(((I knew there had to be a climate-change angle in here somehow. "Increased rainfall and warmer waters." Yeah, toss in some untreated sewage to boot, and that'll do it.)))
Link: Algae woes hit China's Olympic sailing host city.
BEIJING — With less than six weeks before it plays host to the Olympic sailing regatta, the city of Qingdao has mobilized thousands of people and an armada of small boats to clean up an algae bloom choking the coastline and threatening to impede the Olympic competition.
Local officials have begun an intense effort to clean up the algae by mid-July. Media reports estimate that as many as 20,000 people have either volunteered or been ordered to participate in the operation, while 1,000 boats are scooping algae out of the Yellow Sea. The country's official news agency, Xinhua, reported that algae covers a third of the coastal waters designated for the Olympic competition.
Water quality has been a concern for the Olympic sailing events, given that many coastal Chinese cities dump untreated sewage into the sea. At the same time, rivers and tributaries emptying into coastal waters are often contaminated with high levels of nitrates from agricultural and industrial runoff. These nitrates contribute to the red tides of algae that often bloom along sections of China's coastline.
But officials in Qingdao this week said pollution and poor water quality did not have a "substantial link" to the current outbreak, according to Xinhua. Instead, scientists blamed the bloom on increased rainfall and warmer waters in the Yellow Sea. Algae blooms affect more than 5,000 square miles of sea water, according to Xinhua....
