By Laura Fields and Shiri Marwaha

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded San Jose State $1 million to research environmental changes because of algal blooms, according to a Sept. 17 EPA news release. 

“We are excited to participate in this new research to measure the connections between agricultural runoff and harmful algal blooms, and to identify sustainable agricultural practices that will lead to better ocean conditions,” Michael Kaufman, SJSU College of Science dean, said in the news release.

Pallab Sarkar, an associate environmental studies research professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said over the phone that harmful algal blooms are accumulations of algae that produce toxins that harm people, animals and aquatic ecosystems.

Sarkar said the cause of growing algal blooms is when excess chemicals such as phosphorus and nitrogen, used for industrial and agricultural purposes, are discharged into the soil.  

He said this nutrient enrichment phenomenon in groundwater and freshwater bodies combined with rising temperatures of climate change support the dense growth of algal blooms.

Kaufman said SJSU’s marine science research team will investigate whether agricultural waste products can get treated on-site before they run off into the ocean and cause algal blooms. 

SJSU awarded the grant to the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, a multi-campus marine science research consortium of the California State University System in Northern and Central California that SJSU oversees and primarily funds.

The news release stated the EPA awarded a total of seven U.S. institutions with an overall grant of about $6.4 million, the largest grant in U.S. history to prevent harmful algal blooms.

Katherine Cushing, an SJSU environmental studies professor and director of global studies, said over the phone that algal bloom is a common occurrence around the world. 

“It’s kind of a perennial problem in some of the lakes, it comes and goes,” she said. 

Cushing said there was an algal bloom in Cunningham Lake in East San Jose in 2019. 

“Residents have said it’s a persistent problem that comes back periodically,” she said. “The bacteria will not kill a person, but you can get really sick from it.”

Family medicine doctor Nandeesh Veerappa said over the phone that the appearance of the toxic blue-green algae in the lake waters around San Jose led to park closures in recent years and elevated health concerns.

“[Algal] tends to release toxins that can cause quite a bit of irritation and inflammation in addition to skin rashes, eye irritation, allergic reactions [and] burning sensation in your eyes,” Veerappa said. “It tends to be kind of pretty irritating to anything it comes in contact with.”

He said recreational water activities, including boating and fishing, bring people closer to the algae and lead to accidentally ingesting toxic water. He added that park authorities need to proactively test the water, not just when things go wrong.

“The EPA put out a call on how to reduce harmful algal blooms, that’s what we responded to,” said Ross Clark, director of Central Coast Wetlands Group at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and one of the grant application authors. 

Clark said the news of the grant is “exciting” because the $1 million would be used for all research to be conducted in-person at the marine labs.

Marine science graduate student Fuller Gerbl will be one of the SJSU students whose work will be funded by the algal bloom grant.

“[Moss Landing Marine Laboratories] got involved because of all the nutrient processing already happening in the lab,” he said. 

The team will be using biochar, a type of charcoal, to filter water runoff from farms in the Salinas and San Joaquin Valleys before it reaches the Monterey Bay Marine Reserve, as Monterey Bay is a protected marine area.

They plan to analyze the cost effectiveness of using locally sourced biochar made from eucalyptus, which is collected from tree removal projects.

A goal for the researchers later down the line would be to recycle the water for other uses.

“As groundwater is intruded by salt and nutrients, water will become more of an important resource,” Gerbl said. 

He added that he’s attending the marine science master’s program almost entirely online because of the pandemic, and he only went to the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories twice to work with one other student on collecting data. 

“The only downside [to being in the program] is not being in person with all the great minds over there,” Gerbl said.