VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It's not a color normally associated with water.
“People went trying to swim this week then saying, 'What’s this? All of a sudden looks like this mahogany red color,'" Christopher Moore, senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation told 13News Now Wednesday.
According to Moore, the CBF has received reports in the last several days across the Chesapeake Bay-facing communities in Hampton Roads of algal blooms sightings just off the shorelines.
The algae build-ups are caused by several environmental factors including recent rain followed by hot, sunny days according to Moore. They're also caused by an imbalance of the chemicals phosphorus and nitrogen in the local watershed. The chemicals received grades of 'D' and 'F', respectively, in the 2020 State of the Bay report.
“In the right amount they’re a good thing, but with excess nutrients, there are cloudy water conditions and algae blooms," Moore said.
According to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, algae are a normal part of aquatic environments, but in significant numbers can cause "harmful algal blooms" which can lead to oxygen depletion as well as harm marine life.
The blooms can be seen on each side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, as ripples of mahogany-colored patches contrasted against the regular water of the Chesapeake Bay.
“They can negatively affect oysters, fin fish species especially. In oysters it shows that it erodes the gills, makes it harder to breathe," Moore said.
The algae affect not only the animals that live below the surface but the people that might live near them.
“Swam through it a little bit. Everything turns orange or red, visibility goes from 3 to 4 feet to zero feet. It was uncomfortable," Jim Deppe said, a Virginia Beach resident who is also an active swimmer in the Bay.
Tuesday, he stopped his swim short when he realized what he was swimming through.
“The fishing community suffers as much as the swimming community," Deppe laughed.
These recent build-ups have now been reported across the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed, including the York and James rivers.