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By Jasmine Laws
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A sweeping rollback of federal environmental research funding has sparked concern among scientists and municipal leaders across the Great Lakes region, where millions of Americans rely on safe drinking water.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, a critical facility for detecting and mitigating toxic algal blooms, has been gutted by staffing cuts and budget restrictions, according to a new report from ProPublica.
NOAA said in a statement sent to Newsweek: "Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters. NOAA remains dedicated to its mission, providing timely information, research, and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation's environmental and economic resilience."
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Why It Matters
The Great Lakes provide drinking water to roughly 40 million people in the U.S. and Canada. Algal blooms, primarily fueled by nutrient runoff from farms, pose an increasingly dire threat to this water supply, particularly in Lake Erie. In 2014, an outbreak in Toledo, Ohio, led to a three-day advisory for nearly half a million residents not to drink or even touch the water.
Federal scientists had developed a network of buoys and monitoring equipment to detect blooms in real time and alert local water systems, enabling proactive treatment and public warnings, but due to the federal cuts, this system is being put under strain.
What To Know
NOAA's Great Lakes lab has lost 35 percent of its workforce since February due to a hiring freeze, forced retirements, and the firing of probationary staffers, ProPublica reported. The lab is now struggling to operate even basic equipment, such as sampling filters and test containers.
The Trump administration's fiscal blueprint proposes to cut NOAA's research funding by up to 74 percent, targeting programs it says are "not aligned with Administration policy."
In the report, the White House said that NOAA "consistently funded efforts to radicalize students against markets and spread environmental alarm," suggesting the agency may be dismantled or decentralized.
These cuts have crippled the Great Lakes lab's ability to maintain its network of buoys, collect samples, and distribute data used by water authorities, fisheries and others.
A number of key members of staff needed to monitor toxic algal blooms in the water, which would make the Great Lakes supply undrinkable, were also fired in the cutbacks.
The remaining staff aim to launch large data-collecting buoys into the water this week, according to ProPublica, which is late as the season usually goes from April to October.
The delayed data collection and limit of supplies has prompted concerns that the team will not be able to continue monitoring the water.
"This has massive impacts on coastal communities," Gregory Dick, director of the University of Michigan's Cooperative Institute, which partners with NOAA, told ProPublica.
Water departments in Cleveland and Toledo credit NOAA with helping prevent another drinking water crisis, like what happened in 2014.
"The likelihood of another 'don't drink the water' advisory has been minimized to almost nothing by additional vigilance," Toledo staff told ProPublica*.*
Cleveland's water commissioner also wrote a letter confirming its support for NOAA, adding that "access to real-time forecasts is critically important in making water treatment decisions for more than 1.3 million citizens of the Cleveland metropolitan area."
What People Are Saying
Bret Collier, former branch chief at the lab, who was among those fired, told ProPublica: "The basic scientific supplies that we use to provide the local communities with information on algal bloom toxicity — our purchasing of them is being restricted based on the limitations currently being put in by the administration."
What Happens Next
Continued cuts and the possible dismantling of NOAA could leave vulnerable communities without warning systems or safe drinking water protections.
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