Discharge into the Androscoggin has a negative effect on the quality of life downriver.

As winter approaches, the pace of life for many here in the state of Maine may slow just a bit, and residents and visitors will make less frequent visits to our lakes, rivers and coastal areas.

When the cold and ice subside again in the spring as it has done for millennia, the people will surely return to enjoy the environment that the residents of Maine care so much about.

Increasingly, year by year, another visitor graces our presence along the coast of Maine, something often referred to as Red Tide or also known as harmful algal blooms. These blooms are made up of minuscule organisms – phytoplankton – which are most always in their benign form and have been an integral part of the food chain for as long as the seasons have changed.

Scientists have identified the triggering cause of these harmful blooms to excessive nutrient loading, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. Here in the state of Maine, the greatest source of phosphorous introduced by human means comes from the pulp and paper industry and its discharge into the Androscoggin River. According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the mills account for 83 percent of the oxygen-depleting pollution entering the river.

Phytoplankton is the source of oxygen enrichment in our waters. Primary production of phytoplankton relies on availability of nitrogen and phosphorous in the water. This baseline food in the ecosystem requires 16 units of nitrogen for every unit of phosphorous. When phosphorous input exceeds the relative input of nitrogen, the system becomes nitrogen limited, which, in turn, triggers the various forms of phytoplankton to morph into their harmful bloom stages. The result is blue-green algae in our freshwater rivers and lakes, and Red Tide in our estuaries and coastal areas.

These harmful algal blooms reduce sunlight that healthy phytoplankton need to exist since they rely on the process of photosynthesis for production.

According to the DEP, anthropogenic sources such as municipal discharges account for approximately 2 percent of the nutrient pollution, while runoff pollution from sources such as farms account for 15 percent.

It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that the rivers run to the ocean and the nutrient pollution entering the rivers eventually end up in the ocean as well. Similar blooms have been occurring with increasing abundance all along the nation’s coastal areas. In North Carolina, HABs have caused the mortality of billions of fish, and have also had a detrimental affect on their commercial fishing and tourist industries.

The presence of these blooms has at times made the water so toxic that human contact with the water was not advised. Human health effects can include memory loss, confusion, and a variety of other symptoms including respiratory, skin, and gastro-intestinal problems.

As people in Maine know, occurrences of Red Tide have closed down the shellfish industries for periods of time, and people have been warned not to eat shellfish during these periods. The federal government has imposed baseline water quality standards in an attempt to mitigate these and similar occurrences. The states have the option of following these minimal standards or imposing more stringent guidelines, yet the state government here in Maine has issued permits for discharge into our rivers at levels that clearly do not attempt to meet the minimal standards enforced by the federal government.

At least one of those permits – for International Paper in Jay – is now being reconsidered.

The pulp and paper industry has been successful in blocking environmental progress in the state Legislature by setting lower standards for the Androscoggin than in the other rivers of Maine.

Efficient, cost-effective measures are already in use by the paper industry across the nation and world, yet the industry here in Maine is more concerned about short-term profit rather than long-term stability and jobs. Meanwhile, their practices are having a detrimental affect on the people downstream.

If people care about the environment and how it affects health, they must support clean water initiatives.

Robert Jordan III is a political science major, specializing in environmental law, at the University of Southern Maine. His research includes harmful algal blooms. Jordan is originally from Lewiston.