Toxic algae season is back -- and Trump has cut safeguards [View all]

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Toxic algae season is back — and Trump has cut safeguards
Climate change and funding cuts are putting our drinking water, ecosystems and lives at risk

By Patrick Wensink
Published August 16, 2025 9:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) Last August, I was standing on Lake Erie’s Ohio shore, shielding my eyes from the sun while talking to a middle-aged guy wearing swimming trunks and a shell necklace. He had to be Toledo’s only surfer.

“Are you worried about the algae at all?” I asked him.

....(snip)....

This year, things on Lake Erie aren’t any better. And chances are, if you live near a body of fresh water, you might be experiencing that same strange seasonal sight that is fast becoming as normalized as orange leaves in October and pink flowers in April: Neon green toxic algae. Despite what your local windsurfer might say, global warming, pollution and government inaction have combined to create this dangerous — even deadly — threat to our drinking supply and recreational spots. If you are lucky enough that this cyanobacteria, or kale-colored gak, has not yet infected your local lakes, bays, rivers or creeks — well, it probably will be soon.

Recently, this sleepy, rural part of Ohio I was raised in has been receiving global attention as ground-zero for an eye-popping upheaval of nature. But it’s also quietly becoming the unlikely home of a Hail Mary opportunity to reverse this ecological disaster.

I spent the last five years researching this phenomenon for my upcoming book, “The Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and The Most Interesting Place in America Nobody’s Ever Heard Of.” So I was not surprised when The Toledo Blade reported that only four days into August, this green cyanobacteria bloom was already 160 square miles in size — that’s over half as large as New York City — and getting bigger. “The main part of the algal bloom can be seen from outer space,” the article read. .....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/08/16/toxic-algae-season-is-back-and-trump-has-cut-safeguards/