Cyanobacteria

About the Laboratory The Environmental Health Program collaborates with scientists at the Organic Geochemistry Research Laboratory (OGRL) in Lawrence, Kansas, to develop and employ targeted and non-targeted analytical methods for identification and quantitation of known and understudied algal/cyanobacterial toxins. The laboratory contructed in 2019 is a 2,500 square foot modern laboratory facility...

The Kansas River provides recreational and industrial uses, food procurement, groundwater recharge, irrigation, livestock water use, and drinking water to more than 950,000 people in northeastern Kansas. Water-quality concerns related to excessive chloride, bromide, nutrient, sediment, and bacteria concentrations have been identified by the State, several water suppliers that use the Kansas River...

Targeted sampling in selected slow-moving streams, wetlands, and oxbows to receiving reservoirs and rivers will allow us to better characterize the hydrologic, water-quality, and biological conditions present during the formation and transport of potentially toxic cyanobacteria blooms.

The USGS Kansas Water Science Center, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), has been studying the extreme cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABS) occurring annually in Milford Lake. CyanoHABs on Milford Lake have impacted local businesses economically, and there have been documented human illnesses and animal deaths associated with the blooms...

Cheney Reservoir is located on the North Fork Ninnescah River in south-central Kansas, 20 miles west of Wichita. Cheney Reservoir is the primary drinking water supply for the city and a popular recreational resource for the region. After cyanobacterial blooms in 1990 and 1991, which caused servere taste-and-odor events, the USGS Kansas Water Science Center partnered with the City of Wichita and...

Freshwater and marine harmful algal blooms (HABs) can occur anytime water use is impaired due to excessive accumulations of algae. In freshwater, the majority of HABs are caused by cyanobacteria (also called blue-green algae). Cyanobacteria cause a multitude of water-quality concerns, including the potential to produce taste-and-odor causing compounds and toxins that are potent enough to poison...

An understanding of the quantity and quality of sediment deposited in a reservoir is necessary for effective reservoir and basin management. Sedimentation affects the useful life of a reservoir for such important purposes as flood control, water supply, and recreation. Sediment quality is an important environmental concern because sediment may act as a sink for various water-quality constituents...