Stewards of Akron’s water supply and the University of Akron are teaming up to take on the same toxic algal blooms that left hundreds of thousands of Toledo residents without drinking water three years ago. The goal, here, is to keep drinking water safe while possibly profiting on discharged chemicals that science says may be reusable.
Jessica Glowczewski, Akron’s watershed superintendent, briefed City Council Monday on the innovative plan, which relies on a partnership with UA to seek $70,000 from the Ohio Water Development Authority. The university and city would match the Ohio Water Development Research and Development grant with $52,606 and $19,702, respectively, in cash and in-kind contributions.
Harmful algal blooms occur when colonies of algae — simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater — grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. The human illnesses caused by the blooms, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.
The plan uses chemicals discarded during the water treatment process to neutralize more dangerous ones that trigger algal blooms. The funding will be used to hire a UA student and study the feasibility of capturing and reactivating a key ingredient, aluminum sulfate, in the sludge removed during treatment.
The city of Akron sells about $200,000 worth of sludge each year. The mixture of dirt, nutrients and chemicals is refined and reused as top soil. But recent scientific breakthroughs are uncovering more novel ways to put the sludge to use.
“Your sludge is our money,” Councilman Bob Hoch joked as city leaders listened to Glowczewski explain the process.
The Akron pilot plan would capture and dry the sludge, then remove the aluminum sulfate, or alum. The chemical could then be stored in canisters strategically placed in streams and rivers that fill the Lake Rockwell reservoir. The alum acts like a magnet for harmful phosphorous that leaches into the reservoir from nearby septic tanks, farm fertilizers and wastewater discharges. It is this phosphorous that causes algal blooms.
Finally, the canisters would be removed, averting the contamination while, city leaders hope, possibly reducing the cost of future treatments.
“We’re looking really small scale right now,” Glowczewski told council. “It’s not even a drop in the bucket.”
Akron drinks mostly from the century-old Lake Rockwell, a long stretch of water carrying the Cuyahoga River north from Franklin Township to Streetsboro in Portage County.
The reservoir, like most bodies of water in Ohio, contains the same algae that led to the 2014 toxic blooms in western Lake Erie. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency monitors algal levels and activity in Akron’s main water supply, which has had no algal blooms, yet.
Councilman Rich Swirsky, who champions green and sustainability initiatives on council, applauded the effort for its potential to improve water quality and taste while reducing treatment costs by recycling an otherwise useless chemical.
Nationally, funds used to prevent algal blooms are under threat.
U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman have opposed President Donald Trump’s plan, details of which were released this week with no funding for the Great Lake Restoration Initiative. The program has provided more about $2.2 billion since 2010 to safeguard the Great Lakes, more recently focusing on toxic algal blooms.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .