Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) An algal bloom in the North Fork of the Virgin River, similar to this bloom in Utah Lake in 2018, is blamed for creating cyanobacteria, whose toxins caused a dog's death at Zion National Park on July 4, 2020.
Known as benthic algae — the kind that grows on rocks and other substrate — this photosynthetic bacteria is different than the green slimes that form toxic blooms on Utah water bodies every summer. Thought to be connected to agricultural runoff and higher-than-normal temperatures, these algal blooms can fill afflicted lakes’ water columns with toxins, prompting warnings to stay out of the water and to not eat fish caught there.
Since the advent of Industrial production of Ammonia through the Haber–Bosch process, the use of excess fertilizers has wrecked havoc on our environment, especially rivers, streams and lakes.
Algae blooms are preventable
It's our goal at K Organics to supply farmers and gardeners with a way to stop contributing to ammonia runoff and eutrophication by incorporating organic measures of highly metabolic, bio-active, natural, slow release fertilizers to stem the tide of our current destructive farming practices using synthetic fertilizers.
HABs(Harmful Algal Blooms ) also threaten approximately 12 million people’s drinking water each year while also driving up water rates.
HABs pose serious health risks to humans and animals, the environment, and Lake Erie’s more than $15 billion economy that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Humankind has increased the rate of phosphorus cycling on Earth by four times, mainly due to agricultural fertilizer production and application. Between 1950 and 1995, an estimated 600,000,000 tonnes of phosphorus was applied to Earth's surface, primarily on croplands. (Carpenter, S.R.; Caraco, N.F.; Smith, V.H. (1998). "Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus and nitrogen")
