Monday, July 19, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

13

'U' receives
grant to study
algal blooms

THE BIGGEST HOUSE

Federal grant funds
will be used to be
improve water quality
of the Great Lakes
By SUZANNE JACOBS
Daily StaffReporter
The University has received
$835,000 from the federal govern-
ment for a project that promises to
improve water quality in the Great
Lakes.
Allen Burton, a professor in the
School of Natural Resources and
Environment, said the money will be
used to better detect harmful bac-
teria and harmful algal blooms, or
HABs, in certain areas of the Great
Lakes.
"(The purpose of the grant is) to
develop and implement techniques,
identified by stakeholders, for pre-
dicting water quality at beaches up to
two days in advance and for forecast-
ing the trajectory and fate of harmful
algal blooms wherever they occur in
the Great Lakes," the grant proposal
said.
Burton, director of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration's Cooperative Institute
for Limnology and Ecosystems
Research, is one of seven principal
investigators working on the project.
The other six scientists include three
from the NOAA and three from the
University.
The current system in place to
monitor bacterial levels in the Great
Lakes is known as the "persistence
model," which uses one day's mea-
surements of E. coli levels to deter-
mine the next day's water quality.
The principle investigators on the
project claim that this model can
predict inaccurate health conditions
more than 50 percent of the time.
The new model they plan to put in
place with the grant money, they say,
will improve predictions of swim-
ming conditions by at least 20 to 30
percent.
In addition to better predict-
ing bacterial levels in the water, the
project will develop a better method
tn monitor, forecast and under stand


HABs.
According to the Center for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention Health
Studies Program, HABs occur when
algae grow quickly, forming visible
patches in the water. The patches
can block sunlight and deplete the
oxygen that other organisms need to
survive. The HABs also may release
toxins that are dangerous to humans
and other animals.
The current method for detecting
HABs, the principle investigators
argue, is "not sufficient to provide
timely warning about the presence of
HAB ... at a drinking water intake or
recreational beach."
Burton said scientists will be able
to accomplish a lot with the grant
money because it will supplement
research that has already begun.
"The fact that this is taking ongo-
ing projects to the next level ... will
make it easy to accomplish alot in the
next year," Burton said.
Scientists from Michigan State
University, University of South Flor-
ida and the Michigan Sea Grant will
also collaborate on the project.
The money awarded to the Uni-
versity is part of a larger $5.5 mil-
lion federal grant for protecting the
Great Lakes. The largest sum of $3
million is going toward plant and
animal habitats in Saugatuck, while
the Houghton area will get $1.7 mil-
lion for ecology and conservation
research, according to the Associated
Press.

MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daily
The newly renovated Michigan Stadium opened its doors to the public on Wednesday. The Big House, which can hold 109,901 people,
features a brand new press box, 81 suites and 2,952 outdoor club seats. Go to MichiganDaily.com for the full story on the renovations.

BRAZIL
From Page 2
Melissa Matice, a lecturer in the
English Language Institute and the
GIEU team faculty leader for the
trip, wrote that she and 14 other stu-
dents worked on the school by dig-
ging, doing masonry, mixing cement
and working on whatever else the
site needed.
Through the GIEU program, the
students also gave English lessons
to locals and conducted a census of
the region, so that they can be regis-
tered with the state.
After returning from the program

last week, LSA sophomore Elizabeth
Ludwig said she learned a lot about
the region and the locals' need for
a school through gathering data for
the census.
Ludwig said she talked to many
locals who either would not send
their children to school or who
were forced to pick only one or two
of their children to attend school
in Pocond - many of whom were
unable to see their family for the
majority of the year.
With the opening of the school,
Ludwig said she believes many fami-
lies will be reunited and will be able
to maintain a better family dynamic.

As the construction progresseJ,
Shirley wrote that the center should
be completed by mid-August and the
school will be open to students nkxt
April. But because the school will be
overseen by the state government,
there are still many governmental
hurdles to overcome.
Looking toward the future, Shir-
ley wrote that he is hopeful about
the center's impact on the North-
ern Pantanal community. Once any
problems that might arise at the site
are dealt with, Shirley wrote that he
is considering taking his approach
to other parts of the Pantanal region
and possibly to Madagascar.


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