{"access":"You can download the app directly on Google Play or the App Store. The data can be viewed on www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/bloomin-algae and is available as a spreadsheet upon request.","capabilities":"Bloomin' Algae is a citizen science mobile app for reporting the presence of harmful algal blooms of blue-green algae (i.e. cyanobacteria). The app helps speed up public health warnings and can help teach you how to recognise the risks to you, children and animals. The data derived from the app can be used for research on the drivers of blooms in a changing climate and is currently used by national agencies and local authorities to monitor and manage sites which are affected by blooms. This helps agencies and local authorities to speed up their response time.\n\nA Dutch, French and Norwegian language version has also been developed for use in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway.","description":"The Bloomin' Algae app enables the public and local authorities to record events of blue-green algae blooms, thereby speeding up warnings to the public and governmental institutions. \n\nBlue-green algal blooms can produce very potent liver and nerve toxins. The World Health Organisation has established guideline values of cyanotoxins and blue-green algae densities for recreational waters use and for drinking waters, as the presence of blue-green algae can threaten public health as well as the lives of dogs, cattle, birds and fish.  The app also allows the public to learn to recognise the risks for themselves, and their children and pets.","fundingSources":"The development of the app was initially funded by UKCEH. NERC-RP-SPF. In 2021 the re-design of the app was funded by the Scottish Government and recent updates have been funded by NIVA (Norwegian Institute for Water Research). The project is currently unfunded and is run as a volunteer service even though many hours go in to the work of verifying incoming records and responding to enquiries.","id":"7bbc004d-27d8-49c0-947a-4d6558b73486","infrastructureCategory":{"value":"data","description":"Environmental data and information","infrastructureClass":"Digital infrastructures","uri":"http://vocabs.ceh.ac.uk/ri/data"},"infrastructureChallenge":[{"value":"Pollution","uri":"http://vocab.ceh.ac.uk/ri#Pollution"},{"value":"Climate change: adaptation"}],"infrastructureScale":"UK","lifecycle":"Created in collaboration with the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Public Health England and Health Protection Scotland, the app was launched in 2017. In March 2021 the app was relaunched with new design and functions funded by the Scottish Government. Since then more agencies and countries have applied the app as a monitoring and management tool.\n","locationText":"The app is currently in use in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Norway.","metadataDate":"2025-04-09T09:24:27","onlineResources":[{"url":"https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/bloomin-algae","function":"website","type":"OTHER"},{"url":"https://www.ceh.ac.uk/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/2021-06/bloomin-algae-logo-squareish2.png","name":"Blomin algae logo","function":"image","type":"OTHER"}],"owners":[{"displayName":"Linda May","organisationName":"UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology","organisationIdentifier":"https://ror.org/00pggkr55","role":"owner","email":"bloomin-algae@ceh.ac.uk","address":{"city":"Edinburgh"},"fullName":"Linda May"}],"partners":"The re-design of the app was funded by the Scottish Government in 2021. The design was reviewed by representatives from the UK environment agencies and by Health Protection Scotland. The app is also in use in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway with English, French, Dutch and Norwegian language options. Since leading the development of the app, Professor Laurence Carvalho, now working for Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), continues to collaborate with UKCEH to improve and advance the use of the app in the UK and abroad. \nVerification is currently carried out by:\nSEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) in Scotland\nNIEA (Northern Ireland Environment Agency) in Northern Ireland\nINBO (Research Institute for Nature and Forest) and University of Liege in Belgium\nWageningen University in the Netherlands\nLIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) in Luxembourg\nNIVA (Norwegian Institute for Water research) in Norway\nAlong with the UKCEH Bloomin' Algae team and a few UK experts for UK and Ireland","relationships":[{"relation":"https://vocabs.ceh.ac.uk/eidc#relatedTo","target":"fa30f815-90a8-456c-816a-b5eb046bc381"}],"resourceIdentifiers":[{"code":"https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/7bbc004d-27d8-49c0-947a-4d6558b73486"}],"scienceArea":"Water Resources","title":"Bloomin' Algae","type":"infrastructureRecord","uniqueness":"Bloomin' Algae is the only app for recording blue-green algal blooms that is currently used by UK agencies and local authorities as a part of their monitoring and management of blooms.","uri":"https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/7bbc004d-27d8-49c0-947a-4d6558b73486","users":["Public","Agencies","Local authorities"]}