Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs) occur when cyanobacteria rapidly proliferate and dominate aquatic ecosystems such as lakes, rivers, streams, reservoirs, ponds, and estuaries. These blooms can disrupt ecological balance, affect drinking water sources and recreational waters, and may occur both in the water column (planktonic blooms) and attached to surfaces such as sediments, vegetation, or woody debris (benthic blooms).
Created as a companion to ITRC’s Strategies for Preventing and Managing Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms (HCB-1, 2021), this Strategies for Preventing and Managing Benthic Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms (HCB-2, 2022) document dives into the unique challenges in evaluating and communicating the public health and environmental risks of benthic HCBs, and provides insight into contemporary best management practices for dealing with these harmful toxic blooms.
Topic(s): Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms (HCBs), Water Quality, Wetlands
