EPA Research Partner Support Story: Resources and education for preventing and managing cyanobacterial blooms

Partner: Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC)
Challenge: Strategies for Preventing and Managing Cyanobacterial Blooms
Resources: Online Guidance Documents, web-based training, and educational video, Learn to Identify Cyanobacteria Blooms
Project Period: 2019 – 2023   

Cyanobacteria are microscopic organisms that can produce toxins (cyanotoxins) that can cause illness or death in humans and animals. Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs) can also impair drinking water sources, recreational uses, fisheries, and property values. HCBs can occur in freshwater and marine environments and can be influenced by various factors such as nutrient loading, temperature, light, water flow, and climate change.

“The HCBs team is an ITRC success story demonstrating how state and federal agencies including EPA working with invested stakeholders and local governments can develop guidance on strategies and approaches to respond and manage an environmental impact. The training is delivered by multiple state agency representatives sharing experiences and knowledge to inform a larger audience about this growing freshwater impact.” – H&M Environmental, LLC Nicole Henderson

The ITRC HCB Team has conducted extensive research and review of the current scientific literature and state-of-the-art practices for HCB prevention and management and created two guidance documents to help stakeholders prevent and manage HCBs in different aquatic settings. In 2021, ITRC published Strategies for Preventing and Managing Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms (HCB-1), which focuses on strategies for planktonic HCBs, which are cyanobacteria that float in the water column. The second document, Strategies for Preventing and Managing Benthic Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms (HCB-2), was published in 2022 and focuses on benthic HCBs, which are cyanobacteria that grow on the bottom or attached to surfaces. Both documents provide tools, guides, and other resources to help users select appropriate monitoring, field screening, sampling and analytical methods, laboratory testing, prevention and management strategies, communication, and nutrient reduction approaches for their water bodies.

The ITRC HCB Team has also developed online training sessions to accompany the guidance documents. The training sessions review key information found in the two ITRC HCB guidance documents including an overview of the cyanobacteria biology, ecology, and toxicity, and the ITRC framework for HCB prevention and management. These sessions also demonstrate how to use the interactive tools and visual guides in the guidance documents and showcase examples of successful HCB projects from multiple states.

In 2024, ITRC developed a HCB Resource Guide to promote all the various products available.