Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Emerging Threats and Lake Champlain

Cutting edge environmental and epidemiological research is revealing a frightening possibility about Lake Champlain’s water quality. The CLF Switzer Foundation Leadership Grant Program fellow in Vermont will review, evaluate and add to newly emerging research, including by New England scientists, which shows that the dangers posed by blue-green algae blooms may go beyond making large swaths of the big lake unusable for swimmers and anglers. This new epidemiological research, largely ignored so far by policy makers and even many scientists, indicates that those algae blooms, fed and caused by too much phosphorous from polluting farm fields, polluted runoff and wastewater plant discharges, may cause or contribute to a statistically significant increased risk of ALS and other serious neurological problems.

 The CLF Switzer fellow will evaluate recent and current research to answer the following questions:

• Are there are increased rates of those illnesses around portions of Lake Champlain with chronic blue-green problems?
• Is it possible the cyanobacteria toxins are volatilized and reaching residents by air?
• Why did drinking water plant operators in Quebec in 2011 and in Vermont in 2010 decide to issue do-not-drink orders because of blue-greens? Should such warning be more common?

The final product of the fellow will be a report gathering and synthesizing the research and recommending policy changes to deal with this looming threat.

 Qualifications and Contact Information: The ideal candidate would have a  background in public health, water resources, and experience with environmental science.  The fellow must have the skills to apply that technical knowledge and “translate” it successfully into layperson’s terms. Experience in project and meeting management, writing and speaking skills and the ability to work well with a broad range of people are also important. This person must be willing to work both independently and collaboratively.  Our goal is to identify a candidate as soon as possible and work together to submit a concept letter by the February 1, 2012, deadline. Please contact: Priscilla Brooks, VP: pbrooks@clf.org, or 617-850-1737.