Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science

Abstract

The proliferation of harmful waterborne cyanobacterial algal blooms, some of which can produce potent toxins, poses severe risks to environmental and human health. Academic and governmental monitoring efforts may be constrained by budget, time, and staff, and thus miss otherwise significant pollution events. Here, we report on the implementation of a citizen science project to track harmful cyanobacterial blooms in lakes and waterways across Canada. Through both crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, the Adopt a Lake (Adopt a Lake 2022) campaign aimed to document the potential presence of cyanobacteria and toxins with the assistance of participants, thus improving public awareness of the issue of water quality preservation. Using social media, participants were encouraged to participate in the initiative by collecting samples during a bloom from a nearby pond or by making a financial contribution to support the initiative. Adopt a Lake benefitted from the analytical platform of Algal Blooms Treatment, Risk Assessment, Predictions, and Prevention (ATRAPP), a research project focused on the prediction and management of harmful cyanobacterial blooms. The presence of cyanotoxins, which can confirm whether a lake has a toxic bloom, was determined through high-resolution mass spectrometry analyses. This paper presents an overview of the implementation of the Adopt a Lake initiative, the campaign’s status, and the lessons learned, and it argues the importance of continual monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms.