We love the microscopic water bear and all it means for our water-quality work, but now you too can let neighbors and co-workers know you prefer the candidate who can survive pretty much anything.
For all you The Walking Dead fans out there, you may be surprised to see a similarity between this AMC franchise and the science of water quality.
We introduce you to the Are-you-kidding-me?-Is-that-thing-still-alive?!? water bear, also known as the tardigrade.
These microscopic buggers are known for their ability to endure the most extreme of conditions—from heat, to cold, to radiation, to the very vacuum of space. These guys know how to survive for the long haul, and those who study them have referred to water bears as "indestructible."
Now water bears aren't out to takeover the world, and we find them to be friends in our water-analysis efforts. But if a sci-fi style "tardigrade apocalypse" was imminent, how might we defend ourselves?
"We expected this year's bloom to be a 9 (out of 10). It was actually a 10.5."
That was how Jeffery Reutter, Ph.D. introduced his November 11 City Club presentation on Lake Erie's hazardous algal blooms, a challenge that has affected water quality in recent years. But a mystery this year is why the toxicity was not as extreme as the off-the-scale metric would have indicated.
"This was the worst [algal] bloom we've had in our history," he continued, "but it only produced about a quarter of the toxin that we expected. That's a huge challenge for us to understand right now." Reutter is a special adviser to the Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory at The Ohio State University, and he indicated this will be an important area of research following the 2015 algae season.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants was a key contributor to algae because it is key to the growth of hazardous blooms. But since treatment plants significantly reduced their phosphorus output, the biggest contributor now is fertilizer-laden runoff from agriculture all around the Great Lake.
"If we can take the appropriate actions, we can greatly reduce the amount [of nutrients in stormwater runoff]. The weakness in that argument is climate change; if we keep getting more and more frequent storms and more wet spring periods, we'll see things that are worse."
Ruetter offered recommendations to improve water quality on personal property which would reduce have a beneficial impact on runoff entering streams and storm sewer systems. Listen to or view the complete City Club presentation.
They say the bubbles then shoot upwards through the raindrop and erupt into a fizz, producing extremely fine liquid droplets or solid particles that remain suspended in the air as fog or smoke, known as aerosols.
The authors suspect that the tiny particles that released into the environment release the wonderful aromatic elements from the soil along bacteria and viruses stored within.
