Bloom Buster Sustainability Statement

Bloom Busters’ research addresses a variety of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Harmful algal blooms (HABs) occur across the world affecting all types of bodies of water and ecosystems. In terms of human health, a study near Gull Lake, Michigan found a statistically significant relationship between low-weight births, length of gestation, and HABs, with improved birth weights and longer gestation when blooms were not occurring (Jones, 2019), which is addressed in SDG 3.1 and 3.2.

HABs are mostly associated with illnesses but do contribute to deaths as well. Aerosols from both freshwater and marine blooms contain toxins that cause health problems, particularly to those with pre-existing conditions like asthma (May et. al., 2017; Bechard & Lang, 2024).

Across the world, there are illnesses and fatalities due to amnesiac shellfish poisoning, ciguatera poisoning, palytoxicosis, azaspiracid shellfish poisoning, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, and paralytic shellfish poisoning from marine HABs (Young et. al., 2020)

Karenia brevis, which produces brevetoxins and is the species in Florida’s red tide blooms, have been shown to cause respiratory issues, including upper and lower respiratory irritation, inflammation, skin rashes and itching, headaches, eye and throat irritation, nasal congestion, cough, chest tightness, wheezing, shortness of breath, diarrhea, pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, and neurological symptoms (Bechard & Lang, 2024; Lim et. al., 2023).

Ostreopsis sp., which produce ovatoxins and are the main culprit in the mediterranean region, have led to rhinorrhea, cough, fever, bronchoconstriction, conjunctivitis, dyspnea, sore throat, headache, lacrimation, nausea/vomiting, dermatitis, leucocytosis, neutrophilia, upper respiratory irritation, expectoration, eye irritation, migraine, skin irritation, mucosal irritation, joint pain, vertigo, fatigue, diarrhea, malaise, and difficulty breathing (Lim et. al., 2023).

Cyanobacteria, the main source of HABs in Utah and common across the globe, have led to symptoms, including ear, eye, gastrointestinal, skin, and respiratory irritations, fever, sore throat, rashes, hives, congestion, cough, earache, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Neurological diseases showed significant positive correlation with HABs, including motor neuron disease, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s (Lim et. al., 2023).

Unspecified genera studies showed an increase in emergency department visits due to respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurologic, and dermalogic events, as well as eye irritation (Lim et. al., 2023).

The implementation of our product in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) would help reduce algal blooms. Further scaling of our research into engineered wetlands or other runoff applications would further reduce the occurrence of HABs, thereby reducing or even eliminating the human health concerns stemming from HABs.

A number of the UN’s Clean Water and Sanitation targets are relevant to our project, including targets 6.1, 6.3, 6.6, 6.a, and 6.b. Many bodies of water affected by HABs are also sources of drinking water, particularly by backpackers and hikers in national parks and other outdoor recreation lands (Virgin River in Zion) (6.1). Goal 6.3 is about improving water quality, which our product does by removing the phosphorus and nitrogen that create the conditions for HABs to occur.

Goal 6.6 is about protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems. While many ecosystems have been severely damaged by human activity that include more than nutrient dumping, thereby needing more restorative work than just removing excess nitrogen and phosphorus, without the removal or significant reduction of HABs, native aquatic plants would not be able to grow because the species causing the blooms block out sunlight and take up the nutrients that native aquatic plants also need to grow and reproduce

Goals 6.a and 6.b address supporting developing countries and local communities in a variety of water- and sanitation-related activities, including wastewater treatment. We could use our product to help developing countries upgrade their wastewater treatments to address nitrogen and phosphorus-driven eutrophication. One way we could do this is by sharing our procedures and processes with local schools and universities in both developed and developing countries so they can produce the product themselves and learn about synthetic biology, which also relates to targets 11.c, 12.a, 17.1, and 17.7. This also relates to targets 11.2 and 11.6, which are about developing sustainable urbanization and reducing the adverse environmental impact of cities, since WWTPs are essential infrastructure for urbanization as well as improving air quality since the toxins can be aerosolized. Many affected bodies of water are also sources of recreation and mitigating HABs makes recreation safer as contact with HABs cause health problems and occasionally death in humans and pets, addressed in target 11.7.

After the algae has lived out its life and usability as a water treatment, it can be extracted from WWTPs and used as a clean and sustainable fertilizer (Ammar et. al., 2022). This application of our product addresses targets 12.2, 12.4, 12.5, and 12.7 as it is efficient use of natural resources and sustainable management as it reduces the reliance on less sustainable sources for nitrogen and phosphorus and it also removes excess nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater and could do the same for runoff if scaled to larger plants.

UN SDG 14 is about life below water. Our project relates to several targets of this overarching goal. Target 14.1 is about reducing marine pollution, which includes nutrient pollution. Florida’s red tides and the Mediterranean blooms are due to excess nitrogen and phosphorus, which would be mitigated by the implementation and scaling of our product and research. Targets 14.2 and 14.5 are about managing, protecting, conserving, and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, which are adversely affected by HABs. Florida red tides, which occur across approximately 145 miles of Florida coastline, kill local marine fauna, including manatees, dolphins, thousands of fish, and sea turtles, in addition to an instance of a whale shark dying due at least in part to brevetoxins produced in red tides in 2018 (Resnick, 2018; Furby, 2018).

Life on land, UN SDG 15, is also negatively impacted by HABs. Target 15.1 is about the “conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems.” The contributing factors to HABs and the effects of HABs are devastating to the native and natural ecosystems in freshwater ecosystems across the world (King, 2019). Target 15.4 is about conserving mountain ecosystems. Bodies of water in mountain ecosystems are also affected by HABs, for example, eleven burros were found dead in Death Valley National Park and while testing for the cause of death was underway at time of publishing, preliminary investigations indicated the cause of death was likely due to drinking from an HAB-infected source (Wines, 2024). The park also suspects that other animals were likely affected, though no other dead animals had been found at the time of publishing (Wines, 2024). Target 15.5 is to take action “to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.” Utah Lake is home to at least 226 species of birds, 49 mammalian species, 16 amphibians and reptiles, and 18 fish species (Mitigation Commission), including the endemic and threatened June Sucker (Chasmistes liorus), which was a food source for local Ute tribes (June Sucker Recovery). Elimination or significant reduction of HABs is essential for the restoration of native species and the natural ecosystem both in Utah Lake and around the world.