Freshwater Science: Using Bacteria to Remove Microcystin from Drinking Water
Many Ohio communities draw their drinking water from Lake Erie, so making sure that any harmful algal bloom toxins are removed before the water reaches consumers is essential to maintaining public health.
While water treatment plants currently use activated carbon, ozonation, and other methods to treat for algal toxins, Dr. Jason Huntley at The University of Toledo, with previous funding from the Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative and current funding from NOAA-PCMHAB is developing new cost-effective, efficient, and safe methods to remove algal toxins from drinking water, using bacteria that naturally break down microcystin toxin into non-toxic component parts. The team was issued a patent on this technology in May 2021.