Setumo Dam is the beating heart of South Africa’s North West Province, but for years it had been severely contaminated by toxic algal blooms. The 3.5 square kilometer dam located on the Molopo River not only provides drinking water but also opportunities for fishing and recreation for half a million people of Mahikeng, North West’s provincial capital.

As we start a new year, let us resolve to finally take actions that will protect our most precious natural resource, water. It will take a unity of effort on a global scale, but we can make it happen. Here are 7 concrete actions that will help us get there.

Planning your winter vacation? At BlueGreen Water Technologies, we spend our time ensuring the health of lakes because they are important to the health of people, wildlife, and ecosystems. Lakes and parks also provide numerous opportunities for recreational activities for the community. This year, we want to share a few of our favorite destinations! 

Toxic algal blooms are a growing global menace, choking the life out of water bodies from one continent to the next. Caused by a rapid eruption in microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, and Heterosigma akashiwo, algal blooms destroy aquatic ecosystems and endanger the health of people, pets, and wildlife. The ripple effects can be crippling to societies, rendering drinking water supplies unsafe, harming livelihoods, and damaging local economies. As if on cue, these poisonous invaders tend to return to the same water bodies year after year. 

“We went to the Sea of Galilee for research – to learn and improve our ability to analyze data. To detect from afar you also

“This course helps students really start to connect the dots between the forces of mother nature and the effects of human activities on water bodies. BlueGreen is giving participants a foundation of knowledge they can draw from when confronting the realities of climate change and its impacts on our vital water resources.”

The increase in frequency, intensity and duration of toxic algal blooms nationwide is unacceptable. We must take action now to save America’s treasures; our national parks are our nation’s pride and joy. It is our duty to protect them. As President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and the wildlife are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native….The parks stand as the outward symbol of the great human principle.”

“We have a solution that is effective and we were happy to have been able to demonstrate it to local authorities. Our treatment method is

“Water is the world’s biggest natural carbon sink and the natural regulator of carbon in the atmosphere. By capturing and sinking huge volumes of algal bloom biomass, we now have a real fighting chance for humanity against global warming.”

Tune into the Water Zone by Toro on KCAA featuring BlueGreen’s CMO, Lucia Ross!

But we must do more. We must prevent harmful algal blooms from occurring in the first place and, when they do occur, implement effective treatments that quickly restore the water quality to safe levels.

On a hot June day, a group of friends launched their boats and headed out on Jordan Lake near Raleigh, North Carolina for a relaxing day on the water. It was a chance to soak up some sunshine and get relief from the summer heat. But according to media reports, the day turned tragic after a three-year-old beagle, Ruby, suddenly became ill after playing in the water.