News items from Eutrophication News

VERO BEACH — A Fort Pierce-based environmental research group is shining light — bioluminescence, to be precise — on the problem of pollution in the Indian River Lagoon.

Oyster farmers and locals are celebrating a decision to abandon the release of more effluent into Hawkesbury River, saying it will ensure the health of the famous waterway.

FORT MYERS - Scientists have discovered another algae bloom - one that is impacting the Caloosahatchee River. It has been found along the river from downtown Fort Myers to Fort Myers Shores.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Water pollution rules supported by business, agriculture and utility interests but opposed by environmentalists, who say they are too weak, appear headed for quick passage in the Florida Legislature.

Authorities say a blue-green algal bloom is now spreading further through the Gippsland Lakes system.

After months of negotiations, local environmental groups have agreed to settle two federal lawsuits seeking to force the US Environmental Protection Agency to reduce pollution flowing from septic tanks into Cape Cod waters.

If you live along the coast and have been noticing a fishy smell in the air, you are not the only one.Residents from Warner Beach in the south to Umhlanga, north of Durban, say they have noticed a strange odour wafting in from the ocean.

ELEANOR HALL: The World Wildlife Fund says that pollution might be to blame for a dramatic increase in the number of turtles with a debilitating form of the herpes virus.

AIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. – Shortly after Hurricane Irene rolled through Connecticut, people near Fairfield’s beaches were warned not to wade in the flooded streets because sewage had possibly mixed with the rainwater. It turns out that was a problem not just for flooded streets but also for all of Long Island Sound.

PROVIDENCE – R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, accused the head of the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection of taking an “anti-environmental position … at the expense of our beautiful [Narragansett] Bay.”

Environmental officials say that a fertiliser factory in Russia has become the biggest single source of phosphorous emissions into the Baltic Sea.

TAHLEQUAH, OK — Just months before a phosphorus limit for the Illinois River watershed becomes effective, several Oklahoma and Arkansas lawmakers may be seeking a delay in a study of the issue by the Environmental Protection Agency.

St. Paul, Minn. — Top officials from the Obama administration came to Minnesota Tuesday to announce a new program to encourage farmers to do more to protect water quality.

FLORIDA - Participants in a panel on water quality spoke today as part of the Everglades Water Supply Summit, highlighting the importance of working with both lawmakers and environmentalists to ensure the health of state waterways.

Estuaries are highly productive and ecologically rich areas that are important habitats for fish and bird species. Over the past few decades, the frequency and duration of harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been increasing globally in coastal areas.

NEW JERSEY - Stormwater runoff to Barnegat Bay has been increasing for decades, along with growth in Ocean County’s suburban towns. With roofs, lawns and pavement now covering 33 percent of the region — up from 25 percent in 1995 — there is less woodland to soak up the water. So more runoff goes to tributary streams carrying dissolved fertilizer, air pollution fallout and other sources of nitrogen, which is a nutrient that feeds plants.

MADISON, WI -- Helping farmers maximize their nutrient management plans to benefit their bottom line and better protect lakes, rivers and groundwater are twin goals of a new effort by state water quality officials.

Colorado — Nitrogen pollution is becoming one of the most pervasive global environmental problems, with nutrient pollution from agricultural runoff and sewage leading to coral diseases, bird die-offs, fish diseases, human diarrheal diseases and vector-borne infections transmitted by insects such as mosquitos and ticks.

Russia - A large and hitherto unknown source of nutrients straining the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea has been uncovered in Northwestern Russia. According to the information obtained by Helsingin Sanomat, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland, close to Kingisepp, there is a fertiliser plant from the surroundings of which enormous amounts of phosphorus are leaking into the Luga River and subsequently into the Gulf of Finland.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Jan, 17, 2012) – U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that EPA and USDA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the state of Minnesota to develop a new state program for farmers designed to increase the voluntary adoption of conservation practices that protect local rivers, streams and other waters by reducing fertilizer run-off and soil erosion.