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The red tides are back. The massive annual blooms of harmful algae that cloud the Chesapeake Bay, local waterways and shorelines every summer have been spotted floating from the lower Bay as far north as the Rappahannock River, according to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point.

The 1972 federal Clean Water Act, which this year marks the 40th year since its enactment after a veto by President Richard Nixon, steadily improved how cities and industries managed wastewater. The blooms largely disappeared for more than three decades. Now they are back, and in many places worse than ever. Blue green algae mar the waters of Lake Superior near the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The western shoreline of Lake Michigan, from Kewaunee, Wisconsin, to Sturgeon Bay is an almost unbroken green runway of algae, in some places about a foot thick. Last summer, Lake Erie experienced the worst blue-green algae bloom in decades. And while, so far, Platte Bay is mostly clear of algae this summer, little ghostly green tendrils float in the water, like jellyfish. They brush against your arms as if to say, “Remember us. We’re still around.

Charter boat captains are helping the state monitor water quality and watch for harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie's western basin between Toledo and Sandusky

udubon is fighting three permits that allow growers south of Lake Okeechobee to pump phosphorus-laden water toward the Everglades

Ontario is investing in innovative solutions to help protect Great Lakes water quality. The Keswick Water Pollution Control Plant is testing an advanced oxidation process to reduce the amount of phosphorus and micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products entering Lake Simcoe. Phosphorus is the key pollutant threatening the environmental health of Lake Simcoe

(NOAA) supported scientists have found the size of this year’s Gulf of Mexico oxygen-free ‘dead zone’ to be the fourth-smallest since mapping of the annual hypoxic, or oxygen-free area began in 1985. Measuring approximately 2,889 sqmi, the 2012 area is slightly larger than Delawar

- An algal bloom off the west coast of Ireland is responsible for significant fish and shellfish kills from Galway to Donegal, according to the Marine Institute.

On the way back from Canada about two weeks ago, I noticed bright yellow-green particulate in Lake Erie. This was right about the time that a harmful algae bloom was reported at certain beaches in Lake County.

The Sea Scouts have been studying the water quality of Lake Erie, in particular the toxic blue-green algae blooms. They have been looking into simple ways to help provide remedies

A study published in the current issue of the journal Nature says that fertilization of the ocean with iron compounds has induced algae blooms that are accompanied by considerable CO2 drawdown in the ocean surface layer.

YORKTOWN, Va. — Researchers in Virginia are keeping an eye on red algae blooms in the Chesapeake Bay. The blooms suck oxygen from the water. That makes it difficult for marine life to survive. They are driven by warm water and excessive nutrients, and typically occur in the lower Chesapeake Bay in July or August.

HERMANN, Mo. – The Missouri River stretches more than a quarter-mile from shore to shore here, its muddy water the color of coffee with a shot of cream.

The Karenia mikimotoi algae bloom that has been affecting areas of the North West from Mayo to Donegal, and at lower concentrations down along the rest of the West coast, continues to impact on coastal marine life in several areas and has shown some signs of increase, according to the Marine Institute.

he outlook for Barnegat Bay is getting bleaker all the time. In a new multiyear study by the Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, three researchers concluded overdevelopment and the resultant pollution pose a serious threat to the Barnegat Bay/Little Egg Harbor Estuary, leading to a long-term decline in the ecosystem.

In a letter addressed to Ms. Pilsgaard, Oceana marked its appreciation for plans to tackle the human causes of eutrophication by setting country-wide nutrient reduction targets and cleaning wastewaters. However, the international marine conservation organization also emphasized the need to concurrently promote direct actions to safeguard biodiversity

The water quality of the St. Clair River has improved markedly over the past three decades, according to a number of experts participating in "The Path to a Healthy River," a day-long seminar sponsored by the Binational Public Advisory Council for the St. Clair River Area of Concern, held in Sarnia in June. With such information presented, the question remains that shouldn't a cleaner, healthier St. Clair River ultimately lead to a cleaner, healthier Lake Erie?

More polluted water could get dumped into Lake Okeechobee to boost South Florida water supplies under a new proposal to roll back restrictions on "back-pumping."

A sudden bloom of blue-green algae that has the potential to release toxins harmful to people and dogs has turned portions of the lower Charles River a scummy green several weeks earlier than in previous years.

Warm weather combined with a large algae bloom in Southeast Alaska has scientists advising extra caution to recreational shellfish harvesters.