article · Water Air & Soil Pollution
Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms pose an escalating risk to aquatic life, ecotourism, real estate, and public health due to the release of dangerous cyanotoxins. These blooms occur sporadically, driven partly by industrial and agricultural activities, complicating mitigation efforts. Toxin exposure routes threaten fish, domestic pets, livestock, and drinking water sources. Addressing these challenges requires evaluating existing approaches across prevention, control, and mitigation. Progress depends on standardising laboratory procedures for cyanotoxin analysis and providing certified reference materials for routine testing. Additionally, developing robust in situ sensors for the real-time detection and quantification of algal cells and toxins in waterbodies is critical. Future risk management should also explore environmentally friendly control measures and artificial intelligence deployments, while public health authorities must prioritise safeguarding water supplies and agricultural products through enhanced monitoring and treatment protocols.
Toxic cyanobacterial blooms degrade natural aquatic ecosystems, harm animal welfare, and threaten human food and drinking water systems. Understanding bloom triggers and exposure pathways enables water authorities and communities to design better monitoring and treatment strategies, protecting public health, livestock, and economically important tourism and residential assets.
Opportunities lie in developing and commercialising robust in situ sensors for real-time monitoring of algal cells and toxins in waterbodies, alongside producing standardised reference materials for analytical testing. Water utilities, environmental monitoring agencies, and agricultural operators represent primary end users. Based on the abstract, these analytical tools, artificial intelligence applications, and eco-friendly control measures remain at an early-stage research and development level requiring substantial standardisation.
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Abstract Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cHABs) are increasingly becoming an emerging threat to aquatic life, ecotourism, and certain real estate investments. Their spontaneous yet sporadic occurrence has made mitigation measures a cumbersome task; moreover, current trends regarding anthropogenic activities, especially in agriculture and industry portend further undesirable events. Apart from the aesthetic degeneration they create in their respective habitats, they are equally capable of secreting toxins, which altogether present grave environmental and medical consequences. In this paper, we gave an update on factors that influence cHABs, cyanotoxin exposure routes, and environmental public health implications, especially impacts on fish, pets, and livestock. We discussed social economic impacts, risk assessment, and management problems for cHABs and, thereafter, assessed the extant management approaches including prevention, control, and mitigation of the proliferation of cyanobacterial blooms. In light of this, we suggest that more intensified research should be directed to the standardization of procedures for cyanotoxin analysis. Also, the provision of standardized reference material for the quantification of cyanotoxins is vital for routine monitoring as well as the development of strong in situ sensors capable of quantifying and detecting HABs cells and toxins in waterbodies to prevent the adverse impacts of cHABs. Also, more investigations into the natural and environmentally friendly approach to cyanobacteria management and the necessary and appropriate deployment of artificial intelligence are required. Finally, we wish to redirect the focus of public health authorities to protecting drinking water supply sources, agriculture products, and food sources from cyanotoxins contamination as well as to implement proper monitoring and treatment procedures to protect citizens from this potential health threat.
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DOI: 10.1007/s11270-023-06782-y
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