Strategies for Water Quality and Environmental Health

Oct 31

Written By Miroslav Grajewski

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs) are becoming a significant concern for water quality management, environmental engineering, and public health. Cyanobacteria, often called "blue-green algae," naturally occur in aquatic ecosystems and support biodiversity by producing oxygen and serving as a food source. However, under certain conditions, these organisms can proliferate, forming toxic blooms that threaten human and animal health, disrupt ecosystems, and increase water treatment costs.

This post explores how environmental engineers and water quality specialists can monitor, manage, and prevent HCBs to protect water resources and maintain safe environments for recreation, drinking water, and wildlife.

The Aftermath of MTBE Bans: How Connecticut’s Groundwater is Recovering

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) once seemed like a good solution to help gasoline burn cleaner, thereby reducing air pollution. However, this chemical, added to gasoline as an oxygenate, soon became infamous for its environmental impact, particularly its contamination of groundwater. Connecticut banned MTBE in gasoline in 2004, responding to its risks to water quality. A recent study sheds light on how MTBE has behaved in the years following this ban, with insights into its dissipation patterns in groundwater across the state.