Vernon VT Nature Finds: An Investigation Into Green and Blue Water

Monday, September 7, 2020

An Investigation Into Green and Blue Water

I was taking a shower and thinking about how it is that algae is in my well water. I'm suspicious that it it already down there in the aquifer because I once read that algae can't survive without water unless it is in a symbiotic relationship. Meanwhile, Wayne keeps interjecting that I should investigate Rock Snot. Is he on to something here, or does he just enjoy the thought of Didymosphenia? Ahhh, one more item to add to my list of things to investigate.

In spite of the easy access that Wayne has to the world's answers on his search engine, I keep reminding him that sometimes when answers are found, questions cease to be asked. Didymo I let slide, but I can see that this will be a challenging process for the facts guy.

So I set out to move into an at-home experimental phase. It's been more than a couple of years since I was enrolled in a science course and I was never any good at writing up lab reports; but I will give it my best go:

Materials: One 16.9 ounce unopened store bought water "sterilized by osmosis" . One 16.0 ounce bottle of well water drawn from my spigot, in a bottle sterilized with hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes and rinsed several times with well water. One 16.0 ounce bottle of well water same as above but no top.

Conditions: Both sealed bottles placed on a granite step which receives direct sun for part of the day. No added nutrients; no circulation; no filtration; no aeration; no added wildlife; no added plant material. Current temperature is 71F with a projected high of 81F. A third bottle without cap is also on the granite step which is located next to a fish pond experiencing a green algae bloom. The open container is subject to whatever drops into it, evaporation, and air.

Hypothesis: 1. The bottles of well water contain impurities including algae. 2. At the end of 168 hours, the store bought water will have no observable green color when held up to light. 3.The well water bottles will have observable green color when held up to the light indicating the presence of algae. Algae is naturally present in my well water. 4. Any variation in color between the two bottles of well water will be negligible and explained by contaminants dropping into the bottle.

Recap: Three bottles of water in which I am trying to grow algae. Two of the waters are well water. One is store bought. No nutrients or substrate added.

I find myself wanting to go in three different directions while I wait for the results of my experiment to shed some light on algae. Blue-green algae has been in Vermont news this month and so for this reason alone, I will start here. It always seems funny to me that when this smelly toxic scum reaches the news cycle, Cyanobacteria is seldom reported as being below Montpelier (heavily veiled clean water funding joke). In a previous blog, I wrote about an outbreak of Avian Botulism in the Boston Garden's lagoon. Several abstracts that I came across claim that there is "an association between Cladophoral (green algae) and C Botulism in agal mats collected."* As it turns out, agal mats are, "typically composed of blue-green cyanobacteria and sediments"** Remember when I claimed that Boston and Vermont had more in common than a love for sports teams?

As it turns out, blue-green algae which is naturally occurring in fresh water, starts to make an appearance on the surface of ponds and lakes in Vermont, during the warm days of late summer and early fall. Now there is a lot of information circulating out there on the efforts to clean up Lake Champlain. Those of us who lived in Vernon during the Vermont Yankee years, most likely remember contributions made to the clean water fund by Entergy during their license extension process. Between then and now, the EPA has set in place a plan to clean up Lake Champlain which the state is now struggling to comply with.

On the to do list of the EPA plan, is to reduce excessive amounts of the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen in the lake. Blue-green algae thrives in warm phosphorus and nitrogen rich water. There is a lot of finger pointing as to who or what is at fault for most of the pollution; but I won't go into that now as I haven't a need to upset folks. While that is up for some debate, what is not, is that "Some types of cyanobacteria release cyanotoxins, especially when they die and break down." *** What this means for us and our pets, is that we need to stay clear of it. It also means that the answer isn't as simple as dumping an algicide into the lake which could potentially release more toxins without cleaning up the underlying cause.

That's enough for today, later in the week I'll take up rock snot and lichen which have more in common than you may think! -Norma Manning

Algae growing on the bottom of a Vernon pond