Control of Nuisance Cyanobacteria in Drinking Water Resources Using Alternative Algae-Blocking Mats

Abstract

The water intake facility of Paldangho Lake (PIF), constructed in 1988, supplies drinking water to the Seoul metropolitan area and satellite city (ca. 20 million inhabitants) in South Korea. A nuisance cyanobacterial bloom (CB) has been observed every year in the PIF. Thus, related governments have been funding the control of CBs and algal-originated materials (AOMs). In this study, an algae-blocking mat (ABM) was developed to protect against CBs and AOMs considering temperature and water depth. We evaluated the daily and monthly performance of the ABM on phytoplankton, pH, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a, and light intensity between April and October 2015. Although the average cell abundance of cyanobacteria between July and September approached the warning level of the Korea alert system, the highest algal removal efficiency was recorded as 92% in August when the cyanobacterial cells were over 66,000 cells/mL. On average, the ABM showed a low removal efficiency of 26% on both geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol, whereas total phytoplankton was more than 30%. In conclusion, our results indicate that the ABM may be an economical blocking tool for nuisance cyanobacteria in drinking water resources, considering AOMs and total phytoplankton.

The Assessment of Phytoplankton Dynamics in Two Reservoirs in Southern Africa with Special Reference to Water Abstraction for Inter-Basin Transfers and Potable Water Production

“…The dynamics could be exacerbated by elevation in water temperature, and nutrients due to changes in climatic conditions, plus anthropogenic activities such as agricultural runoff, and dysfunctional WWTPs [3][4][5]. In many subtropical eutrophic reservoirs used for portable water, toxic cyanobacteria have been reported to dominate the phytoplankton community and this phenomenon is becoming an increasing concern to many water utility managers [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. The occurrence of potentially toxic cyanobacteria species in drinking water reservoirs leads to the abstraction of poor quality raw water for inter-basin and potable water provision, especially when the vertical and temporal dynamics are not known.…”