#SBU research has found a record number of issues with Long Island’s surface water quality this summer. Harmful algal blooms have starved lakes, ponds, harbors, and bays of oxygen, leading to 36 distinct ‘dead zones’ or fish kills. Excess nitrogen from old cesspools and septic tanks, as well as aging wastewater infrastructure, feeds these algal blooms and depletes the waters of oxygen that marine life needs to survive. “It has become clear that, absent aggressive change, Long Island should expect the wide-spread occurrence of low oxygen zones and [harmful algal blooms] during summer, and these events could worsen with climate change,” said Chris Gobler (goblerlab), principal investigator of the research in Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (somas.sbu). #SBUClimateSolutions