Press Release
The Ministry of the Environment has advised the Northwestern Health Unit that a sample from a local lake recently tested positive for blue-green algae (cyanobacteria).
A sample from a visible algal bloom on Caliper Lake, south of Nestor Falls, was analyzed by a laboratory and found to contain a number of species of cyanobacteria, which can produce toxins.
Dense blue-green algal blooms often turn the water a bluish or green colour that resembles pea soup.
Large blooms can form floating clumps, with fresh blooms giving off an odour of newly-mown grass and older blooms the odour of rotting garbage.
Visible algal blooms may produce toxins, which can irritate the skin and, if ingested, can cause diarrhea and vomiting.
At high enough levels, toxins may cause liver and nervous system damage—and even death.
The highest concentrations of toxins usually are found in blooms and scum on the shoreline. These dense accumulations pose the greatest potential risks to people and pets.
The Northwestern Health Unit wishes to advise all people using lakes and rivers in the area to be on the lookout for algal blooms.
Blue-green algal blooms can occur in any body of water if the right conditions exist during the spring, summer, and fall seasons.
If blooms are visible:
•Avoid using the water for drinking, bathing, or showering, and do not allow children, pets, or livestock to drink or swim in the water.
•Lakeshore residents with shallow drinking water intake pipes that might pump in blue-green algae should be cautious.
•Residents should not boil the water because that may release more toxins into it.
•Residents should avoid cooking with the water because food may absorb toxins from the water during cooking.
•Residents should exercise caution with respect to eating fish caught in water where high concentrations of blue-green algae are visible (residents should not eat the liver, kidneys, and other organs of fish caught in the water).
•Do not treat the water with a disinfectant such as bleach (this may break open algae cells and release toxins into the water).
•Residents should not rely on home water filtration systems as they do not protect against the toxins.
On lakes and rivers where blue-green algal blooms are confirmed, people who use the surface water for their private drinking water supply may wish to consider an alternate, protected source of water.
For more information, your local Northwestern Health Unit office.
