Pond scum health concerns discussed at water conference, Free Press reports
The Free Press reported researchers, technologists, lake volunteers and water quality specialists spoke about the connections between blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, blooms and human health at the 2017 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference. Sponsored by the University of Maine’s Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and the U.S. Geological Survey, the annual water conference, which attracted almost 400 people this year, provides a broad look at the role of water in Maine. The Mitchell Center’s role is to bring together a range of people interested in forest management, solid waste, renewable energy and water quality to work together where their interests in environmental, social, and economic issues overlap. In some cases, cyanobacteria can create cyanotoxins that affect the nervous system, according to the article. At UMaine’s Climate Change Institute, graduate biomedical science and engineering student Matthew Kruger is looking at the links between lakes, cyanotoxins and the role the warming climate plays in the increasing number of cyanobacteria blooms, the article states. WVII (Channel 7) also reported on the conference.